Streamwood blanks Dundee-Crown in opener

A year ago, the Streamwood girls soccer team took a 5-0 lead against Dundee-Crown - and ended up losing.

The Sabres were bound and determined to not let that happen again, as they opened their 2015 campaign against the Chargers on Tuesday afternoon.

They didn't. Behind a pair of goals from forwards Tawny Carroll and Shonali Pierce-Vazquez, Streamwood prevailed 6-0 in the nonconference game at Millennium Field.

"We were actually really nervous coming into this game especially because of playing them last year and how it turned out," said Carroll, a senior, who will be plying her trade for Drake University next year. "There were some jitters coming into this game."

It didn't look that way for Streamwood, which finished with 20 shots, 9 on goal, compared to just 8 shots for the Chargers, and 4 on goal. The Sabres outshot Dundee-Crown 12-2 in the first half alone.

"I don't know about the team, but I was nervous," said Pierce-Vazquez, a sophomore in her first game at forward after spending most of last year as a defender and midfielder. "Coming in, I know we lost last year, so I was prepared to win this year, and I'm glad we did."

Pierce-Vazquez, who scored 8 goals last season, seems to be pretty comfortable as a striker. It didn't take her long to score, tallying in the fourth minute. She corralled a long-distance kick among two defenders ahead of the 18-yard line, outraced them to the right side, and blasted a shot past Chargers' senior goalkeeper Isabel Miranda.

She was just getting started. In the 18th minute, she accepted a pass from a sprinting Carroll, sped past a defender down the middle and buried a shot into the left corner.

The Streamwood fans had barely settled into their seats when Carroll struck two minutes later, firing a shot from the right corner into the left side of the net, just past Miranda's outstretched arms.

Suddenly, it was 3-0 and Carroll looked like she was just getting started. In the 22nd minute, she just missed a goal by firing a shot over the crossbar. She had another open look in the 36th minute, but kicked the ball over the right corner. And just before halftime, in the 38th minute, she took a pass in the left corner, juked a defender and pounded a shot that bounced loudly off the crossbar.

If you're sensing a pattern here, you're perceptive.

"That was the point - we were trying to work with our three forwards and try to keep moving, so that way we'd get the defense distraught a little bit, get them a little confused," Carroll said, referring to herself and fellow forwards Pierce-Vazquez and junior Karina Nevarez. "It was a new thing we're trying this year, and I think it really worked out."

Dundee-Crown looked like it might make a dent in the lead coming out of halftime, and perhaps incite a rerun of last year's result. The Chargers got close in the 42nd minute, when sophomore Taylor Coffman beat her defender on the left side and fired a shot that ended up on the arms of Sabres' goalkeeper Yasmine Resendiz.

But it just wasn't the Chargers' day. In the 54th minute, Streamwood sophomore midfielder Alondra Blanco was standing on the 6-yard line in front of the D-C goal and took a pass from Carroll on the right side and flicked it past Miranda into the center of the net.

Two minutes later Carroll struck again, taking a pass from Pierce-Vazquez and then dropping a pop-up kick into the right corner of the net 15 yards away.

The Streamwood defense, led by junior defender Lexi Wilson, who marked Coffman and junior midfielder Heily Ramirez all afternoon, held tight the final 24 minutes to preserve the victory.

"I thought we did some good things keeping the ball in the second half, creating some chances. We just weren't able to finish," said Dundee-Crown coach Sebastian Falinski. "It's a learning experience. At this point, we're glad to be outside and play against competition other than ourselves in a small gym. We'll grow from it and move on."

Across the field, Streamwood coach Matt Polovin was pleased, of course, but chose to keep things in perspective.

"With this year's team, we have some newer players and some younger players, but the leadership that I have with Tawny and Alondra Blanco, those girls follow their path and hopefully we'll keep it going," he said. "It's only the first game, and I know the girls are excited, when you win the first game of the season like that, but it's a long season."

Resendiz finished with 4 saves for Streamwood, while Miranda had a pair for Dundee-Crown.