Late goal lifts Bartlett over Jacobs

Bartlett junior midfielder Mariela Alba was as flexible as they come position-wise in the Hawks' 1-0 nonconference girls soccer win over Jacobs Thursday in Algonquin.

But Hawks coach Ben Beary knew if his team was to break a scoreless tie in the second half and avenge the five chances it squandered in the first 40 minutes, he needed Alba's offense in a one-on-one situation in the left flank to create some chaos in the box. After a few attempts at it early in the second half, Beary's halftime adjustment came together perfectly in the 60th minute.

Alba, who saw action at forward, center-mid and on defense, raced her way down the left sideline to about 5 feet left of the near post. Without much space to work with Alba shielded off her defender and chipped a perfect pass forward to freshman Jenna Dombrowski, who was about even with the post from 10 feet away for the game-winning boot and Bartlett's third-straight win.

"One of our game plans in the second half was to set me down line, beat the defender and try to go in myself or look for somebody to go in," Alba said of her second assist of the season. "I really thought we needed to get one, there were so many opportunities that I was sure we were going to get one off it."

And it was about time for Bartlett (4-2), which outshot Jacobs (1-5-1) 10-2 and had 7 previous shots on goal and 3 corners go for naught.

"We were building for a while in that second half, working that left side. Five minutes went by, 10 minutes went by, we just kept working it, I felt like we were getting close for a long time, we finally had a breakthrough," said Beary. "Hand it to Jacobs, they played us well. We didn't play our best game and it wasn't the prettiest game but we got the job done."

The Hawks recorded their fourth shutout as Tessa Jatczak earned her first full-game shutout in goal. Jatczak terminated 6 potential chances for Jacobs, which couldn't get much across due to the back line of seniors Melissa Gal, Shannon Brohan, junior Jamie Kenna and freshman Miranda Hedeen.

"Our defense was not only able to contain the ball and control it but able to work it out of the back instead of just playing kick ball," Beary said. "We're getting better in functioning in the back in those tight spots and not panicking and playing the ball from there."

The Golden Eagles' best opportunity came on Caitlin Kowalski's breakaway in the 13th minute but her shot sailed high above the crossbar.

"We created opportunities in front of the goal but once we were there is where we struggled to finish," Jacobs coach Stephanie Schuck said.