St. Charles East hands Batavia its 1st loss
Playing in late afternoon sunshine, it was St. Charles East's girls soccer team that shone brightly in Tuesday's Upstate Eight Conference River contest with Batavia.
The Saints settled into the match first, had their short passing game working well and were generally more aggressive. And while the hosts spoke after the match at Norris Stadium of their need to be sharper when shooting toward goal, St. Charles East finished the match on the happier side of a 3-0 score line.
The Saints (10-0, 3-0) adjusted their attacking players. Darcy Cunningham played in the center of the team's attack. Sophie Jendrzejczyk played just behind that trio as an attacking midfielder. Claire Rasmussen, Chantel Carranza and Hannah Kolb were among those who plied the wings.
Together, this attacking group caused trouble throughout the match. Cunningham scored one goal and had a pair of assists while Jendrzejczyk and Hannah Kolb also scored.
"I thought it was a great flow," Cunningham said. "There was a lot of interchange, which I like. We all work well together. I think the great thing about this year is I can trust anybody on the outside to get the ball in."
At halftime, the Saints only led 1-0 on Kolb's 27th-minute goal from a Cunningham lead pass between Batavia defenders. But there were other chances. Cunningham forced a one-on-one save from Batavia goalie Jenny Scara in the sixth minute while Carranza hit a right-to-left shot through the penalty area wide nine minutes into the match. Late in the half, Rasmussen hit a cross-shot wide from the right wing.
Lacking possession and struggling to get its offense moving, Batavia (6-1-3) attempted to work some halftime adjustments. The second half began with the Saints again ascendant and two goals in the opening quarter-hour sealed the outcome.
"We were lucky it was only 1-0," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "We were just booting the ball and weren't too composed. I think the girls kind of psyched themselves out before we got here."
Playing in central midfield behind Jendrzejczyk for the Saints was Shannon Gatehouse, a junior who along with Kelli Santo Paulo helped dictate the tempo of the hosts' play.
"We control everything going up and funneling things toward our forwards so (Cunningham, Jendrzejczyk and Santo Paulo) can get up and score," Gatehouse said. "I don't mind being the one being behind the goal. But we push ourselves to be the ones who assist for the goals."
Cunningham took a pass from Carranza to score in the 10th minute of the second half while a Cunningham cross was headed in by Jendrzejczyk three minutes later to complete the scoring. But there were also misses. In one sequence, Jendrzejczyk hit the crossbar and the left post. Scara made strong saves and Carranza hit a shot over the crossbar on other promising attacking moves.
"We have a lot of things we can work on," St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. "We have some training sessions now where we are going to be relentless in putting the ball away. We want to work on it until they feel that every time the ball touches their foot, the next touch is going to be in the back of the net."
Down three goals, Batavia began to pour forward in the final quarter-hour. Keegan Maris forced an Alison Chesterfield save, Karina Rosales shot into the side netting and Lexi Slome forced another Chesterfield save.
"We didn't match their intensity," Gianfrancesco said. "They were much more physical than us. You can't sustain as much pressure as they had and not have opportunities created. Eventually, they're going to go in the back of the net. At the end of the day, it's one game and we need to throw it away and move on to the next one."
Having played four matches in five days, the Saints have a week between matches before facing Elgin.
"We've come up against some good competition in the last eight days," Jennison said. "We're answering questions among ourselves about what we can do when we're put under pressure. We're not getting ahead of ourselves. It's a long season."