advertisement

Paganucci returning to form at right time for Glenbard East

Tuesday was the first time in weeks Brittany Paganucci felt 100 percent in a soccer match.

That was good news for her Glenbard East squad, and for opposing Bartlett … well, not so much.

Paganucci, a lightning-quick junior forward, used her speed to score a second-half hat trick to lead the Rams to a 3-1 victory over the Hawks at Streamwood's Millennium Field.

The victory improved East to 10-9-2 overall and 1-3-1 in the Upstate Eight Valley but afterward, the buzz was all about Paganucci and her goal-scoring prowess.

"She sat for eight games with a foot injury, and she's just now getting back to 100 percent and she looked it," said East coach Kent Overbey. "She hasn't been playing her full minutes since March. We rely on her heavily.

"This is how she was playing at the beginning of the year and then she took some time off. She's finally getting back, and it's perfect timing. We've got four games going into the state tournament."

Paganucci was a clear and present danger for Bartlett all afternoon. She nearly scored in the 23rd minute with a drive down the center of the field, beating a defender in the process and firing a shot wide right past drawn-out Bartlett sophomore goalkeeper Nykia Wetterman.

It took her until the 57th minute to finally score, but when she did, it was a similar play. She took a long pass down the right-center of the field and blasted a shot into the left corner of the net past drawn-out junior goalkeeper Tessa Jatczak.

Ten minutes later, it was essentially the same exact play, with a shot buried into the left corner of the net that gave the Rams a 2-0 lead.

Bartlett managed to score its only goal in the 72nd minute, when sophomore Brooke Bednarke corralled a rebound off a shot by freshman teammate Jenna Dombrowski and dropped it into the center of the net. Suddenly, the potential of an equalizing goal by the Hawks was a real possibility.

But Paganucci and her signature play ended those hopes 4 minutes later, as she accepted another long pass down the center, beat one defender and dropped a shot into the center of the net past a drawn-out Jatczak.

"It's us connecting key passes to get in," Paganucci said of the secret to her success Tuesday. "To get in behind, I had to work the back line. I was off a couple of times, but I learned to come across the defense and recycle my runs and then I just got a better position than the defender did and the took a longer touch and then slid it past."

"It's not just being able to get through and having the speed to get in behind," Overbey added. "We expect our forwards to work up top and put pressure and that was the first time she's been back in shape enough and her speed was up to 100 percent."

Even Bartlett coach Ben Beary had to admit that East's, and Paganucci's, quickness made the difference.

"They had a lot of speed up top," Beary said. "We had a lot of possession first 20, 30 minutes, and it gets frustrating as a team and you could see us play a little frustrated when we've got much possession and we're not breaking through. I knew (East was) dangerous and they were just one or two breakthroughs away from getting on the board."

Bartlett leveraged its early possession to put itself in position to score. In the 7th minute, sophomore Sarah Jurek got loose on a breakaway down the right sideline, and fired a shot from the corner that was grabbed in the air by East junior goalkeeper Sierra Dana.

Ten minutes later, freshman Jenna Dombrowski raced into the right corner, and nailed a pinpoint cross pass to Jurek in the exact middle of the 18-yard box. Jurek fired a shot toward the right corner of the goal post, but it was deflected out of bounds by Dana.

Another golden opportunity came just after halftime. In the 45th minute, junior Mariela Alba took a free kick that dropped just in front of teammate Marian Martinez, conveniently stationed in front of the Rams' net. She took a shot but Dana made it one of her 11 saves.

Beary traced some of Tuesday's loss to the after effect of an emotional 6-2 victory over West Chicago on Monday.

"They had beaten us previously so that was a big game that we were getting up for," he said. "Making no excuses, hats off to Glenbard over there."

Bartlett outshot East 14-13, including 9 shots on goal. Wetterman had 4 first half saves for the Hawks, now 8-7-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the UEC Valley.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.