Schaumburg overcomes West Chicago

West Chicago is changing things in back this spring.

Schaumburg senior Kayla Kowal hopes to help turn around a Saxons program that hasn't had a winning season since 2012.

The Wildcats looked strong on defense, but Kowal seized one of the scarce prospects to put one in the back of the net, hammering home the lone goal with 23:31 left in the second half to lift the Saxons to a 1-0 victory.

"I just saw the ball bouncing in front of the goal and knew I had to take a shot right away and keep it low so the goalkeeper couldn't get it," Kowal said. "I knew it was one of the only opportunities we'd have to put it in the back of the net so as soon as I saw the ball bouncing I knew it was my chance to take."

Kowal also a decent shot midway through the first half, but it sailed high and wide, while teammates Melissa Nava, Dana Kiszkowski, Christina Kim and Gina D'Orazio, among others, kept the pressure on the Wildcats with shot and well distributed free kicks while limiting West Chicago's chances.

"Offensively, we would like to be more creative so we want to make sure we get more scoring chances," Saxons coach Greg Charvat said. "I don't think we took advantage of the chances we had and we didn't have enough of them. We'll take the win though and Kayla's goal was big for us. She made it happen."

One of five seniors in the starting lineup, Kowal is hopeful that victory No. 1 is the start of great things for the program.

"It feels awesome to be starting the season by getting a win in our second game," she said. "It sets the tone for the rest of the season so we want to keep this up and keep winning more from here."

Schaumburg (1-0) really limited West Chicago's chances as it controlled possession for the majority of both halves. It was certainly an improvement compared to Monday's 3-1 loss to Bartlett.

"We definitely saw some improvement there. They learned their lesson," Charvat said. "We stayed much more organized then we did against Bartlett so it's always good to see improvement from one game to the next."

West Chicago (0-1) senior Katie Reitz had the ball at her feet on a few occasions where she was able to send a threat Schaumburg's way but each one was thwarted by the defense or a shot gone awry.

"We couldn't connect with Maddie Aguilar and she's supposed to be the creative part of the puzzle here," Wildcats coach J. Cesar Gomez said. "Nothing happened there, but we were able to find Katie Reitz up top, but I think the idea is to get it and then find someone to go with her and we haven't found that yet. Hopefully it'll come with more practice."

Reitz went 1-on-1 with a defender with just a little over 11 minutes remaining but couldn't get past her and attempt a shot. The Wildcats wouldn't threaten the remainder of the game.

"We're kind of hoping that our touches will get better along with our fitness as we go along," Gomez said. "We'll find teams that we'll beat and others that will take advantage of our three in back, but we're going to stick with it.

"I thought it was a good, well played game and the girls did what we asked them to do today."