Girls soccer: Batavia has no problem with Streamwood
The first of many Batavia goals on the evening was as gorgeous as imaginable.
Megan McEachern, a forward for the Bulldogs' girls soccer team, received a feed near midfield.
The senior made brilliant moves against three Streamwood defenders in dribbling the ball all the way into the Sabres' box.
McEachern made one last deke - on the Sabres' keeper - and scored the first of a half-dozen Batavia first-half goals three minutes into the schools' Upstate Eight Conference River Division match.
The Bulldogs' Rachel Reinecke initiated the soccer equivalent of the slaughter rule two-plus minutes into the second in creating a 7-goal separation between the teams.
The remainder of the scoreless second half was halved in time in the Bulldogs' 7-0 victory Tuesday evening in Batavia.
"Somebody (midfielder Mackenzie Foster) gave me the ball at midfield," McEachern said. "I just saw a lot of space. I kept going, and it kind of worked out."
Almost exactly nine minutes later, McEachern and Keegan Maris collaborated on the Bulldogs' second goal.
McEachern offered her junior teammate a wondrous feed from the left side; the Bulldogs' forward had few issues in doubling the lead for Batavia.
Time and again, Batavia created scoring opportunities with long passes against the Sabres' flanks.
Whistled for not being onside on several occasions, Batavia (12-2, 3-0) still managed to make the most of its scoring chances.
"We just played really well as a team tonight," Maris said. "We have been practicing a lot on through balls in practice. We have some really fast girls on the team who know how to finish."
McEachern scored her third point of the match with her second goal less than two minutes after Maris' short conversion to give Batavia a 3-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the match.
Foster tallied moments later for Batavia, and the Bulldogs' cushion was insurmountable midway through the first half when Streamwood had a dreaded own goal.
As one-sided as the match developed, there were still some bright moments for the Sabres (6-9, 0-2).
Streamwood keeper Yasmine Resendiz did everything humanly possible to keep the match competitive.
Finishing with 15 saves, Resendiz had kick saves, lunging stops and saves with either hand.
On four different occasions throughout the contest, Resendiz stopped Batavia breakaways, largely by cutting down the angle.
"She definitely did well when there were breakaways," Streamwood coach Kristin Duffy said of her keeper. "She has been improving on that all season."
Conversely, Batavia keeper Jenny Scara had to stop but 3 Streamwood shots on goal to secure the shutout.
"We're finished with the U-46 schools," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "We still have Geneva and the two St. Charles schools to play. We're trying to get ready for the playoffs. That's what it's all about."