Girls soccer: Batavia's fast start continues at Streamwood

The Batavia girls soccer team continued to steamroll through its competition on Thursday with a 7-0 Upstate Eight River Division win over Streamwood at Millennium Field.

The Bulldogs improved to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the River Division.

"These girls have an incredible competitive drive," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "They are locked in and focused on what they want to do and the goals they want to reach."

The Bulldogs wasted no time pulling out to the lead against the Sabres. Keegan Maris scored just 2:07 into the game and then scored again less than 3 minutes later to make it 2-0 before most fans had even settled into their seats. Both of Maris' goals came on passes from Cameron Hindel.

"Cameron sent a perfect ball both times," Maris said. "I was just in the right place at the right time. Coach always emphasizes the importance of the first 5 minutes of every half. It sets the tone and establishes a rhythm."

Maris now has 8 goals on the season.

"The whole team is playing really well," Maris said. "It's a very talented group of girls willing to work really hard every game."

Hindel and Shelby Key added first half goals to make it 4-0 at halftime.

"We were able to jump on them right away by getting through their high line and not falling into the offsides trap," Gianfrancesco said. "We had good movement off the ball and switched up our points of attack."

Hindel scored a second goal in the second half and Jessica Sneesby added 2 goals. The second goal by Sneesby came with 34:24 left to play to make it 7-0 which invoked the mercy rule and cut the time remaining in the game in half.

The Bulldogs have allowed only 2 goals all season. The Sabres (1-5, 0-3) managed just 1 shot on goal.

"They are obviously a very talented team," Streamwood coach Kristen Duffy said. "We had problems marking people. We tried a different defensive alignment and there were some times when we got confused. It's something we'll work on."