A day at beach for Jones, Wildcats
With the possible exception of lounging beachside in Cancun or somewhere, West Chicago's Jessica Jones had about as good a day during spring break as you can have.
Jones scored 4 goals in the Wildcats' 6-0 girls soccer win over Glenbard East in the DuPage Valley Conference opener for both teams in West Chicago.
"It's a great feeling, and those shots were just coming off for me," Jones said. "But it was a team effort.
"Coach always says it doesn't matter who scores, as long as it gets in. It's a team effort no matter what, and we're all always looking for the goal."
"It's nice to have somebody who can kick it like that," Wildcats coach Cesar Gomez said of Jones.
West Chicago (3-2, 1-0) withstood a strong opening 20-plus minutes of play by Glenbard East (0-2-1, 0-1), which played without two starting forwards.
The absence of their usual forwards had the Rams possessing well through the midfield but struggling to find dangerous space from which to launch legitimate shots on net.
"If I thought they got outplayed and outhustled today, I would have told them that. But I think we're moving in the right direction," said Rams coach Gregg Koeller. "I thought that for good periods of the game, we really did control things.
"We'll just have to be patient."
Jones broke the ice in the 26th minute, and her two first goals were nearly identical. She dribbled up the right side on a counterattacking run and fired inside the far post from 16 yards out, then did it again in the 34th minute.
Melanie Fischer made it 3-0 on a penalty kick goal before halftime, and the Wildcats had the Rams on the ropes.
"When you score first, sometimes you can dictate the rhythm of the game after that," Gomez said. "We're going to get scored on this year, but we want to play the South American style. We want to attack.
"We want the kids to have fun, and so far it's working."
Jones ran down a ball on the left side, cut it back and fired inside the far post from 18 yards out to make it 4-0 in the second half, Anna Mercaldo scored in the box from 12 yards out, and Jones put her fourth goal in net in the game's final minute.
"We have a lot of respect for Glenbard East and the whole DVC," Jones said. "We're just grateful to have the win."