No win, but better result for Wheeling, Meadows
Mid-Suburban East girls soccer rivals Wheeling and Rolling Meadows played to a scoreless draw in the second match of a tournament doubleheader on a bone-chilling Thursday night on the Mustangs' home turf.
One night after each side had suffered disappointing divisional losses, both coaches were pleased to see signs of life.
"Better, much better," said Wheeling (1-7-1) coach Darren Llewellyn of the effort his club put forth for the second consecutive night, and after the Wildcats played divsion co-leader Elk Grove hard for 80 minutes, only to fall 1-0. "You have to remind yourself that we don't have a lot of depth, and we are still going through plenty of growing pains, so to get the results we did these past two matches, and to see the girls begin to do some of the little things, especially tactically, is all a positive, in my mind."
Mustangs coach Jeff Adkins felt there was nowhere to go but up and forward for his side, particularly after the Mustangs were rocked 5-1 at the hands of Prospect on Thursday.
Making matters worse was the recent loss of sweeper Maddie Conlin to a broken hand, which would bring about the move of the team's leading scorer, Alex Partipilo (13 goals), from up top to the backline in order to take over for Conlin.
Partipilo was superb in her first match at the position, although it appears Adkins has lost his top-goal scorer at the expense of locking down the opponent's offense.
"I've always known that Alex was an excellent player, and because of it I have always been a little tougher on her than others," said Adkins. "But watching the transition she made tonight only proves exactly how good a player she has been, and will be for us, this year and next."
Although the Wildcats have struggled at times in their attack, on a few occasions, such as when the duo of Ellie Grinter and Gina Mazzetta linked with each other in the middle, they proved dangerous. Only stealthy tackling from Partipilo and her backline partner, Amanda Gunn, kept them under wraps.
"We tried to push up to the last man, and have two others run off of our striker up top to help create space for others, and maybe an opportunity or two to get a shot on frame," said Llewellyn, "but we didn't do it enough tonight."
The Mustangs (6-7-2) were at their best when Ann Marie Lynch was on the ball. The talented sophomore directed the attack with enterprising runs and well-paced passes to her midfielders or front-runners Maggie Moran and Evelyn Lopez.
"We moved Maggie up front tonight, and Kelly Adair to the outside, and the move of both really worked well for us tonight," said Adkins.
The best chance of the match came just eight minutes after intermission, when Moran had a go after Lynch set her up, but the chance was stopped with confidence from all-area keeper Chloe Majkowski.
Majkowski got great support from defenders Anna McQueen, Stephanie Valerio and Kelsey Maczko, and from Nataly Del Toro, who blocked a shot by Amanda Sanchez in the first half.
"We held a players-only meeting earlier today to work out some of the kinks and to help improve our communication (as) a team, and the result wasn't the victory that we wanted, but it was a big improvement over our match last night with Prospect," said Partipilo.
Maine West 1, Fenton 0: Rachel Laznowski's goal in the second half not only broke a scoreless tie, it also helped break a five-game losing streak in which Maine West had been mired.
The Warriors (4-5-1) defeated Fenton 1-0 Thursday afternoon in the tournament opener for both clubs at Rolling Meadows to help erase a dreary two weeks of soccer which ended with losses to Central Suburban powers New Trier and Maine South.
"It feels real good to finally get back on the winning side of things," said Maine West coach Aaron Fleming, who saw a glimmer of hope for his club, even in the defeat against rival Maine South. "We opened against (South) with some of our best soccer of the season before falling apart in the second half, but we were all encouraged by that first half and it carried over today against Fenton."
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the Warriors was the dynamic pair of Bison strikers had on display in Jessica Falco and Ruby Cazares. In the first half, they showed flashes of how potent they could be.
"Both (girls) can be very dangerous up top for us, and you could see that in the second half today," said Fenton coach Victor Ruiz. "However, as a team, we have to do better and finish our chances when we have them, and we just weren't able to do that in this match."
The Warriors' quartet in the middle - Annaliese Walsten, Rosa Gonzalez, Ailish O'Connell and Laznowski - were active in the early stages, but unable to connect with leading scorer Dontina Walsten with enough consistency for the senior to advance deeply against Fenton (6-5-1).
Falco had the best chance of the half, which came in the 26th minute with a blast from the right side that forced West keeper Amy Ksandr to save.
The combination of Falco's lightning speed with the straight-ahead quickness and power of Cazares put the Warriors' faithful on edge in the opening minutes of the second half, but a gorgeous ball from the right side by Walsten found an unmarked Laznowski, who buried her one-timer from close range.
Consecutive corners from Stefanie Ronge of Fenton created a scrum or two near the 6-yard box, and if not for a timely clear from Maggie McCabe, the Bison may have found the late equalizer.
"We had to move some people around in the back, including Ailish (O'Connell) who did a great job helping neutralize the speed of (Falco) with her terrific quickness. I was very proud of her effort today," Fleming said.
The Warriors meet Wheeling in second-round play Saturday morning.