Big win for Pfeiffer, Barrington
The schedule makers have not been kind to Wheeling in the early going.
One day after finding themselves on the short end of a 7-0 final against one of the best in the Mid-Suburban League in Schaumburg, on Thursday evening the Wildcats (0-2-0) were taking on visiting Barrington, another gem in the conference. The Fillies erupted for 5 second-half goals in an 8-0 rout.
Junior Molly Pfeiffer underscored her importance to the Fillies (3-2-0, 2-0-0) with 4 goals, one match after recording a hat trick against Rolling Meadows, to send Barrington into the break on a high note and with 6 points in the league standings.
“Last year we struggled all season long scoring goals, and it’s good to see us score like we have this week, and to see us taking our opponents seriously, and just going about the business and working to get better,” said Barrington coach Ryan Stengren. “We weren’t very sharp at the start, but we finally got things going after getting into the back of the net a couple of times. But I have to give (Wheeling) and Darren (Llewellyn) a lot of credit for the effort and they gave tonight and for the great job he does with his girls, because they never gave in, right up to the very end.”
The Wildcats, with just four returning players on the roster this spring and three freshman starters, stood firm in the first quarter hour and withstood considerable pressure after Pfeiffer opened the scoring at 11 minutes. Senior Kathryn Avedon hit a marvelous free kick, a left-footed strike from long range, to double the visitors lead in the 25th minute.
“We’ve only really had a complete squad together for just a few days, so there’s so much work and teaching that you can accomplish,” said Llewellyn, who will lean heavily on the senior duo of Cindy Castillo and Amanda Peterson while the rest of the squad has its roles defined. “So we went into tonight’s game hoping to hold firm for the first 20 minutes, and the girls responded very well to that. But our downfall, in the end, was our fitness and our inability to challenge almost everthing in the air, because that’s how they scored nearly every goal tonight.”
A quick restart on a dead ball by Avedon and Mia Calamari allowed Pfeiffer to head up and over ’Cats keeper Elizabeth McDaniel, who turned a handful of strikes up and over the bar throughout the evening to help the cause for the hosts.
On a surging carry and run to the top of the box, Sara Condon made it 3-0 with a nice finishing touch to end the scoring in the first half.
After intermission, the Fillies cut through their hosts 18 at will putting 4 into the back of the net in a span of nine minutes to break open the match.
After Pfeiffer won a ball in the area, the all-area striker quickly connected with Aimee Pierce on the other side. After a superb touch to break free of her mark, Pierce turned and faced McDaniel before finishing with a low shot to the right of the junior keeper.
Sophomore Elli Ackermann got into the scorebook thanks in part to Pfeiffer and Calamari, who provided the helpers off a corner. Then it was all Pfeiffer, who put away the next 3 before Stengren brought his top scorer and others off for the rest of the match.
“Wheeling played hard all night, and that says a lot about them as a team,” said both Pfeiffer and Avedon.
“Our schedule leading up to the last two games, with state and nationally ranked teams Naperville North and Neuqua Valley, helps in our preparation for every opponent,” said Stengren. “I really felt that we came out with a purpose tonight, and didn’t take (Wheeling) lightly at all.”