Kaneland opens season in impressive fashion

As they took the field for their season opener on Wednesday, there was a sort of nervous energy about Kaneland's girls soccer team. The Knights are a solid team this year, and they'd been looking forward to this moment since the end of the 2014 campaign.

So in a sense, it mattered little that the opponent was overmatched Hinckley-Big Rock, which has only 13 players in its program this year. Kaneland wanted to enjoy a soccer match together, and for the next 60 minutes of game play, they found plenty of reasons to smile.

Kaneland opened an 8-0 halftime lead, then worked on its possession play through the second half, scored once in the Mercy Rule abbreviated 20-minute period and had its season underway.

"I don't remember the last time we got in our first schedule match of the season," Kaneland season Madison Jurcenko said. "It was good to play today, especially on our field. It was a little cold, but you don't feel that when you're running. And there was no wind, which is kind of rare on our field."

Jurcenko scored in the third minute of the contest after taking a Courtney Diddell pass and rolling the ball into the net.

"I think we've been itching to get on the field and play a game instead of scrimmaging," Jurcenko said. "Regardless of how it turned out, it was fun to start our season. Sometimes you shoot and don't know what to expect. But it went in and after that, it seemed things went a little easier."

Diddell scored one minute later on a long shot and the Knights possessed the ball for the vast majority of the match and kept that possession in the Royals' half of play for most of that time as well.

"I've been playing club, but it's different playing indoor than playing outdoor on a big field," Kaneland junior Gabby Cano said. "We need to get out and adjust to this as a team."

Diddell scored two goals, as did Abby Taylor and Lindsay Penkala. In addition to Jurcenko, solo goal scorers for the Knights included Holly Collingbourne and Taylor Opperman. For a team with great experience, freshmen Taylor and Penkala showed the strength possessed by the squad's newcomers.

"I thought we played well for our first game," Cano said. "We have five new people on varsity and it was good to start with them. We're like a family. We hang out once soccer season starts. We literally see each other all day and we get really close."

The season quickly enters its grinding pattern. Weather permitting, the Knights play four matches in their first week, including a match next Wednesday at rival Rosary.

"We got everybody in and everybody got quality minutes, so that's good," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo said. "We weren't perfect, but I don't expect us to look perfect in the first game. But overall, the fact that we got 19 girls in - I can't complain about that."