Batavia rolls by Plainfield Central

It took Mackenzie Foster all of about seven minutes to start her soccer season off on the right foot.

Foster, coming off a solid basketball campaign, put a ball into a little bigger net during Batavia's 7-1 season-opening nonconference victory over Plainfield Central Tuesday night at Bulldog Stadium.

The junior midfielder put away a rebound just 6:13 into the contest as part of the Bulldogs' 4-goal first-half onslaught.

A few seconds earlier, a Plainfield Central defender blocked senior midfielder Anna Lins' shot right in front of the net, setting the stage for Foster's point-blank attempt.

"Those type of shots are the ones I kind of freak out about because you're so wide-open," said Foster. "I just hit it hard and it went in."

Nearly 10 minutes later, sophomore midfielder Anna Rakos tallied the first of her 2 goals to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 2-0.

Junior forward Kelly Bleakley sent a right-footed blast past Wildcats keeper Sophia Tuligowski in the 31st minute for a 3-0 lead, and the Bulldogs also received a bit of good fortune just before halftime.

As Bleakley's shot attempt was creeping toward the goal line, a Plainfield Central defender inadvertently booted the ball into the net for an own goal and a 4-0 halftime advantage.

"We jumped on them right away," said Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco, whose team launched 15 first-half shots. "It was a pretty fast start."

Batavia carried its momentum into the second half, as senior forward Megan McEachern beat Wildcats reserve keeper Brittny White off a long free kick feed from Alyssa Knutson for a 5-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, McEachern added her second goal of the game on a penalty kick.

"It definitely was a good start to the season," said McEachern, one of several returnees back from last year's squad that finished 14-4-4. "We graduated tons of people but I thought we did a good job working together and filling holes."

After Plainfield Central's Arely Sanchez snapped the Bulldogs' shutout bid midway through the second half, Rakos closed out the scoring with a blast into the upper portion of the net.

"We did a better job in the second half of moving the ball up to the forwards instead of just launching it," said McEachern.

Batavia, which faces Wheaton Warrenville South Saturday, defeated Plainfield Central 4-0 in last year's season debut.

"Obviously we've got some things that we need to work on but it was a good start," said Gianfrancesco. "I think everybody had ownership. We had one injured player but 20 people had a hand in us winning today. It's nice to get them that opportunity because that might not happen later on in the year - or even Saturday."