Girls soccer notes: York, Wheaton North off to fast starts
York’s got a lot of good things going on.
To begin, the Dukes have a veteran presence with 12 seniors. They have a talented bunch of multi-sport athletes, including seven basketball players. Freshman Cate Carter, sophomore Maggie Quinn and seniors Mia Barton, Stella Kohl, Hannah Meyers, Mia Pretzie and Michaela Quinn recently went from shooting the ball to kicking and heading it.
They have kids who are champions that also bring the unique family vibe to the team as sisters Maggie Quinn and Michaela Quinn are also highly regarded distance runners. Together, they helped the girls cross country team win a state title last fall. Michaela Quinn also helped the Dukes win a title in 2021.
They welcomed two really, really good players for their respective final high school seasons in senior forward Sophia Musial (DePaul) and senior midfielder Kohl (Loyola).
The Dukes are coming off an impressive 15-4-2 season in which they won a regional title.
And now they’ll head into April with a 5-0 record without having surrendered a goal this year. No one, in fact, has scored on the Dukes since May 23, 2023.
“We’re just building off of the good foundation we had and we have a lot of returners including two captains (Michaela Quinn and fellow senior Ava Hansmann) who are four-year starters,” Dukes coach Stevan Dobric said. “We have 12 seniors on the varsity and Stella (Kohl) and Sophia (Musial) hadn’t played (at York) before but are nice addition, seniors who have fit in well and are friends with the girls already. They bring a lot offensively and they work.”
Many of York’s players are accustomed to working with each other on the basketball court, something Dobric has watched convert over to the pitch.
“Having a good, big group of girls playing varsity basketball kind of just makes for a smooth transition for the girls,” he said. “They are together a lot and have good chemistry. We do a lot of preseason workouts for the girls to get to know each other in open gyms and just continuing to build that camaraderie for the program, which has been helpful.”
The Dukes blanked Downers Grove South 3-0 on March 21 and are off until they travel to Downers Grove North on April 2.
“We’re pretty comparable to other schools in the conference,” Dobric said. “In the past we’ve done some tournaments (during spring break), but I don’t like fighting the battle over break so we give them a couple days off and then we’ll practice on Thursday (March 28) to prep for Tuesday.”
Meyers leads the Dukes with seven goals. She also has four assists. Michaela Quinn has six goals and six assists, Musial has five goals and six assists and sophomore midfielder Tatum Mailander has two goals and four assists.
Bohmer’s back to stop the attack
During the fall, as the boys and girls basketball teams often open their season with tournaments around Thanksgiving, it’s not uncommon for some boys teams to be undermanned. That’s because some of their top athletes are still pursuing a state title in football or they’re grieving the end of one sport and recovering a bit before starting another.
The same thing happens in the spring when girls multi-sport athletes transition from the hardwood indoors to turf and natural surfaces, and the unpredictability of Mother Nature outdoors.
One such athlete is Wheaton North senior goalkeeper Zoey Bohmer, who didn’t play in the Falcons’ first three games. She returned on March 19 as the Falcons beat Benet 2-1. Bohmer has already committed to play at Loyola next year.
Bohmer, who posted 12 shutouts last spring, is a key reason why the Falcons have big expectations this season. With her as the last line of defense and sophomore Jane Rogers giving opposing defenses all they can handle with her prolific play, the Falcons are looking to soar.
Rogers scored twice and had an assist while Talia Kaempf earned a hat trick in the Falcons’ 5-1 win over Rockford Boylan on Saturday which improved their record to 4-1.
Last season the Falcons were 2-2-1 through their first five games, which included a 2-1 loss to Rockford Boylan.
Rogers, Kaempf and senior midfielder Addison Falco were named to the all-tourney team in this year’s Wheaton North Kickoff Tournament.
Benet senior midfielder Rani Fikri and sophomore midfielder Annie Fitzgerald were also named to the team. The Redwings tied for third place with Glenbard West whose senior defenders Ellie Beaudoin and Audrey Sawyer received all-tournament accolades as well.
Diedrich continues to soar and score
Asked about any key newcomers joining the team this spring, Hinsdale South coach Jennifer Belmonte said that freshman Brynn Diedrich would be fast and able to score goals immediately.
You think?
Through just four games for the 2-2 Hornets, Diedrich, who helped the girls basketball team advance to state for the first time since Saturday Night Fever hit theaters in 1977, has caught goal-scoring fever with eight goals already along with four assists.