Schaumburg remains unbeaten
Schaumburg maintained its perfect start to the girls soccer season by defeating Crystal Lake South 4-0 Saturday afternoon in nonconference action on the Saxons’ home pitch.
Returning all-area midfielder Kelsey Steenstrup had a hand in 3 of the 4 goals, including her second of the contest after her club had dominated play for nearly 15 minutes following intermission to all but put away the Gators (1-2-0).
Crystal Lake South has fallen twice to Mid-Suburban West foes through the season’s first two weeks.
“Conant and Schaumburg are both very good soccer teams, and today, after getting off to a good start, we kind of let things slip a little after (Schaumburg) scored their first goal,” said Gators coach Brian Allen, whose team fell to Conant by the same 4-0 score April 14 in Hoffman Estates. “And then we didn’t really respond very well when we got down a goal, much like we did against Conant in our season opener.”
“(CL South) started well, but I really feel like we kind of took over after we scored our first goal, and we didn’t let up much after that, especially when we had the wind at our backs in the second half,” said Steenstrup, who last season led the Saxons (4-0-0) in scoring with 14 goals on the way to a 15-3-3 record, just 1 point away from representing the division in the MSL Soccer Bowl against East champion Hersey. “Our goal this season is to go much further than we did a year ago, and so far, we’ve gotten off to a good start. But we’ve got a big match next Wednesday against Fremd, and that’s one we’re all looking forward to right now.”
The visitors seemed to have the proper energy from the onset to take advantage of a howling tailwind and created a trio of corners — but the inability to get anything at Saxons keeper Tressa Palcheck in the first quarter-hour came back to haunt the Gators.
At 20 minutes, Steenstrup received a ball at midfield with 10 yards of empy space in front of her. The junior carried freely into the box before hitting a low drive to the right of South keeper Elizabeth Quinn, who had little chance to stop the shot.
The Saxons seemed to confound their guests with a 3-5-2 formation, which they introduced for the first time this season, and with so much depth at midfield with Becky Sneddon, Teagan Eberle, Steenstrup and the addition of Stephanie Pouse, a two-time all-area defender, the hosts had the ability to largely control tempo and direction of play. The Gators struggled to win possession and connect their passes, especially after Jenna Eaker made it 2-0 with some superb setup work from Steenstrup and Brittany Washko.
“We still have some work to do on this (new) formation, but today, our outside midfielders did a great job getting free, and creating some good opportunities for their teammates up top,” said Saxons coach Greg Charvat.
The Gators’ backline of Ellen Brunner, Emily Hamrick and the sophomore-freshman duo of Emily Schoenfeldt and Audrey Collard did well to stay organized in the opening exchanges after the break.
But Ariel Larocco’s dazzling run and carry along the endline led to an easy one-timer from Steenstrup at 53 minutes. Eight minutes later, Sneddon zig-zagged her way in close enough to steer her shot just inside the post and a diving Quinn.
“We’re still sorting some things out here and there, so it’s going to take some time to get to where we want to be,” said Allen, “but credit Schaumburg. They’re a very good team, one that can take advantage of an opponent when they have their chances.”
The Gators begin pool play at the South Elgin tournament on Monday at Millenium Field in Streamwood at 2 p.m. against Hampshire.
“Our match with Fremd is a big one,” said Charvat. “We have a chance early against one of our division rivals to take a step forward, so it should be a good one.”