Glenbard West blanks Maine West
Glenbard West was in control from the onset as senior striker Lauren Davis scored in the sixth minute as the Hilltoppers earned a 4-0 victory over Maine West on Tuesday morning in the breakfast special at the Springfest Soccer tournament at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.
The victory was the first in pool play for Glenbard West (1-2-2), which lost its opener on Monday, then played a scoreless tie with Fenwick. Davis and her teammates await the results from other pool play action to find out what trophy they will be playing for Wednesday in Schaumburg.
“It felt very good to get our first win after two tough matches yesterday in our first day at the tournament,” said Davis, who blew past a pair of defenders down the right side before unleashing a low drive off of Maine West keeper Sara Stepanovich at the near post.
“This is a fantastic group of girls that I have, they play hard, they train hard, and they always are upbeat,” said Warriors coach Mike Divincenzo. “All we need is more time to train, and work on the little things, and by the time the end of the season comes around, we’re going to be a team to watch.”
Divicenzo, who built the boys program to be one of the best in the area last season, opened with a 4-5-1 formation, with Rosa Gonzalez the lone striker up top. But after his best defender, Ailish O’Connell, left midway through the first half with a possible concussion, and with the Hilltoppers leading 2-0 on a Kaitlin Moore strike just minutes before intermission, the Warriors’ coach switched to a 4-3-3 after the break. The idea was to slow a Glenbard West attack which was steadily heading one way through most of the first half.
“We’ve been creating chances in our other matches prior to (Tuesday) but not finishing,” said Glenbard West coach Maciek Kusmierz. “But the hope is that we will build some confidence after scoring 4 goals today.”
Moore nearly helped Davis get into the back of the net at 24 minutes when the sophomore tricked her way into the area before laying off a wonderful ball to her teammate. But the shot was high.
Moments later however, Moore ran onto a long throw from Abby Ohrnstein to increase the lead.
“It’s always important to get that first goal in any game, but it was even better to see us score as many goals as we did today,” said Davis.
After the break, Divincenzo liked what he saw from the trio of Annaliese Walsten, Kelly Adamek and Gonzalez up top. But the Hilltoppers’ midfield won too many first and second balls and continued to tackle with nearly flawless accuracy. That prevented the Warriors (2-5-0) to muster much of anything at either Anna Sloane or Michelle Vonachen, who split time in goal for Glenbard West.
Orrnstein made it 3-0 ten minutes into the second half, and Davis ended the scoring four minutes later, sending most of the starters from both clubs to the bench for good.
“I was really proud of how hard our second team played in those final 12-15 minutes, and that’s indicative of what this team is all about,” said Divincenzo.
Glenbard West later fell 1-0 to Cary-Grove in its final match in pool play.