Forward thinking serves Wheeling
Freshman forward Alexa Laureano struck for 2 goals and Cindy Castillo converted a 34th-minute penalty kick to help lift Wheeling to its first victory of the season Monday night over visiting Maine West 3-1 in a nonconference match.
“It was a long time coming, but this was a well deserved win tonight by the girls,” said Wheeling coach Darren Llewellyn. “We’ve played three undefeated teams thus far, Buffalo Grove, Hersey and Schaumburg, and another great program in Barrington, and we’ve obviously had our trouble with all of them. But this team has never given in and continues to play and train hard, and tonight they finally were able to earn their first victory.”
“I think with (4) freshmen, and a bunch of players new on the varsity, it’s really taken us awhile to understand what coach (Llewellyn) wants from us, and how to play his system,” said Wheeling senior Gina Mazetta, who along with Laureano proved to be a handful for the Warriors. “But I really feel we’re slowly coming around, and tonight is just exactly what all of us needed to help with our confidence.”
“We did not start well tonight,” said Maine West coach Mike Divincenzo. “For the second time this year, we allowed a goal in the first couple of minutes of a game, and that usually is not a good sign of how your night is going to go.”
Wheeling went on the offensive from the opening whistle and forced the Warriors (4-5-0) to defend. Mazetta, Laureano and Castillo kept the pressure on the visitors, who conceded a stream of troublesome touches in their own end until Laureano struck for the first goal of the match at three minutes after taking a superb ball up the left side from Mazetta.
“Teams we’ve played have found out that those two up top have speed to burn, and if given just a little space, can be gone and in on the keeper,” said Llewellyn.
Laureano went just inside the post and past keeper Sam VanWees, and nearly sprung Mazetta three minutes later, if not for an offsides flag when an aggressive high trap caught the Wildcats.
“I thought we played (too) aggressively with our trap, and when you do, you either live or die playing that way,” said Divincenzo. “Tonight we died twice, and actually gave up all 3 goals on counters.”
The Warriors came alive after their tough start, and when they began to find Annaliese Walsten, Joanne Stanfa and Alexa Prosperi more often at midfield, their attack started to open opportunities, leading up to the Prosperi’s equalizer at 22 minutes.
“Our halfback got beat on that side, and we didn’t defend well as a team after that, and that’s why (Maine West) was able to get even,” said Llewellyn.
A poorly timed tackle brought down Mazetta in the box, and Castillo calmly drove her attempt from the spot into the back of the net to give the Wildcats (1-6-0) a 1-goal advantage at the break.
The visitors enjoyed the run of play after intermission and right on through the hour mark, thanks in part to the work of Cara Franke, Rachel Laznowski, Stanfa and Walsten. But the speed of Laureano was again the difference as she added to the lead for the Wildcats at 64 minutes when she broke through and tricked her way past VanWees.
“I thought we dominated possession and knocked the ball around really well, but we did not defend well in the midfield or in the back when we needed to, and that may have been the difference for us tonight,” said Divincenzo.
Wheeling keeper Elizabeth McDaniel made her best stop of the match at 78 minutes when she turned around a fierce drive from Stanfa.