Streamwood breaks out vs. Addison Trail
After losing too many close matches, the Streamwood girls soccer players needed an offensive breakout like Monday's 11-1 nonconference win over Addison Trail at Millennium Field.
Streamwood (4-8) peppered Addison Trail (1-8), a team with only two club soccer players on its roster, with 18 shots. The onslaught could have been worse had the Sabres not hit the crossbar twice in the first half as they were outscoring the overmatched Blazers 8-1.
The prolific offensive performance was a breath of fresh air for the Sabres, who have made a bad habit of losing close contests, most recently Saturday's 2-1 loss to Lockport in the PepsiCo Showdown
"The girls needed a game like this just to build their confidence again," Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. "We've been in some really tight games - even the Lockport game on Saturday - and we had so many quality chances and we just couldn't put them in.
"Today, with about the same amount of chances, we had girls diving for the ball and putting their heads on it and sliding to score, giving up their bodies - whatever it took to put the ball in the back of the net. That's what we want at this point of the season: keep progressing. As we move toward the St. Ed's Tournament this weekend and toward some conference games and especially by the time regionals start in a few weeks, we want to have this all ironed out."
The Sabres got on the board 33 seconds into the action. Kaila Ford, a freshman forward, beat her defender on the left side and sent a deft cross that evaded the reach of Blazers goalkeeper Suzy Ochoa but found the foot of sophomore Shonali Pierce-Vazquez, who swept the ball into an open net.
"We got the ball up quickly, and I didn't expect it to be so quick," said Pierce-Vazquez, who switched between forward and outside midfielder. "Good ball by Kaila and I just happened to be there and put it right in."
The Sabres would go on to score 4 times in the first 6:57, the fourth goal coming on a close-range header by Ford from a beautiful cross from Tawny Carroll. A senior forward, Carroll notched 2 assists on long crosses in addition to scoring Streamwood's second, fifth, seventh and ninth goals.
"One of the things I've actually been working on is trying to get my crosses better, allowing my other midfielders and forwards to have time to help me in the attack," said Carroll, who scored 28 goals as a junior and has 10 so far as a senior. "I think I definitely progressed in this game with my crosses and we got some finishes off them, which is great."
The final score is not representative of the play of Blazers keeper Ochoa. She denied five point-blank chances by Streamwood opportunities.
"Our goalkeeper has come a long way," Addison Trail coach Serio Nunez said of Ochoa. "She started playing three years ago as a freshman. She shows that hard work can really pay off."
Other Offensive leaders for the Sabres included Ford (2 goals, assist), Alondra Blanco (2 goals, assist) and Pierce-Vazquez (2 goals).
"It definitely brought up our confidence and gets us ready for our next game against St. Edward," Pierce-Vazquez said.
Streamwood returns to action against St. Edward on Friday at 5:45 p.m.