Girls soccer: Schaumburg confidently stops Wheeling
Schaumburg's girls soccer team hit for 7 goals in the first half at Gary Scholz Stadium on Wednesday afternoon as the host Saxons (2-7-1, 1-2-0) ran past Wheeling 7-0 to claim their first league victory of the season.
Emma Aguilar and Kayla Kowal made it 2-0 before the 10th minute, and the hosts kept the pressure on throughout the first half.
"We really needed this win today," said Kowal, who scored twice and assisted on another after striking the lone goal for the Saxons on Monday, when Schaumburg drew 1-1 with Mid-Suburban West rival Fremd. "We had a rough week last week at the St. Charles East tournament where we played hard but still went 0-3. And although we gained back a little confidence from that game with Fremd, today's win gave us a big boost heading into tomorrow, when we play Barrington."
The Wildcats (1-5-0, 0-3-0) were coming off their first victory of the season after a 10-1 triumph over Elgin Academy earlier in the week. But when coach Dwayne Cruz's club conceded 2 goals in a span of 60 seconds, it gave a little hint of what was to come.
"This is a great group of girls to coach and to be around, but technically we just cannot match the opponents we face in this conference, plus we're short on experience, and have little depth to be able to compete with the rest of the conference," said Cruz. "We had our best game of the year on Monday with Daisy (Guerrero) and Emma Fister each scoring twice, and (Carolyn) Webber getting a hat trick. But we had our troubles today, even though we played hard for 80 minutes."
After a slow start, the game burst to life when keeper Laura Mendez made a fearless close-range stop on Aguilar, only to watch the Saxons sophomore score in the eighth minute.
Moments later, Mendez was booked for her tackle on Aguilar on a 50-50 ball just inside the box, sending Kowal to the spot for PK, which she converted.
Seven minutes later it was 3-0 when the first of Gina D'Orazio's 2 goals found the net. Kowal helped created the second D'Orazio goal by gaining an advantage along the back and then finding her teammate for a shot.
"We connected our passes really well tonight, and our communication was much better also, which really helped pick everyone up, especially our younger players," said Kowal.
Giselle Sanchez, who took over for Mendez in goal, made a couple of stops before the intermission. Guerrero, a senior, along with Webber and Fister, a junior forward, earned praised from Cruz afterward. Each had their moments - Guerrero with two sharp tackles as the Wildcats' last defender to deny potential goal-scoring opportunities for Schaumburg.
It went to 6-0 just after the half-hour with Cassidy Watson and then Christina Kim finding the back of the net. Kim's goal came after some quality set-up work from Watson and Aguilar.
Kowal put an exclamation point on the first 40 minutes with her fourth goal of the season just minutes before the break.
"Yes, this was a win that we badly needed," said Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat. "We took advantage of what was given us tonight, and did a very good job of just playing simple - which included some nice possession, spacing, playing wide and with quick touches, and some good service here and there. Now we'll see where we are at when we play the best team in the MSL when we go to Barrington on Thursday."
Fremd 1, Prospect 1 (OT): Prospect's Ella Marzolf's scored a goal in the first half on an assist from Aly Kobler. Fremd equalized in the second half on a goal by Julia Szylke before the teams battled through 20 minutes of scoreless OT.
Barrington 4, Rolling Meadows 0: MSL-leading Barrington went to 4-0-0 in league play after a victory at Rolling Meadows, using goals from Soph Spinell, Ellie Stodola, Anna Brojdian and freshman Ashley Prell to earn 3 more points. Annika Lutz recorded the shutout for the Fillies.
Palatine 2, Buffalo Grove 1: Mary Kate Healey's second-half goal proved to be the difference for the host Pirates.
Mackenzie Filian assisted on Healey's goal, and Kacie Filian scored for Palatine (4-2-3) in the first half.
Georgette Topalis had BG's goal on a PK in the second half.
Conant 2, Hoffman Estates 0: The Cougars got a pair of first-half goals - Zoe Shoro scored with an assist from Jessica Smeltzer, and Stephanie Mazurek converted a PK - to claim a win over the MSL West foe Hawks as Taylor Cyr got a shutout in goal.