Girls soccer: Schaar helps Schaumburg blank Wheeling
Senior Al Schaar led a 5-goal first half explosion with 2 goals and 3 assists to help lead visiting Schaumburg to an 8-0 Mid-Suburban League girls soccer victory Friday afternoon over Wheeling.
The Saxons' captain bagged her 2 goals before the quarter hour, then turned provider when teammate Jess Beymer recorded her double and freshman Addy Wingard found the back of the net to give the visitors a comfortable advantage at the break.
"We really needed this win today," said the four-year veteran Schaar, who will play next season at Moraine Valley Community College, in Palos Hills.
"You always want to get a win in a conference game, and we haven't won a game in quite a while, so it felt to come out and play well right from the start."
"(Yes) we needed a win badly today," said Saxons coach Greg Charvat. "We recently had a rough go of it against Barrington and Conant and before that we went 3-3 with Buffalo Grove and in the MSL, it's important to get three points as often as you can in order to move up in the table, so this was a good one for us to do just that."
Schaar finished in close after the Wildcats (2-6-0, 0-3-0) were unable to clear the area in the 5th minute before bending her corner attempt off the back post and into the back of the net at 14 minutes.
Schaumburg (2-4-3, 1-2-1) dominated possession after its second goal and deserved its next two when Beymer latched onto a Schaar ball sent into the box at 25 minutes.
Michelle Candotti, who was terrific all throughout in her role as the Saxons' holding-midfielder, made sure the home side was unable to get out of its own end and with her strong effort ensured the visitors would create a few more good chances in the first half.
"Schaar and Candotti played one of their best games together for us in the middle of the park and really helped us control the game," said Charvat.
Wingard made it 4-0 one minute after Beymer's goal, then steered in her angled attempt six minutes before the intermission.
"We've played so much better of late, so I am not really sure what happened to us today," said Wheeling coach Dwayne Cruz.
The Wildcats' head coach is still pleased with his club despite the loss, particularly after its record-breaking effort recently at the Round Lake Invite.
"We won our first tournament title in program history, and that's something all of the girls should be proud of," he said.
"Ally Ferraro continues to play great as our center-back, Kari Weber is such a force for us up top, Jasmine Yuset has been fantastic, and our keeper, Jennifer Mandragon, has kept us in a lot of close games also."
Sophomore Melissa Schneider scored twice just after the break and later, after Katie Smith came on for Livvy Masi between the sticks, it was the senior Masi who drove in the final goal of the day on her very first touch seven minutes from time.
The Saxons will visit MSL West rival Hoffman Estates on Monday, while Wheeling travels to Prospect next Wednesday.