Girls soccer: Waubonsie Valley handles Batavia
Waubonsie Valley's girls soccer team started a bit slowly Monday night at Batavia, but once the Warriors got started, they seized control quickly.
Roxy Zieba and Megan Burling scored less than a minute apart in the first half to propel Waubonsie to a 4-1 win.
Burling scored twice, Jillian Macaluso recorded 2 assists, and Grace Setter had a goal and an assist for Waubonsie, which won its second straight to open the season.
Ashley Whelpley scored the goal for Batavia (2-1).
The Bulldogs came out of the gate fast, putting a shot on goal in the first minute and getting 5 straight shots. But things changed quickly after Waubonsie Valley got a free kick in the Batavia end. It went to Setter who hit Zieba in stride and Zieba put the ball in from point-blank range.
The dust had barely settled from that score when Macaluso set up Burling in good position. Her shot found the back of the net to put the Warriors ahead 2-0.
Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom liked her team's "ability to put it in the back of the net when we had the chances."
"We learned from the problem that was in front of us, like how do we adjust to different formations, how do we play our game still," Bergstrom said.
Batavia stemmed the flow for the rest of the first half, but the visitors struck again in the first minute after the break when Setter lofted a shot over everybody that dropped into the net.
Whelpley finally got the Bulldogs on the board, heading in a cross from Anna Holcombe, but the Warriors answered with Burling's goal on a nice cross from Macaluso.
While Waubonsie Valley was able to bury its shots in the net, the Bulldogs struggled in that department.
"If you just look at, not the goals, then we looked pretty good," said Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco. "But we just didn't finish when we had the chance. We had way more corner kicks. I would say they probably had 5 shots on goal and 4 of them went in. And that's kind of the way it went, unfortunately."
Nicole Klerononos made 14 saves in goal for Waubonsie Valley including a couple of acrobatic ones, as when she punched away Holcombe's rocket on a free kick late in the first half. Holcombe also hit the crossbar from close range midway through the second.