Girls soccer: Willowbrook rolls to Gold triumph
Willowbrook returned home Tuesday a little bit tired and somewhat deflated after a couple of rough games on Saturday and Monday in the Plainfield North Invite.
The Warriors put their recent past behind them and seemed to have fresh legs as five players found the back of the net in a 6-0 victory over Leyden in West Suburban Gold action.
"We have been playing all 19 players every game," Warriors coach Julio Del Real said. "It's a luxury we have right now and it's something I've never had personally. And the thing is, the dropoff is not that much when we put in the girls that don't usually start."
Willowbrook (6-4-1) got the first of two goals from sophomore Grace Tumilty in the 28th minute, and it was all the scoring the Warriors needed.
"I just took it in," she said. "I didn't think it was going in, but it went in. Me and Lizzy Florey have been the top scorers, but we have a nice mix. That's what's nice about this year. It's not just one scorer and I'm getting a lot of shots as a midfielder."
Tumilty said the team quickly moved past its recent losses.
"We knew we were coming into conference tonight and we want to step up for conference games," she said. "We just tried to get through those tournament games. We knew they were going to be tough. We held Naperville Central to 0-0 in the first half but just got tired and stuff, so we let that go and got back to playing today."
Erinn Bell scored with 4:20 remaining in the first half to give the Warriors a 2-0 cushion at the break. That cushion inflated quickly in the second half when Caitlyn Owen, Juliana Paulsen, Florey and Tumilty each scored.
"We came out hungry for goals," Owen said. "We know the last time was a lot closer so once we scored that first one, we kept pushing harder to get it done."
Willowbrook had already beaten Leyden 3-1 on March 19 in the Reavis Invite. The Eagles (3-8) were shut out for just the second time this season and first time in their last 10 games.
Freshman Erin Fitzgibbon led the Warriors with a pair of assists. Brooke Vandergrift, Maura Heneghan and Tumilty also had assists. Goalkeeper Ditza Montesinos earned the shutout.
"We're all so close to each other, so mentally we always are there to lift each other up," Owen said. "So if we're down, we pick each other up. If we're sore, we stretch more. We're always looking to pick each other up. When anything is going wrong, we get stronger in that area."
After getting shut out in its previous two games, the Warriors, at least for one game, seem to have figured out what it was lacking offensively.