Girls soccer: WW South keeps clean sheet to claim Wheaton Cup
Wheaton Warrenville South seemed determined to keep a clean sheet Tuesday night.
"We went hard to the ball and tried to win all the 50/50s and be the first ones to the ball," WW South central defender Maddie Monaco said. "We didn't want them to get any shots."
Host Wheaton North managed 5 shots, requiring 2 saves from WW South goalkeeper Abbie Brennan, who moved into the school's top five all time with the shutout. Brennan's back line did the job in front of her, keeping the Falcons at a distance for a 1-0 Tigers victory.
"The last few games they've been scoring on us. We started off with a bunch of shutouts, so it feels good. I know Abbie will be happy," Monaco said.
"Their defense does a really good job of trying to get a body in front of players as you're trying to get behind them," added Falcons coach Tim McEvilly.
The Tigers still hope to get central defender Molly Fank back in a few weeks from a stress fracture in her foot. But sophomore Becca Hauenstein, Monaco, senior Maria Dohse and junior Sam Buol stayed organized in the back, keeping the Falcons at a distance. The Tigers' back four played the full 80 minutes together.
"It is coming together," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "Whether or not that's what it looks like at the end, I don't know. But right now it's working. So it's a nice clean sheet."
Tigers senior Paige Miller, a Northwestern recruit, scored her fifth goal of the season, heading in a 15th-minute corner kick from J.J. Aalbue.
Other than that, the Falcons defense also held up very well. The Tigers fired 17 shots, and Falcons sophomore goalkeeper Hanley Elftmann stayed busy, making 8 saves.
"They were only dramatically dangerous for us on the corner kicks in the first half," McEvilly said. "If they're shooting from 35 yards out or 40 yards out, we'll take that. None of those shots ever ended up dangerous. So Hanley handled those. She wasn't called on to make extraordinarily dangerous saves. We did a great job keeping things in front of us. The second half was a very, very competitive soccer game."
The victory gave the Tigers (7-3, 1-2) their first DuKane Conference victory. It also gave them the Wheaton Cup.
"Well it's my senior year and it's our third time in a row, so it's awesome," Monaco said. "It's the best feeling beating North, obviously. We have 11 seniors on the team who have been playing together for so long, so I know it just means so much to everyone that we won this game."
Wheaton North fell to 7-7-1, 2-2.