Girls soccer: Kalou scores twice, leads Stevenson over Carmel
Abby Kalou is one of many soccer players glad to be back on the soccer field after missing last season.
The Stevenson senior had suffered a fractured back and would have missed a part of the season last year with the injury.
She has returned healthy this season and scored a pair of goals that led the Patriots past visiting Carmel 2-1 in a nonconference match on Tuesday night in Lincolnshire.
"I actually sat out two years ago, in a playoff game with a bad back," said Kalou, who will be playing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., next fall. "Then, I found out that it was broken at that time. It was a stress fracture and really didn't know about it. Over the last year, I was able to take the time to heal, strengthen my muscles, so it won't happen again."
As for this season, Kalou has scored three goals in helping the Patriots to a 3-1 record.
"I'm feeling good, but had a few hard hits in this one and should be fine," Kalou said. "With the team, I just want to keep the energy positive. We've built such a strong tradition. Our coach PepeJon Chavez has been here since my freshman year. A lot of the girls have been building the program and I just want to keep the tradition as strong as I can before I leave."
Stevenson has improved over the last few years and was a game away from reaching the final four in Class 3A in 2019.
The Patriots still have several girls that played and have returned with younger players and they want to get back to that same level.
"The day the girls can execute will be the day that I will be extremely excited," Chavez said. "They're a group of hard-working individuals that train well, understand what we're asking them to do. But in match play, we're having a tough time executing. Which I have to give credit to Carmel and the other teams we've been playing. They're bringing pressure to us and a tactical plan that's causing us some problems."
Kalou scored the opening goal in the seventh minute off a Carmel (1-2-1) miss cleared ball. Kalou added another in the 45th minute off an assist from Kaitlyn Hong.
The Corsairs got a goal back in the 49th minute from Mia Salvi assisted by Zkylah Barnes.
"It's awesome, getting better to be out here under the lights against a good team," said Carmel coach Stephanie Kile, who had waited a year to start coaching since taking over the program. "I do see a lot of talent from this group. We're trying to find ourselves working together and working as a cohesive unit rather than working as individuals. I think going into the season, we had just 6 players that had played varsity before. Now, it's learning the rhythm, adjusting to the play, speed and everything. I think in time that will come. It's just learning to play with each other."