Girls soccer: Bartlett's Stark celebrates birthday with goal vs. West Chicago
Sweet Sixteen got a whole lot sweeter in a split second for Bartlett sophomore Laney Stark on Wednesday night at West Chicago.
Stark scored just as the buzzer sounded, putting the final touch on a 5-0 Upstate Eight Conference victory minutes before her teammates serenaded her postgame with Happy Birthday.
"Birthday vibes," she said. "It was a birthday goal. I just yelled for the ball and got in the middle and kicked it in."
Bartlett (3-3-1, 2-0) played like a veteran team that is beginning to find its stride.
"The offensive production was there; we had some real nice combination play," Hawks coach Vince Revak said. "A lot of these girls played excellent games today. I couldn't be happier with the result. We were a little tentative at times trying to feel out the opponent in the first half, but then in the second half we just really took off."
Junior Brooke Baumann scored twice in the first half, including from near the top of the box with just 2:34 remaining in the opening half to stake Bartlett to a 2-0 lead at the break.
"We've got pretty good forwards and pretty good mids who aren't afraid of taking shots, obviously," she said. "I think the longer we work together and the more training we do and combining we do, we're going to get more chances and more goals."
The Hawks scored twice in a 52-second stretch midway through the second half to break the game open.
"They were more aggressive then we were and capitalized on the mistakes we made," West Chicago coach J. Cesar Gomez said. "I think we're like a blinker right now. We're on/off and it's hard for the kids. They look at Bartlett and they go 'Woah, they're big,' and they intimidated us a little bit."
Macy Medendorp scored among a contingent of players from both sides with 18:37 left to play while Viviana Alba entered the scoring column less than a minute later to make it 4-0.
The Wildcats weren't able to create many chances, but with more than half the starting lineup consisting of underclassmen, growing pains are part of the journey.
"We're trying to do too much sometimes and we're moving the ball in a hurry," Gomez said. "We need to move it quicker, but not necessarily in a hurry. Those things are hard and that comes with experience."
A new experience began Thursday for the birthday girl as Stark planned on getting her driver's license first thing Thursday morning.
"I won't have to ask anyone for a ride anymore," she said. "Now I'm going to have my birthday dinner. I'm going to have cake, just cake. Probably vanilla with chocolate icing. You've got to mix it up a little."