Girls soccer: Batavia blanks Wheaton North in DuKane opener

Lily Figueras' speed is proving to be a versatile weapon for the Batavia attack.

Figueras, a Bulldogs junior, flashed those wheels for a goal of her own to help put away Wheaton North 3-0 on a rainy Thursday night.

"[I value my speed] so much," Figueras said. "Especially when I'm playing wide and up [in the formation]. Getting back on defense is also a special part of the win. Also, when [Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco] puts me up top at striker, making those runs and being able to defeat defenders with my speed is honestly a really cool gift so just glad I can do something with that."

Figueras' speed element brings some flexibility to Batavia's formation and personnel decisions.

"She gives us a different look," Gianfrancesco said. "It doesn't matter where we're putting her and that's the flexibility Lily [gives us]. Maybe a little frustration she might have with me, but she's also so flexible in where she can play. You can play her in the back. You can play her on the wing. You can play her up top because of her pace.

"That gives us a different look in challenging teams, depending on what they're showing."

Batavia (3-1, 1-0) scored first on a strike from Ryan Gianfrancesco. Figueras and Riley DiBiase also added goals to complete the shutout.

"I got [the ball] wide," Figueras said of her second half goal. "I was either looking for a cross to see if we had numbers in, or honestly, beat [the Wheaton North defender] in and get a shot off and that's what I did. So I cut inside and got on my right since I'm a left [footed striker] and I hit it low and hard since it was a little rainy, a little slippery. And, luckily, it got a lucky bounce off of [Falcons goalie Zoey Bohmer]."

Wheaton North (1-3, 0-1) generated just a handful of offensive chances against Batavia goalie Aubrey Hahn, who had three saves. But the Bulldogs attack kept Bohmer (five saves) busy for the majority of the first half.

"Our communication is improving," Falcons coach Tim McEvilly said. "I would tell you this is the first time Zoey has played since she broke her wrist [a while back], and probably some mistakes she's probably not going to make in the future. But [Batavia] is a talented team. I thought we did well, overall, organizing and finding those marks."

"[Batavia] just does a much better job than us at this point in time of controlling the ball in small spaces and taking the ball and attacking space when it's there," McEvilly continued. "We were looking for our targets. We were running off the ball well, it was just the technical excellence was not there. [Batavia] would come out of the tight spaces. We would give the ball over in tight spaces. That was the difference, really. The second half, especially. They took it to us the first 10 minutes the first half. We righted the ship, [but] the second half, they really just were under control the whole time and we weren't the same."