Persistent Batavia scores
late to edge WW South in opener
Foster's goal in 77th minute the difference
By Bill Stone
WHEATON -- Junior and starting center midfielder Anna Rakos had already contributed plenty in the first half of Batavia’s season opener at Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday.
When the Tigers tied the game just four minutes into the second half, Rakos and her Bulldogs needed to find another gear.
“I think our team does a good job of motivating each other,” Rakos said. “After they got the tie, (we said) ‘Just keep communicating, keep working as a team.’ We had to push forward, then play a little more offensively.”
After the Bulldogs earned a free kick from 25 yards, junior defender Gracey DiBiase hit a ball that senior Mackenzie Foster turned into the winning goal with 3:58 left and a 2-1 road victory.
Rakos, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, helped the Batavia center midfield maintain its composure after starting senior Cameron Hindel injured her head colliding with a Wheaton Warrenville South player competing for a 50-50 ball. Hindel left the game 5:20 before halftime.
“That (injury) was really bad, especially in the first half,” DiBiase said. “I thought that our whole center mid was going to be off, but we picked it up. We knew what we had to do, and we still played great.”
Rakos had given Batavia a 1-0 lead four minutes before halftime off a cross by senior Alex Piron.
Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore Paige Miller tied the game after classmate Allie Anderson made a perfect cross along ring wing from 35 yards, and Miller cut inside her defender to get the shot in the 44th minute.
“(It helps) just seeing some girls in actual competitive situations. I thought predominantly we reacted pretty well, especially after getting scored on,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I like to see that, especially early. How do we react? Do we put our head down? In that regard, I think we turned it up a notch and started pressing them a little bit more and creating more chances.”
Rakos was joined at center midfield by sophomore reserve Jenna Nichols. Senior Keegan Maris also dropped back more often to help possess and distribute the ball.
“We’ve been working hard. We’ve been conditioning for this game, so it was good to see the outcome,” Rakos said. “We had to make a little movement in the center and move (Foster) to the side, but I think we did well.”
Foster’s aggressiveness on the outside led to the game winner. After having the referee slightly move the Tigers’ defensive wall back to its 10-yard limit, DiBiase unleashed a high shot on goal that forced Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore goalie Abbie Brennan to punch the ball in the air. As the ball came down near the right post, Foster emerged amid a sea of players to head the ball home.
“(Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco) told me to take it on the left side. It’s hard for a lefty, but I was aiming for the right upper 90,” DiBiase said. “Mackenzie was on the back of that to follow that in, and it was great. It was wonderful.
“I’m very proud of my team. We worked really hard and especially for this, for our first game.”
Last season, getting goals was hard for Wheaton Warrenville South's opponents. The Tigers allowed just 13 goals in a 14-7- 3 campaign that included 16 shutouts.
Batavia, however, accounted for almost 25 percent of them in its 3-1 home victory over the Tigers.
Batavia scored the final two goals of that victory, their second game of the 2016 season. The last goal came off a DiBiase corner kick.
Both teams are in slightly similar boats. They return roughly half of their starters and both seek their first regional titles since 2013. Both were eliminated in their respective 2016 regional finals on penalty kicks.
Batavia has 10 seniors and started eight Saturday. Wheaton Warrenville South has seven seniors but started just two with one junior, seven sophomores and one freshman.
“The positive is we get a pretty good picture of where we’re at,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “Being in a competitive environment certainly helped us grow a lot. We know we need to think faster. Therefore, we’ll play faster. You can’t just rely on the athleticism because an organized team like Batavia, and as experienced as they are, they just anticipated everything and cleaned everything up.”
Batavia out shot the Tigers 16-6 (10-3 on goal), although both teams had four corner kicks. In fact, the Tigers didn’t have a shot on goal before Miller’s game-tying tally. In the first half, Anderson had one shot at goal in the 10th minute. With the goal and the wind with them, the Tigers had more offensive vigor but still just managed five shots.
Regardless, Miller used her speed to nearly score a tying goal in the final seconds, but Batavia senior goalie Jenny Scara rushed forward to take the lead pass near top of the crease to prevent an open opportunity.
“We never really got into the flow of play at all. Our passing was off. We just looked disconnected, but that’s what you would expect Day One,” Callipari said. “Yeah, we are (young), but you can’t keep using that as an excuse. You’ve got to step up and play at the end of the day. We’ll get there eventually.”
Offensively, Batavia has to overcome the graduation of Megan McEachern (Illinois State), who led the team in scoring each of her four varsity seasons.
The seemingly endless energy of Keegan will help.
Defensively, Scara is a veteran who received strong central defensive work from DiBiase and senior Brooke Polignone.
“In the beginning we always pick out a couple of points that we need to work on. Our communication throughout the game was great,” DiBiase said. “We moved off the ball well in the second half. I think making those diagonal runs across and allowing to play each other through really, really helped. And just full-on intensity. We never stopped. We were always on them. Defensively, we won the ball back right away.”
Wheaton Warrenville South's strong defense returns Brennan, sophomore central defender Maria Dohse and senior outside defender Julia Hildebrand.
In the second half, starting senior central defender Emily Calloway moved to midfield and was replaced by sophomore Molly Fank, the Tigers’ only brief sub in the first 40 minutes, because of a yellow card. Junior starter Claire Kiple and sophomore Maddie Monaco also saw action at outside defender.
“It’s still the same thing. Can’t look at last year. It’s a new, younger lineup,” said Hildebrand, a co-captain with senior Julia Martz. “We’ll work and keep getting better together, and I think we’ll have a lot of success. We’ll do well as we go along.”
After the game, Hildebrand held a large box of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal adorned with headshots of Callipari and his seniors on one side and the remaining players on the other.
This year’s theme word -- promise -- also has been added to one side the box. The box will be passed among teammates after each game.
“This is like a yearly thing. The first word always is the word of the season, and we kind of give a little speech about it,” Hildebrand said.
“(We’re) very young. There’s nothing different. We’re all working together towards a similar goal. We just had our team bonding weekend recently, and I think the team meshed very well together.
“Obviously, we’re always looking for the win. Our goal this season should really be just to improve every game, if not every half. I think we’ll learn from our mistakes in this game, get back to work on Monday and Tuesday and start cleaning up some of our mistakes.”
The Tigers travel Wednesday to battle Wheaton Academy.
Batavia’s next game is at home Monday against Waubonsie Valley. Hindel’s status for that game is uncertain.
“Obviously, it’s a marathon, not a sprint so we’ve got a lot to do. Another nice test (with Waubonsie Valley) so we’ll know out of the gate kind of how we’re sitting,” Gianfrancesco said. “Guy’s got a young team, but obviously they’re looking to play feet and knock it around and that tests us in what we need to do as well.”
Starting lineup
Batavia
GK – Jenny Scara
D – Alex Piron
D – Brooke Polignone
D – Gracey DiBiase
D – Morgan Wahlen
M – Mackenzie Foster
M – Cameron Hindel
M – Anna Rakos
M – Avery Davis
F – Keegan Maris
F – Kelly Bleakley
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK – Abbie Brennan
D – Emily Calloway
D – Maria Dohse
D – Claire Kiple
D – Julia Hildebrand
M – Evelyn Demsher
M – Jennifer Aalbue
M – Allie Anderson
M – Ellery Fahey
F – Paige Miller
F – Audrey Siebert
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Anna Rakos, jr. MF, Batavia
late to edge WW South in opener
Foster's goal in 77th minute the difference
By Bill Stone
WHEATON -- Junior and starting center midfielder Anna Rakos had already contributed plenty in the first half of Batavia’s season opener at Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday.
When the Tigers tied the game just four minutes into the second half, Rakos and her Bulldogs needed to find another gear.
“I think our team does a good job of motivating each other,” Rakos said. “After they got the tie, (we said) ‘Just keep communicating, keep working as a team.’ We had to push forward, then play a little more offensively.”
After the Bulldogs earned a free kick from 25 yards, junior defender Gracey DiBiase hit a ball that senior Mackenzie Foster turned into the winning goal with 3:58 left and a 2-1 road victory.
Rakos, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, helped the Batavia center midfield maintain its composure after starting senior Cameron Hindel injured her head colliding with a Wheaton Warrenville South player competing for a 50-50 ball. Hindel left the game 5:20 before halftime.
“That (injury) was really bad, especially in the first half,” DiBiase said. “I thought that our whole center mid was going to be off, but we picked it up. We knew what we had to do, and we still played great.”
Rakos had given Batavia a 1-0 lead four minutes before halftime off a cross by senior Alex Piron.
Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore Paige Miller tied the game after classmate Allie Anderson made a perfect cross along ring wing from 35 yards, and Miller cut inside her defender to get the shot in the 44th minute.
“(It helps) just seeing some girls in actual competitive situations. I thought predominantly we reacted pretty well, especially after getting scored on,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I like to see that, especially early. How do we react? Do we put our head down? In that regard, I think we turned it up a notch and started pressing them a little bit more and creating more chances.”
Rakos was joined at center midfield by sophomore reserve Jenna Nichols. Senior Keegan Maris also dropped back more often to help possess and distribute the ball.
“We’ve been working hard. We’ve been conditioning for this game, so it was good to see the outcome,” Rakos said. “We had to make a little movement in the center and move (Foster) to the side, but I think we did well.”
Foster’s aggressiveness on the outside led to the game winner. After having the referee slightly move the Tigers’ defensive wall back to its 10-yard limit, DiBiase unleashed a high shot on goal that forced Wheaton Warrenville South sophomore goalie Abbie Brennan to punch the ball in the air. As the ball came down near the right post, Foster emerged amid a sea of players to head the ball home.
“(Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco) told me to take it on the left side. It’s hard for a lefty, but I was aiming for the right upper 90,” DiBiase said. “Mackenzie was on the back of that to follow that in, and it was great. It was wonderful.
“I’m very proud of my team. We worked really hard and especially for this, for our first game.”
Last season, getting goals was hard for Wheaton Warrenville South's opponents. The Tigers allowed just 13 goals in a 14-7- 3 campaign that included 16 shutouts.
Batavia, however, accounted for almost 25 percent of them in its 3-1 home victory over the Tigers.
Batavia scored the final two goals of that victory, their second game of the 2016 season. The last goal came off a DiBiase corner kick.
Both teams are in slightly similar boats. They return roughly half of their starters and both seek their first regional titles since 2013. Both were eliminated in their respective 2016 regional finals on penalty kicks.
Batavia has 10 seniors and started eight Saturday. Wheaton Warrenville South has seven seniors but started just two with one junior, seven sophomores and one freshman.
“The positive is we get a pretty good picture of where we’re at,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “Being in a competitive environment certainly helped us grow a lot. We know we need to think faster. Therefore, we’ll play faster. You can’t just rely on the athleticism because an organized team like Batavia, and as experienced as they are, they just anticipated everything and cleaned everything up.”
Batavia out shot the Tigers 16-6 (10-3 on goal), although both teams had four corner kicks. In fact, the Tigers didn’t have a shot on goal before Miller’s game-tying tally. In the first half, Anderson had one shot at goal in the 10th minute. With the goal and the wind with them, the Tigers had more offensive vigor but still just managed five shots.
Regardless, Miller used her speed to nearly score a tying goal in the final seconds, but Batavia senior goalie Jenny Scara rushed forward to take the lead pass near top of the crease to prevent an open opportunity.
“We never really got into the flow of play at all. Our passing was off. We just looked disconnected, but that’s what you would expect Day One,” Callipari said. “Yeah, we are (young), but you can’t keep using that as an excuse. You’ve got to step up and play at the end of the day. We’ll get there eventually.”
Offensively, Batavia has to overcome the graduation of Megan McEachern (Illinois State), who led the team in scoring each of her four varsity seasons.
The seemingly endless energy of Keegan will help.
Defensively, Scara is a veteran who received strong central defensive work from DiBiase and senior Brooke Polignone.
“In the beginning we always pick out a couple of points that we need to work on. Our communication throughout the game was great,” DiBiase said. “We moved off the ball well in the second half. I think making those diagonal runs across and allowing to play each other through really, really helped. And just full-on intensity. We never stopped. We were always on them. Defensively, we won the ball back right away.”
Wheaton Warrenville South's strong defense returns Brennan, sophomore central defender Maria Dohse and senior outside defender Julia Hildebrand.
In the second half, starting senior central defender Emily Calloway moved to midfield and was replaced by sophomore Molly Fank, the Tigers’ only brief sub in the first 40 minutes, because of a yellow card. Junior starter Claire Kiple and sophomore Maddie Monaco also saw action at outside defender.
“It’s still the same thing. Can’t look at last year. It’s a new, younger lineup,” said Hildebrand, a co-captain with senior Julia Martz. “We’ll work and keep getting better together, and I think we’ll have a lot of success. We’ll do well as we go along.”
After the game, Hildebrand held a large box of Lucky Charms breakfast cereal adorned with headshots of Callipari and his seniors on one side and the remaining players on the other.
This year’s theme word -- promise -- also has been added to one side the box. The box will be passed among teammates after each game.
“This is like a yearly thing. The first word always is the word of the season, and we kind of give a little speech about it,” Hildebrand said.
“(We’re) very young. There’s nothing different. We’re all working together towards a similar goal. We just had our team bonding weekend recently, and I think the team meshed very well together.
“Obviously, we’re always looking for the win. Our goal this season should really be just to improve every game, if not every half. I think we’ll learn from our mistakes in this game, get back to work on Monday and Tuesday and start cleaning up some of our mistakes.”
The Tigers travel Wednesday to battle Wheaton Academy.
Batavia’s next game is at home Monday against Waubonsie Valley. Hindel’s status for that game is uncertain.
“Obviously, it’s a marathon, not a sprint so we’ve got a lot to do. Another nice test (with Waubonsie Valley) so we’ll know out of the gate kind of how we’re sitting,” Gianfrancesco said. “Guy’s got a young team, but obviously they’re looking to play feet and knock it around and that tests us in what we need to do as well.”
Starting lineup
Batavia
GK – Jenny Scara
D – Alex Piron
D – Brooke Polignone
D – Gracey DiBiase
D – Morgan Wahlen
M – Mackenzie Foster
M – Cameron Hindel
M – Anna Rakos
M – Avery Davis
F – Keegan Maris
F – Kelly Bleakley
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK – Abbie Brennan
D – Emily Calloway
D – Maria Dohse
D – Claire Kiple
D – Julia Hildebrand
M – Evelyn Demsher
M – Jennifer Aalbue
M – Allie Anderson
M – Ellery Fahey
F – Paige Miller
F – Audrey Siebert
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Anna Rakos, jr. MF, Batavia
