WEST CHICAGO — One game down, many more to goal.

Promise and hope are buzzing around soccer programs this week with the fresh start of a new season. Such was apparent after an enthusiastic battle between Burlington Central and Wheaton Academy on Monday night. Despite their efforts to break into the win column, the teams kicked off their 2024 seasons with a scoreless draw.

“It was a great matchup, and I’m sure the energy is high all across the state for the first games,” Wheaton Academy coach Maria Selvaggio said. “Burlington Central is a great team. We came out amped up to play, and we’re really proud with how our girls possessed the ball and created opportunities to score. We were saying it’s really hard to find that first goal in a new season, and it proved to be difficult for us today but we certainly created chances.”

Wheaton Academy, which is ranked 49th in the First 50 preseason poll, showed the Rockets a number of offensive threats with seniors Fiona Davis, Mia Filippo, Katelyn Schoepke, Peyton Schur, Eva DeSouza and Rebecca Schulenburg, sophomore Annika Vandervelde and freshman Gianna Hughes connecting and creating.

“There was action in the box. We created a lot so in a way it’s a bummer but also encouraging that it’s (goals are) going to come,” Selvaggio said. “But I’m really proud of the effort from our players. It was fantastic. I mean they had some great talent. (Mekenzie Rogers) was a beast. So to see our backline and midfielders contain and delay and be patient defending, and then we could build up and create action in the offensive end, it was as good of a first game as you could ask for minus not finding the net.”

Burlington Central knocked on the door at times. While Rogers certainly caught Selvaggio’s eye, senior Eva Samuelian and sophomores Annie Magan and Sydney Batts were also active in the attack.

“Usually we look a little rusty, but I don’t think we looked rusty today, I think we were trying to fine-tune,” Burlington Central coach Jess Arneson said. “It was a good solid competitive game.”

While Wheaton Academy is a senior-laden team this sprinbg, the Rockets are younger and have more of a mix of players.

“For the last two weeks at practice this is probably the most intense team ready to play I’ve ever seen, which is awesome,” Arneson said. “We’ve been super impressed at practice, and they’ve been jelling really well. Even with a couple of newcomers, we’ve been doing really well. I think this is a good starting spot, and we’re going to do a lot better as the season goes.”

Burlington Central sophomore goalkeeper Kenzie Lorkowski made the biggest play of the game with 18:12 remaining. She earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor after she denied a penalty kick from Hughes.

Hughes had displayed her foot speed in outrunning a defender before getting taken down in the box while Lorkowski came off her line toward her.

“When she got fouled, and he (the official) called it, I was like ‘The game can’t end here,’” Lorkowski said. “I knew I had to come up big. The way she stood and lined up, I knew where she was going the whole time and just had to trust myself and follow through. And I pulled it off.

“I think if something like that comes up again, it’s got to be the same.” Lorkowski said. “I’m going to trust myself, trust in my team. I think if I do, we’ll have a successful season.”

The Rockets only have five seniors on their roster. Emerson Fry, Rylee Butler and Brianna Domaleczny helped construct the backline while Samuelian and Ellie Elders started in the midfield.

“I think we’re a really strong team,” Fry said. “We’re a young team with only a few seniors, but I feel like we’ve been jelling really good together. Our chemistry on the field is really good. So going forward we need to figure out how to score but once that comes together, I think we’ll do very good.”

Using her experience, Fry helped her younger teammates acclimate.

“I feel it’s similar to my experience my freshman year,” she said. “We had a big freshmen group coming in, but also a huge senior group.”

With six sophomores in the starting lineup, the Rockets are confident that their youth can compete at a high level. In addition to Lorkowski in net and Rogers at forward, Alison Kowall is fitting in with the senior defenders while Batts, Magan and Kendall Grigg are playing key roles in the midfield.

“I think we were able to get up through the midfield pretty well,” Samuelian said. “It was our first time with Kenzie (Rogers) and Annie (Magan), so that’s our first time kind of playing the three of us together. I feel like we were able to combine well, and I think the wides were able to get up really well on those through-balls. We have a lot of fast players on that side and especially with Emerson (Fry) and Rylee (Butler) stepping up on those sides too. We’ve been really focused on defense, which I think showed.”

All in all, it was a great start despite not being accompanied by a “W.”

“I’m excited and I feel like the intensity from practice has come into the game, which is good,” Samuelian said. “It’s always hard in the first game, especially coming off a school day, and late at night. Everybody stepped up and got through the nerves, kind of felt it out. We were able to keep the shutout going.”

Last year Burlington Central scored three unanswered goals to win 3-1 over the Warriors, so if nothing else, it was a moral and morale victory for the hosts.

“Even though it wasn’t how we wanted it to end, that was honestly a very good game” DeSouza said "I like starting with tough opponents, because it shows where we’re at. Ok, we played like this against them, so I’m excited.

“We have (12 seniors) so we have a lot of returners and a lot of chemistry. It’s been a real confidence booster to see how we already know how to play together, know how to each other plays, can play off of each other. For our first game, this is encouraging. I’m very excited for what we’re going to continue to do.”

Defense has been the focus in practice, and it showed.

“I was super encouraged,” said Schulenburg. “We haven’t worked on any offense at all, so I like the fact that we were able to come in here and have a lot of chemistry from last year.”

A year ago, Schulenburg was new to the team after transferring from Geneva. She built new relationships with her fellow players. 

“Having another year with them is super helpful,” she said. “Team chemistry is a lot better. I think possession and connecting will get a lot better. We were a little frantic in sending the ball up and running, so I’m gassed personally. I think when we move on to our next games, we’re going to be more possession-based, move the ball and tire out the other team instead of tiring out each other.”

What Schulenburg, DeSouza and the rest of the Warriors won’t do is forget to have fun and to be grateful to be a part of a program that’s won three state titles and 16 regionals; they will honor the efforts of those who have donned the maroon and white kits.

“Aside from club, this team for me has really helped me shift my focus,” DeSouza said. “I’m not playing for myself or personal success. If I lose, that sucks, but that says nothing about my worth and my character. It says (something) about how I respond and how I play for the people around me.”

Schulenburg scored 17 goals last year, but couldn’t find a way to get her first of 2024 to put the Warriors in the win column. It’ll have to wait another day, each one as a Warrior is something the Cedarville University commit and Chicagoland Soccer All-Stater appreciates now more than ever as a senior.

“The community of this team is something that’s really, really special, and we just build into each other, our faith and our relationships,” she said. “And not just on the field, but off the field, and that’s really a special thing. It builds character, and that’s important to have on the field, too. It’s like how do you respond to a loss? How do you respond to a tie? If you miss a bunch of goals, it’s how do you respond to that and how do you come back? It just builds your character as a person, as a friend. That’s something really special that I’ve grown in within the program.”

Plus, you can never forget to have fun.

“Soccer is fun,” Schulenburg said. “it’s supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to put you under a bunch of tight pressure so you feel awful all the time. You’re supposed to have fun with it. It’s a game.”

The Warriors will look to have even more fun and be more dangerous once Anna Africa returns to the lineup. The senior midfielder and Wheaton College recruit is coming back from an ankle injury and did not play in the opener.

Starting lineups

Burlington Central
GK: Kenzie Lorkowski
D: Rylee Butler
D: Brianna Domaleczny
D: Emerson Fry
D: Alison Koala
M: Sydney Batts
M: Ellie Elders
M: Kendall Grigg
M: Annie Magan
M: Eva Samuelian
F: Mekenzie Rogers

Wheaton Academy
GK: Noelle Niekamp
D: Elly Andrews
D: Lexi Rojek
M: Mia Filippo
M: Katelyn Schoepke
M: Rebecca Schulenburg
M: Hannah Lindberg
F: Fiona Davis
F: Eva DeSouza
F: Gianna Hughes
F: Annika Vandervelde

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kenzie Lorkowski, so., GK, Burlington Central

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
No scoring