By Bill McLean

WEST CHICAGO — You’re a sophomore and a backup goalkeeper. You’ve only played one varsity game, but it was a 9-0 win and you never had to touch the ball.

Against your team’s crosstown rival four days later, near the end of a scoreless first half, your starting keeper suffers a knee injury. Minutes later, after rushing through a warm-up session with an assistant coach along your sideline, you’re sent in — to defend a free kick.

Go get ’em, kid.

Now you know what Wheaton Academy keeper Calla Brust was thrust into against host West Chicago in Tuesday night’s nonconference clash between schools separated by 2.9 miles.

Brust came up big mere seconds after entering the fray, diving to her right to stop senior back Leslie Garnica’s well-struck shot in the 35th minute. The save triggered roars of approval
from the Warriors’ bench players.

“I was excited, and I was ready,” Brust said after filling in admirably for junior Noelle Niekamp (one save) and helping Wheaton Academy edge West Chicago 2-1 for the second year in a row.

“Fantastic,” Wheaton Academy coach Maria Selvaggio said of Brust’s steely, unruffled effort against the Wildcats (4-3-2). “To enter the game and do what she did gave us all a lift.

“Nothing,” she added, “psyched her out.”

Wheaton Academy’s sturdy defense, led by junior backs Lexi Rojek and Elly Andrews, certainly lessened the stress of Brust’s first meaningful varsity action. But she had something else going for her, something innate.

“I’ve always been insanely competitive,” said Brust. “That helped me today, wanting to win badly. I also distracted myself by focusing on being a leader for my teammates.”

And she’s tough too.

After her second and final save in the second half, Brust survived a violent collision with a Wildcat three yards off her line in the 65th minute. 

Wheaton Academy (3-0-3) owned the run of play in the first half, while West Chicago struggled to connect more than one pass on most of its possessions at Memorial Field. Warriors senior midfielder and Cedarville (Ohio) University recruit Rebecca Schulenburg — a Chicagoland Soccer all-stater last spring — paced the visitors’ attack, via either dangerous through-balls or shots.

Wheaton Academy sophomore forward Annika Vandervelde, along with senior forwards Anna Africa (Wheaton College-bound) and Eva DeSouza (a Chicagoland Soccer All-State
Watch List selectee), also created too-many-to-count chances against West Chicago backs and senior keeper Arianna Hernandez (six saves).

Warriors reserve freshman forward Gianna Hughes received a pair of sweet feeds from Schulenburg that made West Chicago scramble in their zone.

And Wheaton Academy senior midfielder Hannah Lindberg, another future Wheaton College booter, often served as the calm distributor in transition before an ankle injury — incurred in the final minute of the first half — ended her night on the pitch.

“She’s an important player for us,” Selvaggio said.

Neither side jostled a net in the first 40 minutes.

“I told our players at halftime, ‘Hey, go get some 50/50 balls in the second half,’” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “I wanted us to challenge more than we had in the first half. Wheaton Academy is well-organized, with players who have more skills than our players have.”

Gomez’s players battled with much more resolve and urgency right after the break and maintained their intensity, even after they had fallen behind 2-0 on a Schulenburg penalty kick in the 41st minute and a Grace Penniall goal two minutes later.

“West Chicago played with more spirit and fight after halftime,” said Selvaggio, a 2006 Wheaton Academy graduate who played for none other than Gomez at Wheaton College. “We played with composure in what’s a fun, little cross-town game. They’re all opponents — and friends. Everybody gets up for this game each season.”

“It’s our favorite game,” added Schulenburg, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “We’re neighbors, and we connect with their players in the summer. It’s always competitive and physical when we play them. We like challenges.

“We love playing Wego.”

Schulenburg drew the foul that led to her PK and the breakup of the nil-nil game. Two minutes later, she thumped a far-post free kick from 27 yards that banged off the crossbar and fell a
yard in front of Penniall.

The senior defender then used the outer side of her right foot to bump a four-yard shot past Hernandez.

“Whatever it takes,” Selvaggio said of Penniall’s clever tally. 

West Chicago freshman midfielder Molly Merkel pared Wheaton Academy’s lead to 2-1 with a PK in the 53rd minute; Wildcats senior forward Annaltzel Huerta had drawn the penalty.

It was Merkel’s third converted PK of the spring.

One of three freshmen on varsity (with fellow starting midfielders Kaylee Kreitzer and Ana Marie Hurtado), Merkel enjoyed her first taste of the Battle of West Chicago and implied that the burning desire she normally plays with reached a third-degree level Tuesday night.

“The competitive atmosphere … it was different in this game,” she said. “A lot of that had to do with the fans, who were into it.”

Wheaton Academy junior Rojek was a force in front of her keepers, booming clears and reducing a number of West Chicago possessions to brief, innocuous journeys.

“Lexi,” Selvaggio said, “was locked in.” 

Andrews and senior back Ella Penniall squelched several West Chicago threats in the waning minutes.

“You don’t always find a ‘victory’ in a loss,” Gomez said. “But I did tonight. Our effort in the second half was awesome.”

Wheaton Academy’s 80-minute effort?

Solid, again. It’s near mid-April and the Warriors remain undefeated.

“We’re focused on being good teammates, on working hard, on supporting each other,” Selvaggio said. “I saw all of that tonight.”

Up next for Wheaton Academy is a trip to Waukegan’s Greg Petry SportsPark to face Geneseo in its BodyArmor tournament opener at noon Saturday; West Chicago hosts nonconference foe Batavia, an honorable mention team in Chicagoland Soccer’s Top 25 poll, at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Footnotes

Selvaggio, who played midfield for Wheaton Academy’s Class A state championship team as a sophomore in 2004, was a two-time NCAA Division III women’s soccer champion for Gomez-coached teams (2006, 2007) at Wheaton College. Gomez also guided Wheaton College’s 2004 club to a national title. … West Chicago assistant Dorian Carrasco said more than “Good game” to the injured Niekamp during the postgame handshakes. He added, “Feel better, keep.” … Garnica, West Chicago’s set-piece standout, earned a spot on Chicagoland Soccer’s All-State Watch List. … Gomez, on the annual West Chicago-Wheaton Academy match: “It’s a good rivalry, a clean rivalry.”

Starting lineups

Wheaton Academy
GK Noelle Niekamp
D Lexi Rojek
D Elly Andrews
D Ella Penniall
D Grace Penniall
MF Rebecca Schulenburg
MF Hannah Lindberg
MF Mia Filippo
F Annika Vandervelde
F Eva DeSouza
F Anna Africa

West Chicago
GK Arianna Hernandez
D Leslie Garnica
D Dulce Juarez
D Jessie Myers
D Ingrid Solis
MF Molly Merkel
MF Kaylee Kreitzer
MF Ana Marie Hurtado
MF Natalie Fernandez
F Elina Velasco
F Heidi Pereckas

Chicagoland Soccer Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Rebecca Schulenburg, sr., MF, Wheaton Academy

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
Wheaton Academy — Schulenburg (PK), 41’
Wheaton Academy — G. Penniall (Schulenburg), 43’
West Chicago — Merkel (PK), 53’