Witkowski's late goal gets Batavia past Glenbard West

 

By Chris Walker

It wasn't until the 80th minute of Thursday's non-conference soccer match that Glenbard West had a very good opportunity to score.

Thanks to an impressive save by Batavia goalkeeper Ben Steskal, the Hilltoppers weren't able to convert and Batavia won its second straight, holding on for a 1-0 victory.

Batavia (2-1-1) controlled the match for most of the afternoon, firing off 24 shots as the Bulldogs constantly pressured the Hilltoppers but struggled to put one in the net.

"We had a lot of chances," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "We haven't played for a week, and that's not an excuse, and we were definitely creating opportunities. We just didn't finish and hopefully that will come."

Cody Witkowski, Lalo Cuautle, Calvin Baez and Nick Barstatis all had multiple scoring chances for the Bulldogs in the first half, but none could blast one past Glenbard West goalkeeper Zach Watson.

"I had a lot of chances today that I should've put away," Witkowski said. "That happens sometimes though and I just got lucky that I put that one way."

Witkowski scored what proved to be the game-winner with 7:29 remaining in the contest. Cuautle served a long pass down the sideline to junior Cody Balogh who lofted a cross to Witkowski, who headed it in for the score.

"Lalo played a perfect ball down the corner and I saw Cody (Witkowski) and Sam (Schlicher) back there," Balogh said. " I thought I put it up too high and Cody wasn't going to get it, but he's great at winning balls in the air. I tried to put it high enough to give him time to run it down and he got it."

Glenbard West (1-2-3) which probably would've been pleased if it could've limped out with its fourth consecutive draw had a difficult time doing anything offensively.

A lot of that was caused by the strong play of Batavia's midfielders. Baez, Cuautle and senior Justin Reyburn, along with newcomers Barstatis and Balogh, helped the Bulldogs control the tempo.

"We're all adapting pretty nicely, both the new guys and the guys who have played varsity for awhile," Baez said. "I'm kind of surprised with how well they've connected with us and I think it's still going to get better."

While the players know one another a bit, they're still trying to learn each other's habits and improving communication.

"It's mostly juniors so the chemistry is certainly there," Gianfrancesco said. "They just need to be more proactive and not get complacent. When they do that and communicate better, then the ball moves very nicely, especially when we started playing the ball wide things opened up for us."

Then it comes down to finishing. Of the 24 shots by the Bulldogs, Watson saved 14 while the other ten went sailing wide left, right and high.

"As I told the boys, they need to take advantage of those opportunities or you just give the other team a chance to tie it up late," Gianfrancesco said. "If we were up 2-0 or 3-0 today then we wouldn't have been fighting to hold on at the end there."

The Hilltoppers were limited to 9 shots but nearly tied the match with three shots on goal in the final 3:08, including one by junior Brendan Loftus off a corner kick with 18.4 seconds remaining which was stopped and smothered by Steskal to seal the victory.

Next up for the Bulldogs is their Upstate Eight Conference opener on Saturday at St. Charles East where they'll look for their third consecutive win.

"We won't have to worry about intensity or having a sense of urgency there," Gianfrancesco said. "There were times today where they weren't going at it like they normally would and I would've liked to have seen us come out like we did in the second half against West Aurora."