Chicagoland Soccer

Hawks reach South Elgin title game with win over WEGO
By Seth Hancock

After dropping a 4-0 game against St. Charles North and a 3-1 game against St. Charles East last week, the young Bartlett girls’ soccer team needed a confidence boost.

The Hawks sure seem to be gaining that confidence this week as their 2-0 win over the West Chicago Wildcats on Wednesday at Millennium Field in Streamwood puts Bartlett into the title game of the South Elgin Invite.

It was Bartlett’s (5-3) third win of the tournament while it was West Chicago’s (2-4) first loss of the invite which puts the Wildcats into the third place match on Friday.

“We didn’t play well against the two St. Charles schools last week,” said Bartlett coach Heather Thomas. “We’re young, so the girls are still learning to play together and I think this week they’ve grown a lot. Hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling.”

The Hawks scored both of their goals in the first half with the first coming five minutes into the match. West Chicago was called for a foul just outside the box leading to a free kick, and Ashley Johnson put the ball past West Chicago goalkeeper Cat Canestrelli (7 saves) for the 1-0 lead.

With 15:47 left on the clock in the first half, Nicki Noreen had a free ball deflect back to her at the top right corner of the West Chicago box. Noreen then found the left side of the net for the 2-0 advantage.

“I think we’ve done a lot better job possessing the ball this week,” said Bartlett goalkeeper Natalia Grodzki who finished with 6 saves. “There are still some things to work on, but we’re possessing the ball better and playing better as a team.”

Grodzki, along with teammate Amanda Lozada who picked up a save in the final 18 minutes of the game minding the Bartlett net, helped the Hawks record their fourth shutout of the season.

West Chicago did have its chances most of which came from Andie Lazzerini who had two early shots on goal in the game.

The Wildcats created four corner kicks while Bartlett did not have a corner kick in the match.

Lazzerini and Bianca Navejas each had shots in the second half which missed by inches. One of the Wildcats best scoring chances came with 13 minutes left in the match as Lauren Ott had a wide open net but missed wide to the left.

“We had a couple shots that if they were maybe six inches the other way we would have scored,” said West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez. “Soccer’s about putting the ball in the goal. You can take all the shots you want, but if you don’t score you don’t win.”

Bartlett’s defense did a good job thwarting several of the Wildcats scoring chances. Alex Cappello and Toria Tomasek each consistently stopped West Chicago threats.

“The defense did a really good job stepping up,” Grodzki said. “They helped deflect a clear a lot of shots, and they made my job easier.”

Nicole Gobbo and Kendra Videckis led most of the Hawks offensive attacks. Gobbo has missed much of the season with a hamstring injury, and this was her first game she’s played in the tournament.

“We’ll see how she feels tomorrow, but she looked strong today,” Thomas said of Gobbo. “Hamstring injuries can be strange. One day you can feel pretty good and the next it’s a problem, so we’ll see how she’s feeling.”

Shannon Brohan, Josie Dombrowski, Brittney VanNess and Cappello all had scoring chances for Bartlett.

Shanda Maldonado had a couple strong defensive plays for the Wildcats. Jessica Quinn, Katie Becker, Andrea Correa, Cassie Thill and Devan Orr each had attempts at the Bartlett net for West Chicago.

“It’s still the early part of the season and we’re a young team, so it’s too early to say we’re done,” Gomez said. “We’re disheartened a bit with the loss, but we’ll see how we respond to it. We’ll get better from here.”