Wildcats pressure well in loss to Batavia

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Dominated for large portions of the second half by resurgent Plainfield Central, Batavia earned itself a corner kick with just less than 90 seconds to play in Monday’s nonconference match.

Paige Renfus took that left-sided corner kick and swung the ball into the penalty area. The ball caromed and came off a Plainfield Central defender – right to Jessica Milanese – who swung her leg and redirected the ball into the net.

Milanese,  who wears No. 13 for the Bulldogs, was the team’s good luck charm indeed, scoring her second goal of the season and earning her team a 1-0 victory.

“You just have to put it in for your team,” Milanese said. “It came down to the last five minutes and we needed a goal. I wanted to put it in, so I did everything I could to get on it.”

The Bulldogs (3-2-1) were stretched for much of the second half and scoring chances were in short supply. Renfus shot over the crossbar in the opening exchanges of the half and Renfus headed a Brittany Whalen flip throw-in over the bar with 5 minutes to play.

“Those girls back there for them were strong,” Milanese said. “We just had to break their pressure and get the through balls. We did a nice job of connecting a lot of passes.”

Milanese mentioned that not every goal feels the same when it is scored. Her first goal came in a lopsided win at the Lake Park Invitational.

“This one’s definitely more important,” Milanese said. “It’s the best feeling when you can put your team ahead. Then we just had to get back and defend, which we did a nice job of there at the end.”

But against that, Plainfield Central (3-2) piled a number of opportunities.

“The ball was getting down in our end a lot, but I knew that our defense would pull it together and get the ball up to us forwards to try to make something happen,” Milanese said.

With Plainfield Central surging, Batavia’s defense was breached occasionally – and that meant second-half goalie Nikki Seiton was a busy Bulldog.

“It was good pressure,” Seiton said. “It’s always a fun game when I have a lot of action. But my defense is always back there to help me out.”

Plainfield Central’s approach in the second half was to stretch longer passes together and create gaps in the Batavia defense. Seiton stood tall every time the Wildcats got free in the penalty area.

“Everyone was getting a little antsy in the end,” Seiton said. “But we pulled it together. It was a good team effort.”

Seiton said everyone on the field got a lift when Milanese scored. With the goal coming as late as it did, it was effectively a sudden death goal. The Bulldogs had 78 seconds to survive from the ensuing kickoff, which they managed comfortably.

“It’s really exciting,” Seiton said. “We’re working really hard in the back and when the forwards can put it in, that just makes everything worth it.”

Batavia had a very short turnaround before it faces St. Charles North at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in an Upstate Eight Conference River Division matchup.

“This boosts our morale,” Milanese said. “(Tuesday) is a conference game in which we need to come out strong.”

Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said Seiton’s play was much-needed given Plainfield Central’s second half surge. Ronnie Resek played the first half in goal for the Bulldogs.

“Our defense was not doing well at all,” Gianfrancesco said. “They weren’t doing a good job of communicating. Fortunately, (Plainfield Central) couldn’t put it in and (Seiton) stood fast on a lot of those. She’s very athletic and closes some stuff down.”

Bulldogs central defender Shelby Stone left the match for a time in the second half with an injury, which made life even more frantic for the Batavia back line.

“It was like the Wild West back there,” Gianfrancesco said. “The last 7-8 minutes, (Stone) went back in and we made an adjustment and solidified things.”

Lost in the second half was a solid offensive performance by Batavia in the first half, especially in the final quarter-hour before halftime, time in which Plainfield Central goalie Tiffany Lenza had to make key saves from a side-footed Renfus shot and then had to make a save at Batavia forward Karina Rosales’ feet.

“We’ve been talking about Tiffany, and she’s a freshman and it’s a learning process for her,” Plainfield Central coach Ken Schoen said. “Coach (Katrina) Smolarczyk is the goalie coach and she’s been talking to her about owning the box. She did. She was coming out. She was strong and she was decisive. It was definitely her best game of her young career.”

The Wildcats had their chances in the opening half as well. But the second half saw a succession of opportunities, especially in a 10-minute stretch that stated seven minutes into the half.

“It’s an unfortunate result,” Schoen said. “But we feel good about the game though. I told the girls that it’s not a conference game. Would we like to have won? Yeah, and we’ve got to work on finishing. But our focus right now is on Minooka on Thursday.”

First Jackie Geib slid a pass to Britney Lenza, who forced a save from Seiton. Then Brigid Hanley moved left-to-right at the top of the penalty area before snapping a shot back toward the left post – with the ball skipping just wide.

Moments later, Sami Jensen went on a long run through the right channel of Batavia’s defense into the penalty area and forced Seiton to save. Finally, following a Paige Fuller corner kick, the ball came back into the penalty area through Britney Lenza and Lauren Kulaga to Hanley, who forced another save from Seiton.

“We have a lot of speed up top,” Schoen said. “Definitely, if we get behind the defense, we’re gone. Their keeper made a couple of nice diving saves and a couple of the chances, we’ve got to do a better job of finishing. But overall, we played pretty well and I’m not upset at all.”

The last solid scoring chance for the Wildcats came with 16 minutes left when Hanley fed Jensen for a breakaway chance, and Jensen’s shot went narrowly wide of the right post.

The attacking quartet of forwards Jensen and Britney Lenza, supported by central midfielders Fuller and Hanley, proved to be a handful for the Bulldogs.

And Lenza showed her range of foot skills as well in an overall solid performance, though like the rest of her team, she was unable to score.

“She’s real versatile,” Schoen said. “She’s played pretty much every position for us through the years. Probably her most natural position is center-mid. We’re lucky to have Paige Fuller, a freshman, at center-mid and we have Brigid Hanley back as a center-mid. We’re fortunate to have her up top and she’s working well with (Jensen.)”