Hawks take another step foward vs. Neuqua
By Gary Larsen

 

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Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau applauded the hard play of Bartlett during his side’s 2-0 win over the Hawks on Wednesday, but he wasn’t happy with the overall effort his girls put into the game.

After the UEC road win, Moreau was asked if there was anyone he was happy with.

“Our bus driver,” Moreau joked. “We probably had one of the best bus drivers we’ve ever had on the way here.”

The bar is set high for the annually state-ranked Wildcats, and Moreau has always been an effort guy. Neuqua junior Gianna Dal Pozzo agreed with her coach’s assessment that her side was out-of-kilter Wednesday.

“We were just lacking energy,” Dal Pozzo said. “I just think we weren’t focused. We started well but then fell off. We weren’t motivated, I guess, and during the halftime speech we were on each other and ready to go.”

Truth be told, there was one player that Moreau was pleased with on Wednesday: freshman Kiley Czerwinski.

Czerwinski was sent into the game late and made her minutes count, working a ball in deep on the right side and forcing a save near the far post from Bartlett keeper Natalia Grodzki.

Grodzki made the stop but Dal Pozzo crashed net and punched the ball in -- “with my mouth,” Dal Pozzo said. “I was going for a header but it was kind of low and I just tried to get something on it.”

Moreau liked the energy Czerwinski injected onto the field.

“We said ‘go in and beat them wide’ and that’s how we scored our first goal,” Moreau said. “She came off the bench and gave us five minutes of quality time.”

It was one of those days for Neuqua Valley, against a team with a rock-solid keeper in Grodzki and 11 determined Hawks. The Wildcats had more of the ball throughout but Bartlett’s girls didn’t buckle until the 71st minute when Dal Pozzo finally broke the scoreless draw.

If you can gain confidence from a 2-0 loss, Bartlett did just that on Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s Neuqua, and we always come out a little too timid or whatever against them,” Hawks senior Nicole Gobbo said. “But once we realized we could play with them we started picking it up. They were physical and we started being physical right back.”

Grodzki left her line to make a sliding stop at 10 minutes on a shot from the Wildcats’ Talise Romain. Neuqua established a presence on Bartlett’s half but Gobbo nearly ran down a pair of balls sent over the top on the counter off of the Wildcats’ pressure.

Bartlett’s Nicki Noreen swept up the left side with a ball at her feet at 12 minutes but the Wildcats’ Hope D’Addario thwarted the play and on the ensuing rush up the field Romain crossed a ball to the far post, where a sliding Zoey Goralski got just enough foot on it to send it wide at 12 minutes.

The Wildcats spent time with the ball on their feet, but their coach would have liked to see more urgency to finish.

“You can work the ball all you want but if you don’t look to attack in the offensive third, get numbers in and want to be the one who scores a goal, you’ll struggle to score,” Moreau said.

Meanwhile, Hawks defenders Aubrey Czekajlo, Kristina Fairbanks, and Melissa Gal were settling in for a fine defensive day.

“Aubrey is a phenomenal little back,” Bartlett coach Heather Thomas said. “She holds her own, she’s got great skills. Kristina is playing a new position for her, for us, and she has done very well. We moved her from the outside to sweeper and she’s playing there like she played there forever. And Melissa is only a freshman but she is really playing well for us.

“And of course we have Natalia back there.”

Grodzki was her usual steady self in net. The senior keeper saved at the post at 24 minutes, and when the Wildcats’ Hannah Nelmark fought her way up the left side and crossed at 32 minutes, Grodzki’s sliding kick-save stopped the shot attempt at the far post.

Neuqua Valley had a couple of corners and a head shot on net just before halftime, but the Wildcats spent the intermission discussing what was lacking.

“(Moreau) was just disappointed. He knew we had more in us than that,” Dal Pozzo said.
Moreau wanted more energy from his side in the face of a gritty defensive effort by Bartlett.

“They played well defensively, they battled well, and shielded us well from the ball,” Moreau said. “And their keeper made some nice saves. She made a few in the first half and then a big one on Olivia (Schmitt) in the second.”

Dal Pozzo sent a pass ahead that sent Schmitt in alone on Grodzki, who made another sliding stop, 14 yards off her line.

Czerwinski’s timely play came at 69 minutes, and Dal Pozzo’s finish with her mouth finally broke the scoreless tie.

“It was a tough game. We couldn’t find the back of the net for a while but we had our chances,” Dal Pozzo said. “I thought a goal was going to come but I just didn’t know when.”

Bartlett spent much of the game’s final 10 minutes playing more cohesive attacking soccer than the Hawks had managed through the first 70 minutes of play. At 72 minutes, Hawks sophomore Brittney Van Ness took a ball deep up the left side, cut it back, and fired a good shot that Neuqua keeper Hannah Parrish saved at the far post.

“We had several one-touch and two-touch passes, worked it up the line, Brittney made an excellent run and had an excellent shot,” Thomas said. “Unfortunately, we just weren’t in the right place at the right time for the rebound.

“It’s too bad we didn’t have that intensity the last twenty minutes of the game, when it was still tied zero-zero. I would have liked to see us test their keeper a little bit more, but we played well. On a bad day, Neuqua is still a great team but I think we competed and we played well.”

Czerwinski was at it again at 74 minutes, hustling up the right side and forcing a Grodzki save at the near post, and Goralski picked her way around a few defenders at 75 minutes and forced another Grodzki save.

D’Addario crossed at 79 minutes and Dal Pozzo finalized the deal near the goalmouth. “Hope sent a long ball and the goalie kind of came up,” Dal Pazzo said. “I got my head on that one.”

Gobbo was pleased with her side’s play against a Neuqua team moved the ball well for stretches of Wednesday’s game.

“Props to their forwards. They’re so fast,” Gobbo said. “They were filtering through the center and they know how to work the ball together.

“But the (South Elgin) spring break tournament really got us going. We learned that we can win games. This is definitely a confidence builder and I’m glad we played physical back. We’ve been a little timid at times this season but we were really fighting for it today, and sticking up for teammates.”

Bartlett gave up four goals apiece to St. Charles North and St. Charles East in games to start the season, so to be scoreless with Neuqua Valley 70 minutes into the game showed the improvement the Hawks have made.

“As much as I hate losing, if you can walk away saying you played well and did everything you could possibly do to change the game -- I think today was one of those games for us,” Thomas said. “It stinks to lose but we played well.”