Hornets blank Warriors to continue recent improvement

By Dave Owen

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Echoing junior goalkeeper Vanessa Niestrom’s great vocal leadership, Hinsdale South is starting to make some noise.

After an 0-5 start to the season, the underclassmen-dominated Hornets continued their quick improvement Tuesday with a 2-0 West Suburban Conference Gold win over Willowbrook.

“It’s exciting for our team,” said Niestrom, whose team starts just one senior (defender Carolanne Pilch). “We had a tough loss against Morton, and I think coming back and winning two conference games in a row is good for our team. We did a good job today passing the ball and really creating opportunities up top.”

The win was also the second shutout in a row in conference play for Niestrom, whose game is one part goalkeeper, one part director.

“In the back I see everything that’s going on even up top, and I try to tell people,” Niestrom said. “Sometimes they can’t hear me, but marking up and stuff (on defense) I’ve pretty much got that down.”

“It was nice getting the shutout for ‘Nessy,’” Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf said. “We had a game the other day (a 2-1 win over Joliet West) when I thought we should have had a shutout and kind of gave it away in the last two minutes, so it’s nice that she gets it. She’s doing a great job. She’s definitely leadership.”

After strong pressure in a scoreless first half, the Hornets (3-7, 2-1) grabbed leadership on the scoreboard quickly in the second half against Willowbrook (3-7-2, 0-2).

Hinsdale South broke a scoreless tie three minutes after the intermission as Brenda Maugeri scored off a nice pass to the box from Ali Lokanc.

“I knew Ali was going to be coming in for the cross, and after she passed it in I was just kind of waiting for the ball,” Maugeri said. “We’ve been playing together long enough where I can read her really well.”

Freshman Kelly Flemm was denied by Willowbrook goalkeeper Shanti Lindberg on a great chance with 27:10 left, but the Hornets finished their opportunity 80 seconds later.

On a play initiated by a Mary Claire Ladd throw-in, Lokanc’s initial 10-yard shot was deflected off the crossbar on a nice stop by Lindberg. But freshman Sarah Leganski pounded the rebound into an open left side of the net for a 2-0 lead.

“Especially in the second half it turned into a battle between their offense and our defense,” Willowbrook coach Pete Montgomery said. “The first goal was just a good play. We just got beat, and that’s going to happen. On the second goal she (Leganski) was in the right place at the right time for that ball that came off the crossbar.

“That’s what good teams do, get themselves in the right place for good things to happen. Those two plays ended up being the difference in the game.”

Besides the pair of Hornet finishes, Willowbrook’s defense and Lindberg stood tall against waves of pressure in the entire game. The Hornets generated five corner kicks in the first half, and the best of many chances came 12:10 before halftime when Hinsdale South freshman Alyssa Collins broke in on right wing and fired a 15-yard shot off the crossbar.

“We had a lot of good shots today,” Niestrom said. “Most of them didn’t go in, but just creating the opportunities really boosted our confidence to get those two goals in the second half.”

Lindberg finished with 13 saves (eight in the first half), and the number of quality chances would have been higher if not for great efforts from sweeper Lauren Carroll and the Willowbrook defense.

“I think Andy Escallier had her best game of the season so far,” Montgomery said. “She was everywhere she needed to be at exactly the right moment every single time. And Jamie Colella did a nice job in the air today winning some headballs.

“They did everything they were supposed to do, in the right places doing the right things.”

Defender Kasie Dembowski was another Warrior showing grit, as she was hit in the face with a 25-yard Hinsdale South shot attempt midway through the first half.

While the Hinsdale South offense controlled play, Willowbrook had the first great scoring chance of the game. Off a Natalie Wolski corner kick in the 19th minute of play, Lindsey Petersen sent a 10-yard shot from traffic in the box off the crossbar.

“In our game on Saturday we had a slow start,” Montgomery said. “We gave up a goal in the first 60 seconds, so we focused a lot yesterday (in practice) on making a quicker start - being ourselves right off the bat, not waiting to read the game and react to how good or bad the other team is and then just go from there. I was pleased the way we got that started today.”

But Hinsdale South was strong throughout.

Defender Colleen McPherson nicely intercepted a pass from Willowbrook’s attacking midfielder Louisa Reese to deny a possible breakaway, and the Hornets’ midfielders and forwards did their share to keep the pressure on.

“Ali Lokanc plays hard all the time, and Jessica (Koziol) the same way,” Wolf said. “They’re both sophomores and they just run and run. Cassie (Jensen) another younger player just coming off an injury is also working hard. I think the middle of the field is working hard. We need to get some runners harder on the outside, but it’s coming together, that’s for sure.

“We’re a young team. We’re putting more passes together and trying to find some more space. Things are a work in progress but we’re coming along.”

After being outscored 14-2 in their first five games of 2012, the Hornets are turning the corner.

“It’s been tough at first because a lot of these other teams are a lot older than us, but we’re slowly learning,” Maugeri said. “Each loss – we’ve learned from them (opponents) also. We can apply what they taught us to our game.

“It’s a conference win so of course this means a lot, and we’ve been kind of struggling in the beginning. We’re slowly starting to pull together so it feels good.”

The Hornets’ vocal leader has the last word on the improvement, which has been aided by a core group of 10 freshmen or sophomores.

“I feel they’ve done a really good job progressing throughout the season,” Niestrom said. “In the beginning it was hard for them to adjust, but they’re getting the hang of things. We’re all coming together as a team.

“We had a tough loss against Morton (1-0 on April 3), and I think coming back and winning two conference games in a row is good for our team. We did a good job today passing the ball and really creating opportunities up top. I think our future looks really good. We have better confidence as a team.”