Hornets fall to Morton in WSG opener

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By Gary Larsen

When you’re missing two of your best players, and those players work the levers of your midfield, you can struggle the way Hinsdale South struggled in a 1-0 loss to Morton on Tuesday.

In a West Suburban Gold opener for both teams, the Hornets fell victim to a perfectly-placed Morton free kick that floated under the crossbar in the second half.  South fought to get the ball forward throughout but found truly dangerous scoring chances hard to come by

Meagan McPherson and Jackie Belmonte are sidelined with injuries but both should be back in the fold soon. The sooner, the better, for a Hornets’ attack that needs what they bring to the table.

“It's hard to play transition back and forth when you're missing your two middle players,” Hornets sweeper Meagan DeSalvo said. “They're both really smart players, they handle the ball in the middle and you can always trust them to do the right things.”

Both Belmonte and McPherson are expected to return to play shortly, but in the meantime coach Pat Wolf has had to shuffle his young lineup to help compensate for the loss. There are only three seniors on the Hornets’ roster this year.

But Wolf is itching to see his young squad take the next step forward.

“At times we play really well but at times we seem to be waiting for something to happen instead of making something happen,” he said. “But we have a freshman keeper and sometimes two or three other freshmen on the field, so it’s just inexperience.

They do some good things but we could have played better. We’re young and I don’t think we’ve forged how we want to play yet. We’re lacking energy at times. The energy can’t come from the coaches.”

DeSalvo showed plenty of energy on Tuesday. The junior plays center mid on her club team but has been a high school sweeper since her freshman year. Against Morton she showed why she’s been a staple on the Hornets’ back line.

“She’s our most consistent player,” Wolf said. “When we need offense we bring her up, but she’s so good at cleaning things up back there. She’s a cross country runner with great touch.”

Senior Talia Avci played solidly on the outside for the Hornets and Wolf was particularly pleased with the lunch-bucket workday put in by junior Melissa Camarena. “She just plays hard,” Wolf said. “She’s not flashy. She just plays hard and likes to play.”

Freshman goalkeeper Vanessa Niestrom left her line aggressively throughout Tuesday’s game and aside from Morton’s radar-guided free kick goal she handled everything the Mustangs sent in on her.

“She does a great job back there,” DeSalvo said. “There are some freshmen girls that are nervous out there but she's not afraid of anything. I'm very impressed with her.

(Morton’s goal) was a perfect ball. It was one of those shots where you really can't do anything about it."

Teams going up against Morton this year had better be ready to play hard. The Mustangs fought for every inch of ground on Tuesday, one season after losing in overtime to the Hornets.

We knew they'd be physical. We beat them fourteen seconds into overtime last year,” DeSalvo said. “We knew they'd come out strong and we had to come strong.”

The Hornets went into Tuesday’s game having won two of their previous three games. They topped Providence Catholic and University High in Pepsi Showdown play and lost to top-seeded Huntley.

"We were connecting passes against Huntley and girls were playing their hearts out,” DeSalvo said. “I think we made them nervous and it was a good test for us.

We didn't seem to bring it (vs. Morton) as much as we should. Girls get tired but we have to try to work hard for 80 minutes. It was just one of those games and we just have to move on and get ready for the next game."

Hinsdale South next plays Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg, against a Pepsi Showdown opponent yet to be determined. The Hornets travel to Leyden for their second WSG conference game on Tuesday of next week, and travel to Downers Grove North for a game on Thursday.

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