Chicagoland Soccer

Warriors off to defend their state crown

By Gary Larsen

When you have players that can flat-out run and your opponent’s back line is playing flat and up high, the solution can be as simple as the one Wheaton Academy coach Scott Marksberry implemented on Tuesday.

Even if you like to see your players possess and work it on the ground through midfield, sometimes you have to take what the defense gives you.

“I asked our outside mids to dump some balls over their defenders, and force them to turn their backs,” he said. “(Meghan Grant) put one over the top and Ally (Witt) ran between two defenders and just finished it. That was the first direct ball we’d played all game.”

Witt’s goal in the Class 2A super-sectional contest came 12 minutes in, and Grant scored on a Crystal Thomas assist in the second half to lead the Warriors to a 2-0 victory over Nazareth, at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The Warriors thus return to the scene of last year’s state finals glory – North Central College in Naperville.

Wheaton Academy (19-3-1) plays Saint Viator (20-8-1) in a state semifinal at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s title game against the winner between Peoria Notre Dame (19-4-2) and Belleville Althoff (25-0).

Against Nazareth, Wheaton Academy’s back line of Christi Dithrich, Kerrin Clancy, and Lindsey Burke, goalkeeper Emily Mulder, and midfield stopper Alexa Sharkey played airtight defensive soccer in helping the team to its 12th shutout in 23 games.

“However much credit they get, it’s still not enough,” Marksberry said of his defensive players.

Starting keeper Mulder has only given up 14 goals in 20 games in net in 2010, for a .79 goals-against average. The Warriors have not given up a goal through four postseason games played, and barely allowed Nazareth a shot on goal in the second half.

“We were going through our schedule the other night and it was April 17 the last time we gave up a goal scored in the run of play, that wasn’t tied to a set piece,” Marksberry said. “That’s not bad. We’ll take it.”

And as always, as talented as the Warriors are as soccer players every year, they continue to play with a purpose that for them transcends the game. The team’s ability to defend its state title seemingly without any self-imposed pressure stems solely from its faith.

“We really are just using this to try to glorify God,” Thomas said. “I know that He’s not done working with us yet, otherwise we would have lost. And I just love my teammates.

There’s a verse in John that says ‘don’t fear, believe’. So we just believe in each other and we believe in Jesus Christ. And I really believe that helps us a ton.”

Marksberry agreed. “Maybe it’s kind of a weird thing to ask girls to glorify God by playing soccer, but that’s what we do,” he said. “It’s a lot to put on them but they handle it so well.”

Sharkey used her long basketball frame to great effect on Tuesday, stepping up to win seemingly every ball Nazareth attempted to play over midfield. Clancy and Burke were their usual feisty selves on the outside in back, Dithrich applied her big leg and grittiness wherever needed, and Mulder stayed vocal and involved throughout the game.

Sharkey was an 8th-grader when Wheaton Academy won its first girls’ state title and spent her first two seasons as a dangerous attacking player for the Warriors.

She had 16 goals and 8 assists as a forward on last year’s state title team, and has scored 12 goals this year despite moving into a defensive role. It was during last year’s state finals that Sharkey inadvertently changed her senior season on the pitch.

“I played last defender because our last defender got hurt,” Sharkey said. “I like chasing down forwards. I have fun back there. Playing basketball helps a ton, in playing the angles, and knowing when to come in, and coach tells me to just go in there and blow something up.”

Sharkey will play basketball in college, but for now she hopes there are two big games left for her to play in a soccer uniform. She knows what it will take for the Warriors to knock off Saint Viator on Friday, on both sides of the ball.

“Playing simple and not playing kick-ball,” Sharkey said of the key to her squad’s game. “Making runs, connecting, and playing for each other. Defensively it’s just about talking a ton, knowing who you have – communication is huge.”

Thomas was again the most creative force on the team against Nazareth, and made a sparkling play in the second half when she took off from midfield on the dribble, shed a defender or two, and ripped a shot off the crossbar.

Thomas’ willingness as an attacking player to track back and win balls defensively has been a staple of her play this year. “I usually try to get back but thankfully I’ve got my defense back there,” Thomas said.

“She’s a very unassuming flashy player,” Marksberry said of Thomas. “She has worked at it and everything she does is team-centered, which can be rare for that skill player on your team. I think she got a lot of that from Leah last year.”

Leah Fortune was the Warriors’ all-everything player last season.

Thomas netted 18 goals to go with 22 assists as a freshman last year, and enters this year’s state finals with 16 goals and 11 assists. Witt posted 17 goals and 13 assists as a freshman and her goal on Tuesday gave her 17 goals to go with 7 assists for the year.

Marksberry was particularly pleased with the play of forward Kristen Wittmuss on Tuesday. “She came out in the second half and really, really did some great stuff,” he said. “She kept saving balls around the end line on the left side, and her work rate was at a different level tonight. As their defenders got a little winded she was just running right through.”

The second half saw Witt hit a crossbar, Thomas fire on net off a Witt feed, and Thomas send a left-footed offering wide of the frame. Witt hit a ball wide in the 63rd minute and Thomas fired yet again on net in the 73rd, while Nazareth struggled to find dangerous space to the final buzzer.

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