Grenadiers score early, often in Pepsi Showdown win over Stagg

By Dan Santaromita

It takes a very skilled defender to be able to carve up the opposing defense.

Elk Grove sophomore Katie Naughton, an U-17 national team pool player, is that caliber of defender.

Naughton made several excellent lobbed through balls to her teammates up top and the result was a flurry of Grenadier goals against visiting Stagg in the first round of the Pepsi Showdown on Tuesday.

When the dust settled, Elk Grove won 7-0 with all seven goals coming in the first half, which resulted in a 20-minute second half due to the lopsided score.

"I think that we came out strong, obviously," Elk Grove coach Dan Klaus said. "I knew that when I saw them playing 3-4-3 that what we play would be a tough match-up for them. It turned out that way.

"We had 7 goals and we might have had 10 shots," Klaus said. "So we were accurate and efficient."

That strong start for the Grenadiers (3-2-1) was sparked by a first-minute goal by sophomore Rachel Pruim.

Stagg goalie Andrea Beric (7 saves) stopped the first shot at goal, but the rebound went back to Elk Grove. Pruim received the ball and had an easy put away in front of an open goal.

In the eighth minute a through ball set up freshman Kelly Naughton (no relation to Katie) for the second goal after she won a tussle with a defender to get the ball.

After that, the Chargers started to play a little better and pushed into the Elk Grove half more, but that didn’t last for long.

Goals in the 18th and 19th minute by junior Michelle Calmeyn and sophomore Kelli Hubly, respectively, put the game beyond reach.

Junior Caren Fearing assisted on Calmeyn's goal and finished with three assists.

The prettiest goal may have been number five. Katie Naughton lobbed the ball to Hubly, who sent a back heel flick to sophomore Jillian Zelek for the finish.

Hubly added two more goals in the last two minutes of the first half to complete her hat trick. The goals were near carbon copies, fitting the pattern of lob pass, breakaway, finish.

Klaus said the team has been working on using through balls more in their attack.

"We attempt to possess the ball and we have good stretches of that, but can we possess from our third to the final third?" Klaus said.

"We talked to them a little bit about possibly playing less pretty soccer at times at the expense of trying to just see if the other team can play in their third.

"Let's put them in their third and see what they can do. I think it's good for us right now."

Katie Naughton, freshmen Sara Stram and Emily Wary and senior Danielle Krozel were excellent in the back at forcing the ball into the Stagg half and setting up their teammates.

"I think we played really well," Katie Naughton said. "We kept possession really well in both halves. We were able to capitalize on all of our runs forward and stuff.

"I think just working together we did really well today. We made great passes, connecting."

Senior Nicole Rieci had six saves for the shutout for the Grenadiers.

Next up for Elk Grove is a trip to Lyons Township in the second round of the Pepsi Showdown. It will play at 4:30p.m. on Thursday.

"You know, obviously, against LT on Thursday I don't know a lot about them, but I know they're always very, very strong," Klaus said. "We're looking forward to that opportunity on Thursday to play them."