Youthful Tigers fall to Bulldogs in season opener

 

By Darryl Mellema

As they prepared to enter the match in the second half of Saturday's contest at Wheaton Warrenville South, a pair of Batavia players spoke admiringly about their new away team uniforms – black long-sleeved shirts with the word “Batavia” across the front and player names on the back above large white numbers.

The shirts mark a break from the team's all-red look from recent seasons and they did look good on the Bulldogs. Of course, a large part of the reason those uniforms looked sharp was because Saturday's activity was more than a fashion show – it was a season-opening match between Batavia and the always-tough Tigers.

And Batavia won the match 2-0 thanks to a goal by Megan McEachern in each half. On a cold day punctuated periodically with snow, the result was enough to keep the visitors warm for their bus ride home.

Comments about their sartorial splendor aside, the Bulldogs earned style points for their attacking attitude. They settled earlier in the match, tackled and won the ball and then started playing it into open spaces.

“I'm pleased with it now,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “It's the first game, though, and we can always improve. We tied them last year starting four or five freshmen and that was huge. Today, we had some really good chances we should have finished.”

The opening goal took 29:40 to arrive, and it came courtesy of a multi-player attack. An initial shot on-goal was deflected defensively and the ball came to McEachern, who looped the ball into the net.

Wheaton Warrenville South tried to respond and Anna Fank shot wide with three minutes left in the half. Batavia then swept forward and created chances of its own before the halftime break.

Alexis Bryl won a corner kick and Kim Stanczak headed Anna Zeyen's kick wide. Moments later, McEachern received the ball in space and her shot forced Allie Harvey to clear off the goal line. Just before halftime, Batavia's Paige Renfus hit a shot wide.

“When we started playing the ball fast, it was quick combinations and then a through ball and I hope we can continue with that,” Gianfrancesco said.

Batavia's chances continued seven minutes into the second half when Bryl shot wide from the top of the penalty area. But then the momentum switched in favor of Wheaton Warrenville South.

Natalie Jensen hit a free kick from the right wing on goal 16 minutes into the half. The ball bounced in the penalty area, then hit the right post.

Eight minutes later, Jensen took a left-sided corner kick that Dana Miller met and redirected toward the goal from inside the six-yard box – only to strike the left post. The ball came back to Miller, whose rebound was deflected for another corner kick.

That kick was sent out of play by Batavia's defense – and on the third corner kick of the sequence, Jensen hit the crossbar and the ball bounced and hit the football crossbar and the Bulldogs received a goal kick.

Jensen had a further chance with the score 1-0, but her free kick skipped on-goal and was saved by Batavia keeper Jenny Welday.

The Bulldogs re-established themselves and got their pass-and-move style of play working again. The shift resulted in the match's second goal when Kayla Stolfa sent a leading pass up the right wing and McEachern ran on, reached the ball and shot into the left portion of the goal.

“(McEachern) played a nice game, running off the ball and finishing,” Gianfrancesco said. “She made some quality runs through the midfield and finished.”

From nearly being tied 1-1 to having a 2-0 lead, Batavia was now in a strong position, and the Bulldogs proceeded to close out the match.

“I think that can be typical,” South coach Guy Callipari said. “You're pushing forward and you're chasing the game a little bit and you're playing against the clock. You take risks in certain situations and you leave yourself susceptible to what happened. It was a good finish and you've got to give credit where credit's due.”

McEachern had one effort at a hat trick, but her shot when free in the penalty area with five minutes left went wide.

South's final effort at goal came in the final minute when A.J. Jakuszewski hit a free kick goalward and Welday saved.

“I think the conditions favored us a little more in the second half with the wind at our back.” Callipari said. “But I think we played more confident and consequently, we had a few more opportunities.”

A year ago, Batavia was in a rebuilding mode and started a handful of freshmen. The Bulldogs still carry seven sophomores on the roster in addition to freshman McEachern. But most of those sophomores have an entire varsity season of experience.

“They're way more assertive in the match,” Gianfrancesco said.

While this is Gianfrancesco's second season as varsity coach, he has been associated with both soccer programs for a number of years. The boys coach in the fall, Gianfrancesco was also the junior-varsity coach before taking the head coaching job for the 2012 campaign.

As a result, most players in the program knew Gianfrancesco's expectations and are by now more than comfortable with how he prepares his teams to play.

“We've got 13 returners and they know what to expect,” Gianfrancesco said. “We brought in people like (McEachern), who's fitted in well. But we've got some seniors who have fitted in well and provided leadership as well.”

Bryl was one of the linking players who kept the ball moving from defense to attack – and had some chances to score herself.

“I thought the first 5-10 minutes, she was a little hesitant,” Gianfrancesco said. “But then she dove right in there. She was physical, had quick touches, released the ball quickly and that is the type of player I am happy to see this year. She plays point guard for basketball and it's the same stuff.”

Defensively, Batavia's outside backs – Allie Grimm and Kayla Stolfa – showed their two-way abilities in the match.

“Both outside backs are capable of getting forward into the attack and helping out,” Gianfrancesco said. “They look to create opportunities for other people and also themselves. That's what we want them to do.”

One of the varsity newcomers is sophomore Olivia Callipari, daughter of the Tiger coach. She did not play on Saturday.

“She gotten a broken jaw and she would have fit in nicely, and she will when she returns,” Gianfrancesco said.

Batavia's practice fields are natural grass and the Bulldogs have been unable to use them.

But as they did in preparing for the IHSA tournament in 2012, Batavia has used the artificial surface at Mooseheart for a full week of outdoor practices, and plans are to continue using the stadium which is less than a five-minute drive from their School this week.

“It's been great for the girls,” Gianfrancesco said. “Our practice area, they're not doing anything with it until the 26th. We wouldn't be outside otherwise.”

WW South is youthful this year, with seven underclassmen being part of the starting lineup.

“They're a little more organized and seasoned than we are,” Callipari said. “I guess with youth comes enthusiasm, but certainly there can be mistakes in areas around the field, and we certainly saw that today. I don't think they expected the physicality at this level.”

The cold weather has limited every team's chances to practice outdoors this year. For the Tigers, that means chances to develop that cohesiveness have not happened.

“Everybody's going to have their issues early and we're going to have ours with our youth and not being able to get outside,” Callipari said.

“Developing continuity with so many new faces, you can't expect too much. I think they played perhaps as well as they could have played and Batavia did a very good job of being team-oriented, moving the ball around the park and then finishing when they had to.”

But despite that youth, Callipari reminded that the sense of being a WW South girls soccer player means something, and this year's team figures to follow in that tradition as it matures through the season.

“The foundation is there, but we're going to take some heavy hits along the way,” Callipari said. “The schedule will demonstrate that as we go forward. We take every 10 minutes and learn from that experience.

"At halftime, we take what we learned from that 40, and I thought they did a good job adapting and taking the things that we had looked at and put into play. There's a proud tradition here at South, and they don't want to let down anybody who's donned the uniform before.”

Jensen is one of the Tigers' seniors and her leadership was obvious through Saturday's match.

“She has a strong leg and she'll get better,” Callipari said. “She came into the last couple of weeks injured. We've been nursing a hamstring and a quad. We wanted to play her the full match today, but we she had to come off at the end.”