Lancers fall behind early, drop regional finals to Bulldogs

 

 

By Dave Owen

Grace Andrews’ speed and some crazy bounces combined to elevate Batavia’s girls program to an 11-year high on Friday.

The Bulldogs used a pair of early Andrews goals to set the tone in an eventual 4-2 win in the Class 3A Lake Park Regional final win over the host Lancers.

It marked Batavia’s first regional title since 2002 while the Lancers were denied their second regional championship in the last three years.

“It’s not something that happens often at Batavia,” Bulldog coach Mark Gianfrancesco said, “but we want to make this a common occurrence.

“We played for a regional title last year against Conant, when we had a lot of young players and it was their first experience with that. Those players are back this year and obviously used some of that experience to get this win here.”

Andrews joined Shelby Stone, Anna Zeyen, Lindsay Spears and goalkeepers Nicki Seiton and Jenny Welday among seniors making major contributions, and helped Batavia (13-4-3) take early control of this bid for regional hardware.

On an opportunity set up by Brittany Wahlen’s long pass, Andrews beat Lake Park goalkeeper Rebecca Thorne on a race to the loose ball and put Batavia up 1-0 in the seventh minute of play.

“I just ran on to the ball,” Andrews said. “Megan (McEachern) kind of blocked out one of the defenders and I got there right before the keeper.

“You know you just have to touch it lightly (into the net). You don’t want to kick it really hard because it might shank, and luckily it basically just hit right off the keeper and went in so it was a good deflection. And it was a good sequence of plays before that.”

Andrews would put Batavia up 2-0 in the 23rd minute on a similar display of speed, this time corralling a McEachern pass that eluded a Lake Park defender and left Andrews open for the putaway.

“I was trying a diagonal across the field, and I basically just touched it in,” Andrews said. “I was there at the right time. And the defense kind of stopped, so I didn’t really have anyone on me.”

But Lake Park (15-6-1) refused to stop after the two potentially demoralizing goals. Less than two minutes after Andrews' second goal, the Lancers’ Jillian Kent nicely curled her corner kick directly into the net to bring Lake Park back to within 2-1.

“That’s a tribute to our girls,” Lancers’ coach Chris Fruehling said. “All season long whether we were up or down, they’ve always looked to compete and kept their heads in it.”

Goalkeeper Thorne kept the momentum by denying another Batavia threat in the 32nd minute. Her leaping deflection and catch near the crossbar of Zeyen’s high lofting shot from just left of the box maintained the 2-1 score at halftime.

Lake Park continued its usual method of playing each of their goalkeepers for one half, and second half keeper Jamie Crowley showed no rust with 36:50 left in the game when she deflected a high McEachern 15-yard shot over the net.

But just when the Lancers seemed to be finding their footing, Batavia’s opportunistic offense struck in unexpected ways.

After McEachern was fouled right of the box, Zeyen lined a 25-yard free kick which Crowley stopped at the left post. But Stone pounced on the momentarily loose rebound in the crease to put the Bulldogs up 3-1.

“I put it in off the post, and from there it was all excitement,” Stone said.

Lake Park nearly answered 30 seconds later off a Kent corner kick, when Batavia defenders Kayla Stolfa and Kim Stanczak repelled a Caitlyn Ryba shot at the goal line towards an open corner of the net. Emily Adelman’s rebound attempt was also denied.

Meanwhile, Batavia continued to make its every offensive zone attack a threat. Lake Park miscommunication on a ball at the top of the box with 18:40 left nearly led to another goal – McEachern got a foot on the loose ball, but Crowley reached back with full extension of her arm to make the save.

Somersault throw-ins by Zeyen and Wahlen were part of Batavia’s offensive arsenal all night, but the Bulldogs’ biggest surprise came with 16:47 to play.

Off a pass from Andrews, Alexis Bryl sent a high 30-yard shot that took a high bounce over Crowley’s head and into the net to make the score 4-1.

Whether it was a strange hop or a more typical attack, Batavia was up to the test on Friday.

“I think we just played intense the whole time, which is what our plan was,” Andrews said. “We played to feet and we moved the ball really well the whole game.”

Breaking down film of Lake Park provided another spark.

“We watched a little video before we came on switching the point of attack,” Gianfrancesco said. “Watching their Glenbard North game we knew there would be space on the other side of the field, and I think we did a very good job of exposing that sometimes.

“A little luck helps too with a couple of bounces going our way and what not, but we jumped on them early and even when they scored we didn’t lose any composure. We stayed focused, were still pressing them and still creating chances. A lot of people played well tonight. Everybody did something very well for us.”

But down 4-1, Lake Park refused to go quietly.

Lauren Bolnius broke in on right wing with 12:30 left and fired a 25-yard shot into the upper left corner of the net to cut the Batavia lead to 4-2.

That followed a threat with 16 minutes left, when Lexi Ruffolo’s dribble in on left wing and cross was headed just wide by Megan Lindbert.

Two corner kicks in the final minute capped a fight to the finish by Lake Park.

“I was super proud of their efforts tonight,” Fruehling said. “All the way up until the last minute they tried to fight back, but it was too big of a hole to dig out of.

“It was a hard fought game. It’s just that luck didn’t swing our way, and you have to give them (Batavia) credit for capitalizing on those opportunities. They were really quick tonight.”

“I’m very proud of our girls, and Batavia is a classy team and a well-coached team,” Fruehling said. “You have to tip your hat to them.”

Fruehling also paid tribute to a Lake Park senior class that helped the Lancers nearly double their eight-win total of 2012.

“I can’t say enough about our seniors: they have been dedicated to the program for four years,” he said. “You have Megan (Lindbert) who has set two school records and was able to do that in three years after missing last year with an injury. And Jamie Crowley battled back from injury after being out last year, too.

“Those two were tremendous, and Rachel Garippo is an outstanding midfielder who will just run miles and miles and not think twice about it. She’s such a great competitor. Mary Reid ended up sweeping (at defender) and I give her so much credit. She did a nice job organizing. I could count on her experience back there, and she’s very smart.”

Batavia also eliminated Lake Park in last spring’s regional semifinals, but this win was far sweeter for the Bulldogs, who played a 2-2 draw with the Lancers earlier this season.

“I’ve been around here with the girls and boys programs since ’96, and this is pretty significant for us,” Gianfrancesco said of the regional crown.

“That was one of the things when I took the (girls) job last year, I wanted to put this team on the map. We’ve had a lot of good players over the years that have come through Batavia, and I wanted to make sure they got the recognition and respect they deserve.

“Earning the third seed this year – that said a lot in this sectional. A lot of people are noticing what we’re doing, and we want to continue that.”

Next up is Tuesday’s Hoffman Estates sectional semifinal against Geneva (which tied Batavia 1-1 on April 23), which beat St. Charles East 3-2 on penalties on Saturday.

With a 9-2-1 record since mid-April, the Bulldogs hope to continue their roll.

“I’m so excited we won regionals, but I’m more excited for the first sectional game on Tuesday,” Andrews said.

“I think we can go far,” Stone said. “We’re seeing stronger practices and keeping our intensity up, so hopefully we can keep riding this wave.”