Rams head into DVC play following big victory over Fenton
By Dave Owen
Going outside gave Glenbard East the inside track on a big offensive performance Saturday at Fenton.
The Rams shot to a 5-0 lead by the 23rd minute of play, and strong contributions from the entire roster continued a dominating performance in an eventual 7-0 victory.
“At practice the other day we worked on having the midfielders come outside and make the diagonal cross, and that worked really well for us,” said Glenbard East sophomore Jordyn Fulton. “I felt really confident coming in to this game after doing that in practice.”
Fulton's crossing pass set up Jess DeJong’s goal in the 6th minute of play that put the Rams (4-1-1) ahead for good at 1-0.
Freshman Brittany Paganucci scored three minutes later via a Megan Mrazek assist, and DeJong quickly followed with another goal (assisted by Jessica Whipple) as the lead exploded to 3-0 with 26:08 left in the first half.
“I thought we did really well in the back, and we possessed the ball well,” Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey said.
“Our outside mids just had a field day at the beginning, and our forwards making a diagonal run in the corner totally opened them up in the back. And we were able to get the ball in the center of the field and take advantage of our chances.”
The center of the field was in focus on the Rams’ final three goals of the first half.
On an Alex Ruffer corner kick 20:13 before the break, Kelly Ravenscraft sprinted unimpeded down the middle to pound home a one-timer deep in the box and make the lead 4-0.
Three minutes later, KJ Nelson gained control in the box of a Paganucci corner kick into a crowd and fired home a low shot. Then 3:57 before halftime, Ruffer broke free down the middle of the field and lined a low breakaway goal past the Fenton goalkeeper.
The depth of talent and influx of strong underclassmen has Glenbard East flying high heading into conference play (starting Tuesday against Naperville Central).
“We feel really confident going into the DVC,” Fulton said. “We’re better off than we were last year. We have really good players – our offense is really tough, and we have a strong defense.
“(Sophomore) Maria Berrum is unbelievable. She’s playing outside (defender) and doing really well, and we have Brittany Paganucci who’s unbelievably fast and so good. We feel really confident with our whole team.”
In a new role this season, Fulton is another major reason the Rams are thriving.
“Jordyn Fulton has played really well outside,” Overbey said. “She’s a forward that we’ve moved to the midfield, just because we have Jess DeJong and Brittany Paganucci. She’s dangerous on the outside. She can take you on, and she has a great left-footed cross.
“She’s leading our team in assists right now from the left midfield, so we get balls out to her well and she can get them back in the mixer.”
Accustomed to being a finisher, Fulton has embraced becoming an instigator of the Rams’ attack.
“I came in this year after being the No. 1 scorer for JV – I scored 22 goals last year,” Fulton said. “But Brittany has always been a forward and is so good. We all do well at our positions, even if we didn’t play them before.”
Paganucci provided one last brilliant play in the Rams’ best offensive day of the season.
With 19:45 left in the match, a Whipple cross was headed by DeJong towards Paganucci deep in the box, whose own header just under the crossbar upped the lead further to 7-0.
“Our other outside mid Jess Whipple is also a sophomore who can possess the ball well and has speed,” Overbey said.
“Like Jordyn on the left side, she can get the ball out to her and she can get the ball back in and in scoring position. They both played well, and our defense played really solid as a team.”
The Rams’ second shutout in a row and third of 2013 had plenty of contributors.
Sophomore Haley Lydon stepped in for all-conference goalkeeper Veronica Fairbairn with 16 minutes left in the first half and kept Fenton off the board.
Also, Taylor Hallcox, Bethany Wood and Jourdan Ewoldt excelled in extended playing time. Offensively, Allison Hansen and Nicole Alfaro made an impact off the bench while playing virtually the entire second half.
The Rams’ big goal total understated their dominance. Fulton twice sent shots off the crossbar in the second half, and an unlikely offensive contributor just missed a goal of her own.
“We actually got Veronica (Fairbairn) in the game at the end up top,” Overbey said, “and she had a great opportunity inside the six (yard line) that she just put over the bar (a header off a Fulton cross with 1:30 left). She has three assists on her career, but we’re trying to get her a goal.”
The way the Rams are playing, that chance may yet come – although the challenge level jumps up several notches on Tuesday.
“We have Naperville Central on Tuesday, and we’re not going to get 20 chances a game,” Overbey said. “We have to take advantage when we have chances, and I thought we did that well today.
“It’s a great finish to spring break,” Overbey added. “We really wanted to put an exclamation point on the week. Going into DVC you can’t complain at all. We got a shutout and we took advantage of our chances.”
And despite a heavy reliance on underclassmen, the Rams are more than holding their own physically.
“For being such a young team, you’d think we would be weaker,” Fulton said. “But most of the teams we go against we win headers, we go for every ball, we win tackles. Coming in without many seniors maybe other teams thought, ‘oh, they’re going to be weak.’ But we’re really strong.”
