Warriors open season with a draw against West Aurora

 

 

By Chris Walker

Unlike many area schools, Wheaton Academy hasn’t been forced to reschedule several games this spring due to the lousy weather.

The Warriors' lone postponement was a March 13 tilt against Geneva, which wasn't played on that date due to snow.

Still, the Warriors haven’t spent much time outdoors. They finally took the field for their season debut, hosting West Aurora on Thursday evening in a nonconference contest.

Wheaton Academy struck first but the Blackhawks scored the equalizer minutes later in the first half. Neither team could find the back of the net in the second half and the two squads settled for a 1-1 draw.

“It’s our first game and a draw is always better than a loss,” Wheaton Academy coach Dave Underwood said. “We had a lot of jitters and we’ve only practiced outside here on our own field once.

“I’m certainly not naming excuses or anything like that, because there’s a lot of positives that came out of tonight, but it’s so early and we’re finally just getting outside.”

The biggest question for the Warriors this spring is going to be goal scoring. The team lost the dynamite tandem of Ally Witt (Wheaton College) and Crystal Thomas (Notre Dame). Thomas accounted for 36 goals and 17 assists last year.

Junior Abby Olson put the Warriors ahead 1-0 with 13:55 remaining in the first half. She was able to outrun defenders to get an open look.

The Warriors are hopeful that she and sophomores Molly Thorson and Kate Lindsay will be able to pick up some of the void left by Witt and Thomas.

“We’re going to depend on (Thorson) to do some goal scoring, as well as from (Lindsay) who played JV last year and can turn and it hit it pretty well,” Underwood said.

“But we’re still getting used to playing a new system and just finding who the playmakers are and how we can best build our attack. It’s going to take a while, and we’re young,”

The 21-person roster for the Warriors includes three freshmen, six sophomores, seven juniors and only five seniors.

West Aurora (1-2-1) had controlled the first half leading up to Olson’s goal. West Aurora coach Laura Wagley believed it was scored offside.

“We got down early on a questionable call but we fought back,” she said. “We played hard for all 80 minutes and that’s all I can ask for from them.”

Junior Sam O’Brien showed off her speed in scoring the equalizer. She caught up to a through ball, sped ahead of the defense and created a 1-on-1 opportunity with the goalie, in which she proved victorious.

“One thing we’ve really improved on is how we respond,” O’Brien said. “In past years we would just give up and they would’ve score three or more goals. We’re really working hard on playing a full game and finishing strong.”

O’Brien and sophomores Daisy Sanchez and Yulissa Espino had their fair share of opportunities in the second half to give the Blackhawks the lead and potential game-winner, but nothing came to fruition.

“Even though we didn’t get the win, I think we did very well. It really was one of the better games we’ve had,” O’Brien said. “I feel like we outplayed them and deserved to win, but we didn’t finish our chances and gave up a lucky goal.”

Thorson proved to be the go-to player for the Warriors, especially in the second half. Whenever Wheaton Academy threatened offensively, Thorson either had the ball or was in the vicinity.

She had a couple decent scoring chances in the final three minutes, but shot wide left on the first and too far right on the second.

While the Blackhawks had the advantage of it being their fourth match already, the Warriors had their stamina tested.

“No matter how you try in practice you just can’t quite replicate the game pace, especially inside,” Underwood said.

“It’s going to take us a lot more games to get our legs under us and get our lungs. It clearly was an issue and you saw it primarily in the final 10 minutes of the halves.”

It was also tough to get the legs going on the tough terrain in Wheaton, which presented a whole new challenge for a West Aurora team that’s previous three contests were on artificial surfaces.

“It was a lot harder to complete passes and I think we could’ve had more opportunities if we put more pace behind our passes,” West Aurora senior Daniela Bueno said.

“But overall I think we did pretty well. I think we possessed more than we usually do and really played hard for all 80 minutes.”

Underwood compared the terrain, which was caught a bit between semi-frozen and unfrozen, to cement.

“Keeping the legs fresh was one thing and this slower, soft surface didn’t help,” he said. “It was like slogging through wet cement.”

West Aurora was scheduled to have a light practice on Friday, followed by team bonding and lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.

The Blackhawks will return to action against Joliet Central on Saturday before opening up DVC play with Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday.

Wheaton Academy takes on Willowbrook on Saturday and Guerin Prep next Tuesday.