Chicagoland Soccer

Mustangs back on track with win at Lake Park
By Gary Larsen

You need a short memory in sports, and Metea Valley has put consecutive losses to heated rivals Waubonsie and Neuqua Valleys in the rearview mirror.

A 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference win at Lake Park on Thursday helped that process.

“We’re back in the swing of things,” Metea senior captain Alyssa Fox said. “Now we’re going into the Pepsi Showdown this weekend and we’re (seeded) second, so that’s definitely another big confidence boost.”

The Mustangs got a first-half goal from McKensie Sheesley and goals from Fox and Katie Kennedy in the second in improving to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the UEC Valley Division.

“Good energy. We came out and played well,” Metea Valley coach Pat Feulner said. “We handled the grass field well and we also got a couple kids back today, so that was a plus.”

Of the four Mustangs banged up in a car accident last week, only Megan Buchanan has yet to return.

“Rachel Stoffregen got back today and Jenna (Kentgen) was sort of back to herself,” Feulner said. “Her ankles are still a little banged up and Katie Kennedy, our defensive mid, was back today. It helps to get the kids healthy and back on the field.”

For Lake Park (4-3-1, 0-1), Thursday’s game provided a physical challenge of a different sort, being the Lancers’ third game in three days.

“We’re worn out and tired but we needed to fight as a team today and I don’t think that it was all together,” Lake Park junior Jillian Kent said. “But we did our best and we tried. All our legs are dead, and we just didn’t know how to defend their forwards. It was their speed and we got caught too far out.”
Lancers coach Chris Frueling knew that Thursday’s game would be a high hill to climb.

“It was a test of our endurance and a test of our skill. Metea is a very good team,” Frueling said. “For us, on the third day, to go for 80 minutes against them was a big task. At times we did some nice things and at times we let down a little bit, and that’s when they capitalized on us. So that’s what we have to work through in a situation like this, is to work for 80 minutes.”

Sheesley broke the ice for Metea Valley at 14 minutes when she located a ball in a crowd and hammered it off the crossbar and into the net from 16 yards out.

In their loss to Waubonsie on Saturday, the Mustangs struggled to apply attacking pressure in a 2-0 loss. They attacked better in a 1-0 loss to Neuqua on Tuesday, and Sheesley’s goal capped a solid stint of attacking pressure on Thursday.

“We had a lot more chances today and we’ve been working on having our outside defenders make more runs out wide,” Fox said. “We did that better against Neuqua and against Waubonsie we just struggled to find our forwards. Today we were able to possess it. (Lake Park) had constant pressure but we’ve been working on our combinations to try to get through, and we’ve definitely gotten better at that.”

Lake Park’s Lauren Bolnius nearly knotted the game at 50 minutes when she broke behind the Metea backline on a counter, but the junior’s shot flew wide of net. Metea went up 2-0 at 52 minutes when Kentgen centered a pass from deep on the left side and Kennedy blistered a shot from 18 yards out that redirected off a defender and flew inside the post.

The Lancers sent in a corner kick at 48 minutes and two more at 54 minutes, but Metea keeper Megan Geldernick punched two of them out along the way to her first shutout of the season. Geldernick also saved a blast off the foot of Kent at 63 minutes.

Metea had the more sustained pressure in the game, to be sure, but Lake Park did not go without its scoring chances.

“From last year to this year we’ve been able to put more pressure on teams and we just need to finish more of our opportunities against good teams like (Metea),” Frueling said.
Kent has seen her Lancers progress in their attack.

“Our communication is better and we’re working on going from the middle to the outside, and it’s coming along,” Kent said. “We’re progressing as a team. We’ll get there. We’re getting in but we haven’t had enough luck in there yet.”

Metea senior Rachel Warnock set up Metea’s third goal at 65 minutes, serving a ball from the left side that Fox headed home to give the Mustangs their 3-0 lead.

Lake Park found one more good chance at 74 minutes when Kent took a freekick from deep on the left side, and her near-post serve was headed just high by Emily Adelman.

Metea Valley found another handful of shots to the end of regulation before departing the Lancers’ field with a win.

“I thought Kentgen played well today and Rachel (Warnock) played real well, and Megan (Geldernick) had to make a couple saves in the first half, and she did, and they did get in on a breakaway that could have tied the game at 1-1,” Feulner said.

“We still need to do some more work to get our attack going through the midfield, and our forwards just need to work together a little bit more, but we’ll be all right. We can go at you, and we’re fast enough to cause teams problems.”

The Mustangs open Pepsi Showdown play against Sycamore on Saturday, at Olympic Park in Schaumburg, while the Lancers host Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday and then Addison Trail on Thursday.
Lake Park went into Thursday’s game on the heels of a 2-1 win over South Elgin on Wednesday, getting a goal from Lexi Ruffolo on an assist from Lauren Bolnius, and a Megan Lindbert goal on a feed from Adelman.

“Lauren has a tremendous sense of energy and she really picks up the team with that, and with Megan’s experience and composure, she’s done a nice job of finishing on those shots,” Frueling said.
Keepers Rebecca Thorne and Jamie Crowley have been splitting halves in net for Lake Park, “and they’re two tremendous individuals,” Frueling said. “They’re the biggest fan for each other and they push and complement each other. They’re very unselfish.”