Spartans roll to convincing SCC victory over Montini
By Matt Le Cren
When your goalie scores more goals than she gives up, you know your team is probably going to win.
But when said goalie doesn’t even face a shot, that’s a pretty good guarantee that everyone is having fun.
That was the case for St. Francis on Tuesday as senior goalie Jenna DiTusa scored her first goal of the season and first since her freshman year to cap an 8-0 Suburban Christian Conference victory over Montini in Lombard.
DiTusa, who will be competing for Bowling Green next year along with teammate Taylor Bucaro, played the first half in goal and then got into the game as a forward late in the match.
She found the back of the net with 10:35 remaining when she beat Montini goalie Kiera Johnston with a left-footed shot from 10 yards out. Taylor Van Thournout assisted on the play.
The match would have been even more one-sided if not for the outstanding play of Johnston, who made 21 saves. The outcome, however, was never in doubt as the Spartans (7-0, 2-0) scored three times in a five-minute span en route to a 4-0 halftime lead.
The virtuoso performance by St. Francis was a dramatic improvement from its last outing, a 2-1 victory Friday over Glenbard South.
“I think we know that there is a target on our backs, so we try to come out hard every game and definitely last game kind of gave us a wake-up call that we needed to come out hard every game,” St. Francis senior Anna Vonderhaar said. “So today we really came out well and worked as a team. That’s the most important part for us.”
Vonderhaar, a Carnegie-Mellon recruit, got things rolling when she scored her first goal of the season with 30:29 to go in the first half, heading home a corner kick from Kaity Bucaro.
Junior Andrea Ravlin then scored twice in a span of 3:10, first rolling in a one-timer off a nice feed from Taylor Bucaro and then ripping a 15-yard shot past the lunging Johnston to make it 3-0.
The St. Francis attack was paced by Ravlin, who had three goals, her first hat trick of the season. She also scored the seventh goal at the 27:45 mark of the second half off a pass from junior Brittany Douglass.
Ravlin was the main beneficiary of the Spartans’ excellent passing game, which took advantage of the ample space allowed by Montini (3-3, 1-1).
“A big part of playing is adjusting to how the other team plays, and if they give you space, then take your space and make what you can of it,” Ravlin said. “We definitely did that today.”
The Spartans now have outscored their opponents 24-1. As Ravlin pointed out, one reason for that is diversification. Ravlin has tallied six goals this season but she is far from the only threat.
“I feel like there really isn’t one [go-to scorer],” Vonderhaar said. “There’s a lot of people we can look to to score and make big plays. There are definitely games where, like Andrea had a great game today so she scored a lot of goals, but every game is different.”
Douglass, Kaity Bucaro and Sarah Rahman also scored for the Spartans, who outshot the Broncos 39-1. Taylor Bucaro and Corky Hart added assists.
St. Francis was so dominant so early that nearly everyone saw significant playing time, even in the first half.
Reserves Elli Pointer, Amanda Shannon, Rachel Rahman, Alyssa Ochwat, Savanna Roehl and Alexa Zepeda all did their part in controlling the ball.
Junior Brianna Miulli relieved DiTusa at halftime and didn’t have to make a save until the final minute as the back line of Kate Roback, Meghan Wagner and Hart stopped every Montini drive in its tracks.
“I still don’t know – are we that good?” a pleased St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. “We didn’t play that well at times. We didn’t play that cleanly at times. But we’d much prefer to play on something like this compared to what we’ve been playing on.”
Winslow was referring to Montini’s artificial turf field, an amenity St. Francis currently lacks. This was supposed to be a home game for the Spartans but was switched to Montini because the St. Francis field is unplayable.
That problem will be fixed by next season because the school will construct a new football stadium, complete with a turf field and new track, this summer. Until then, the Spartans likely will have to play every game on the road this season.
“Obviously, next year once the facility is all done it will be awesome to have home games,” Winslow said.
“The parents can come to the school, you’ve got other people coming into the school and seeing the nice facility. That being said, most of these kids play at a high enough level that they understand that surface is important to what goes on.”
Vonderhaar agrees.
“I think we prefer [playing on a nice] field at this point because we’re kind of used to it,” she said. “We’ve never really had a home field, but for the big games we usually try to play on neutral ground. We play better on turf usually.”
