Huskies can't connect in WSC Silver loss to Dukes
By Curt Herron
After being blanked for the first time this season, it was a good bet that York would come out fired up for its Tuesday's match with Oak Park and River Forest.
The Dukes weren't pleased with their performance in Saturday's pepsi Showdown semifinals loss to Plainfield North and were determined to play better in this outing.
That didn't necessarily bode well for the Huskies, who were missing a few regulars and went with a revamped backline for the West Suburban Conference Silver match.
While York turned in an effort that was more typical of its showings throughout the season, the Huskies did a nice job of preventing things from getting out of hand.
Thanks to first-half goals from Alyssa Kovatchis and Ellie Ordonez, the Dukes bounced back with a 2-0 victory over the Huskies in a match played at Oak Park Stadium.
Ordonez assisted Kovatchis on the initial goal and then the pair reversed roles on the other score to help York (8-3-1, 2-1) stay in the picture in the WSC Silver.
Because OPRF (8-4-1, 1-1) had to move some midfielders back, Dukes keeper Annabelle Lansdowne faced few threats as her squad posted its fourth shutout of the year.
"The loss on Saturday kind of got us down because we weren't used to getting shutout," Ordonez said. "We just weren't in our game that day and the ball was constantly in our half. But we came back and played our game today.
"Today we had space and time to dribble and play our game by passing it around and scoring goals. Once OPRF saw what we were doing, they crowded the net but we could have put in a couple more if we finished on our chances."
The Dukes scored the only goal that they would need in the 11th minute when Ordonez sent a corner kick toward the box and Kovatchis placed the ball into the net.
York picked up its other score in the 26th minute when Kovatchis directed a pass to Ordonez, who made a short shot to give their team its ninth multi-goal match.
"The loss on Saturday was definitely disappointing," Kovatchis said. "Our coach told us that we have to come out and play in every single game like it was our last game and that's what we did and we looked a lot better today.
"I think that we could have scored more, but we did what we wanted, especially in the second half where we had most of the possession. Our midfielders were moving off the ball and our forwards were checking to and going over."
Although the Huskies didn't yield any more goals, keeper Elise Delligrazie was kept busy the rest of the afternoon as the Dukes continued to apply the pressure.
About half an hour in, Ordonez was denied on one attempt and then Bryce Banuelos fired a liner off of the keeper's fingers that deflected off of the crossbar.
On the second of two subsequent corner kicks from Ordonez, Kovatchis sent in a header that was cleared by a Huskie defender as York looked to add to its lead.
As the opening half wound down, Kovatchis had another effort thwarted before Lansdowne halted a grounder from Teresa Trinka in one of OPRF's few good chances.
"Aside from those two goals where we didn't mark up, it could have been a 0-0 game," OPRF coach Ignacio Ponce said. "We had opportunities in the first 10-15 minutes where we could have finished an it would have been a different game.
"We were missing some people, but we're not going to use that as an excuse. I respect my girls for holding their own and we played well with the team that we had. Once we get our full team back, we can still be contenders for conference.
"I was very happy with Ruby Gonzalez, who was taking on three or four players down the sideline and Elise, who did a great job in goal. Also my defensive line of Naomi Johnson, Erin McCormack and Meredith Blatner, a typical midfielder, who aren't used to playing with each other."
It was more of the same following the break as coach Chris Halupka's squad utilized good ball movement through the midfield to set up dangerous situations.
A typical example came about five minutes in when Banuelos directed a nice pass to Ordonez, but Tessa Saraceno managed deflect her shot to halt the threat.
A bit later, Angela Guerino fired in a long free kick to Delligrazie before Lansdowne made a stop on the other end following a long run by Ruby Gonzalez.
Just before and after the half's midpoint, Meredith Blatner disrupted a run by Banuelos and deflected attempts from both Kylie Bowman and Madi Fafinski.
Meanwhile, Banuelos was stopped on a shot while Fafinski saw another try thwarted when the keeper snuffed it as OPRF prevented the lead from increasing.
In the final dozen minutes, Ordonez bounced a shot off the post and Judith Flores was denied on a header while the Huskies also looked for a late score.
"York is always a very good team but this year I thought we matched up with them better," Gonzalez said. "We played much better in the first half and had more chances. In games like these, we have to step it up some more and think that we can win.
"We have a lot of talented girls but we all work very well together this year. Even though we pass the ball well, I think that we still need to work on our shooting. We've definitely need to step things up and keep working but we've made progress."
York returns to conference play next Tuesday at Glenbard West while the Huskies are at Downers Grove North on Saturday for their next WSC Silver match.
