Warriors look sharp in big shutout win over Wildcats

 

 

By Matt Le Cren

Waubonsie Valley had to wait out an hour-long lightning delay before playing host to rival Neuqua Valley on Monday night.

Once the match started, the Warriors put on an electrifying display of soccer, at times running circles around the visiting Wildcats en route to a convincing 3-0 victory that gives them the inside track to the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division crown.

Kristen Dodson scored in the first half and then Karla DiJohn and Paige Filipek struck five minutes apart early in the second half for Waubonsie Valley (7-1-1, 3-0), which did a great job of keeping Neuqua Valley off-balance.

“We haven’t beaten Neuqua since my freshman year so this is a really big deal for us,” DiJohn said. “It’s kind of like a step in the right direction, like it’s the start of winning more games.”

DiJohn, a senior, is one of only four remaining players from Waubonsie’s 2010 state championship team. If the Warriors play like they did in this match, another state title is not out of the question.

The goal by DiJohn, her first of the season and just the third of her career, epitomized her team’s artistry.

Junior Kristen Brots started the play by sending a pass to Dodson just inside the top of the box. Dodson immediately tapped the ball back to the onrushing Filipek, who ripped a 25-yard shot on frame.

Neuqua goalie Hannah Parrish made a diving save on Filipek’s shot, only to have DiJohn alertly rush in and bury the rebound to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead with 32:29 remaining.

“[I haven’t scored] in a big game like this so it was really exciting,” DiJohn said. “At halftime [Waubonsie coach Julie Bergstrom] told me to find a space and work together as a team with short, quick passes.

“That was a really great shot [by Filipek] and I finished it off. If she hadn’t taken the shot, I wouldn’t have had the goal.”

Filipek, a freshman midfielder, got a goal of her own on a similar shot at the 27:54 mark when she took a pass from Dodson and drilled a 28-yard rocket past Parrish.

“I just saw the open area so [I knew to] take the shot,” Filipek said. “If you see it, take your chance because every shot counts. So even if you don’t get [the goal], then [you might get] the rebound, as we got [on that play].”

The goal was the fourth of the season for Filipek, who has been an impressive addition for the Warriors. She is stepping up in big games, including a two-goal performance against Barrington, and combining with sophomore Morgan Kemerling to control the midfield, even against top-flight opponents.

“She came in and really made a difference in this game,” DiJohn said.

“I just take it as it comes and do what I’m told to do,” said Filipek, whose sister Michelle, was a standout defender for the Warriors before graduating last year. “It’s good to learn from the seniors. The seniors are all really good and it’s good to learn off of what they know and what they do and also all the older people so you can get to learn new ways of playing.”

The Warriors didn’t let a steady rain or muddy field keep them from taking it to the Wildcats (5-2-1, 1-1) from the start. Kemerling fed a perfect long ball from the midfield to Dodson streaking up the left wing and Dodson slid a 16-yard shot past Parrish to give the hosts a 1-0 edge at the 29:08 mark of the first half.

“They came out much harder than we did and I think at first we noticed it and instead of picking it up we just kind of panicked,” Neuqua Valley midfielder Hope D’Addario said. “They had more players in the midfield than us, so we were trying to really control the midfield, but things just didn’t really go our way tonight.

“They played really great, passing the ball around us. I think we were just off our feet a little and not communicating.”

That’s usually what happens to Neuqua’s opponents, but not this time. Though both teams squeezed off 14 shots, Waubonsie clearly was the superior side, especially in the second half.

Two minutes after Filipek scored, the Warriors nearly scored a fourth goal as a shot by Tori Christiansen hit the crossbar and DiJohn put the rebound over the crossbar. Then with 11:50 to go, a corner kick by Rachele Armand somehow whizzed through the crease at chest level without being touched.

“I think we started working together as a team and showing that we are confident and I know that they probably underestimated our abilities,” DiJohn said. “But we just worked our hardest and played our game.”

The Wildcats were not without their chances, but Waubonsie Valley goalie Emma Rigby was sure-handed throughout despite the rain, finishing with eight saves, including a calm snag of D’Addario’s 35-yard free kick with 7:15 to play in the first half. Rigby has two shutouts this season and has shared two others.

D’Addario and her teammates were dangerous but slightly off-target from distance. D’Addario, Gianna Dal Pozzo and Lauren Ciesla saw multiple shots miss the posts or go over the crossbar by less than a foot.

Tellingly, the Wildcats failed to penetrate the penalty area for the second straight game and have now been shut out in consecutive matches for the first time in recent memory.

“I think we’re definitely going to learn from this experience as something to come together rather than break apart,” D’Addario said. “We need to learn that you can’t just work hard; you’ve got to work hard and play smart and play to win.

“You can work hard but in the end you can still lose and that’s what happened today. I think that we just need a little more effort, a little more smarts.

“We definitely know that we’ll see them again,” she said. “We’ll be back.”

While the Wildcats have the more experienced team, the Warriors are a formidable side on the rise. Despite their youth, they have now beaten Neuqua, Metea Valley and Naperville Central and tied Naperville North, which with the sectional seeding meeting coming up means Waubonsie should get a high seed.

“It’s really important for us to take the Naperville teams and see where we are, so we wanted to beat them so we know we’re the best in our area,” Filipek said. “We want to be the best.”

In that regard, the Warriors are all on the same page.

“I feel like this team is the closest it’s been in a while,” DiJohn said. “We all talk to each other and we all know how to play together well.”