Wildcats doomed by Batavia's second half
By Darryl Mellema

There are sometimes matches where a team's learning advances over the course of 80 minutes, and that was the case Saturday for Batavia.

The Bulldogs struggled through an opening half at West Chicago, went behind 1-0 on an Andie Lazzerini penalty kick and created very few chances.

But at halftime, the Bulldogs' discussion with coach Mark Gianfrancesco laid out some ways to repair the damage and how they could win the match. For the next 25 minutes especially and for the second half in general, Batavia had a different approach, applied the halftime adjustments and emerged with a 3-1 nonconference victory.

The first thing Batavia (6-2-2) needed to do was to start playing the ball forward with more authority. Through the first half, Batavia's opportunities were limited to a Megan McEachern shot over the crossbar and a Karina Rosales shot that went wide.

“We kind of came out sleepwalking a little bit,” Gianfrancesco said. “We didn't really take advantage. We were playing a lot of balls back or square when the way to break pressure was to go forward. And when we did do it a couple of times, we were on a break and countering the other way. That's what we talked about at halftime. And maybe they listened to me, because that's where the openings were.”

From the very first exchanges of the second half, the Bulldogs started to move the ball forward with purpose. But these weren't just straight-line attacks. The second key was to start moving the ball to the wings and then to bring the ball back across to players running on the opposite side of the field. While players admitted after the match that there isn't anything magical about off-the-ball running, its application created numerous chances in the second half.

“We talked about it at halftime that we wanted to look for the opposite runs,” McEachern said. “We wanted to get into the box early and not wait – to run onto it instead of hesitating.”

McEachern scored the first goal from a strong run on the weak side while Rosales moved up the left wing. Rosales crossed and McEachern volleyed the ball into the net.

“I just made the run and (Rosales) played an awesome ball in,” McEachern said. “I just had to touch it – it was all off her ball to me. I didn't have to anything.”

Through the opening 20 minutes of the second half. Rosales was hugely influential in Batavia's attack.
“She definitely was winning a lot of balls,” Gianfrancesco said. “She was physical and she made some great passes and some great runs when she dropped the ball. That's the way we need her to play.”

McEachern's goal came in the ninth minute of the second half. It took less than three minutes for the Bulldogs to take the lead, and the chances started to flow exclusively to the visitors. First Rosales and McEachern combined again, only this time McEachern's shot was saved. Then Kayla Stolfa sent a ball through the penalty area that no one was able to reach.

But with 29:03 left, Stolfa sent a pass from the right wing to Tori Renfus running on the left – and Renfus sent a shot into the net at the left post.

“The middle was really clogged in the first half,” Gianfrancesco said. “We weren't looking for the forwards to release the pressure, because then we could get up and knock it around. I didn't feel we adapted too well to that in the first half.”

Kim Stanczak gave Batavia breathing room when she scored with 15:33 to play. Anna Zeyen took a flip throw-in on the right wing, the defense failed to clear the ball, which bounced in the penalty area – and Stanczak put the ball into the net at the left post.

“Something we've been preaching to them all year is mental toughness,” Gianfrancesco said. “I told them we couldn't do anything about the first half or the PK and we moved on. We kind of started to play Batavia soccer.”

Through the first half, Batavia had struggled with the threat of West Chicago forward Andie Lazzerini, one of the best strikers in the western suburbs. But the combination of Batavia's offensive effectiveness and some further halftime adjustments, and they dealt better with the threat in the second half.

“After we figured out how to shut (Lazzerini) down and knowing how the other players worked, we started communicating better with the midfielders as far as who should drop and who should step,” Batavia central defender Emily Stanczak said. “We were knowing better whether they shifted to one side or the other, so we were communicating and moving and doing a much better job.”

Lazzerini remained a threat through the match, however, and West Chicago (6-7-2) fashioned two chances in the second half which could have decreased Batavia's lead. First Kayla Kirkwood sent a strong free kick that forced a save by keeper Nicki Seiton with 7 minutes to play. Then Lazzerini hit the left post with a shot from the right in the final 2 minutes of play.

“We kind of got pumped up before the game,” Stanczak said. “We were talking about how she was going to be a tough one to play and we had a plan going against that. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but it was good knowing my teammates were backing me up and helping. We knew how she played and what we had to do to shut her down.”

Batavia now turns its attention to Tuesday's match with longtime rival Geneva.

“Geneva's the biggest game to win and having this is the perfect game to have going into that,” McEachern said.

Gianfrancesco mentioned, however, that the West Chicago match was important as well.

“They're in our sectional,” Gianfrancesco said. “These are big wins to put us higher up the scale. Obviously, the higher seed you get, the better draw you're able to get. So this was a big win for us to get that. And now Tuesday will be a big game for us for that as well.”

Just about every successful team has a player who does a lot of the “dirty work” that goes unseen in box scores. For Batavia, that player is invariably Shelby Stone, who played in defense alongside Emily Stanczak on Saturday, but who also moves into a defensive midfield role as well.

“Her communication is so important,” Gianfrancesco said. “Brittany Wahlen was ill today and that's a piece of our puzzle that was missing today. But (Stone's) able to slide back in there and her communication and her leadership in there are things that don't go onto the stat book at all. She really organizes a lot, especially when we rotate her back there. She demands the ball and she's positive about it.”

For West Chicago, Saturday's match marked the second time in the week that the Wildcats had taken the lead and dominated for large portions of the match and lost. On Monday, West Chicago led Wheaton Warrenville South 1-0 but lost 2-1.

“I'm happy with the progress that's being made,” West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez said. “It's hard to be happy when we had the game in our hands and then we played their style. They have more athletes, so we have to play 100 percent possession all the time.”

Although Lazzerini is a senior, and influential forward Katie Becker also graduates in May – along with six other Wildcats – the bulk of the squad returns for 2014 and beyond.

“I think our maturity is going to kick in at some point,” Gomez said. “The middle of our midfield has a freshman (Alexa Vega) and a sophomore (Kayla Kirkwood) and our sweeper (Stephanie Mata) is a freshman. The maturity's still not there. They know what they need to do, but executing is still a little bit of trouble.”

West Chicago failed to carve many scoring chances in the first half before taking the lead, but their passing movement and ability to control the ball for stretches left them dominating the match.

Awarded a penalty kick with 6:17 to play in the first half, Lazzerini put her team ahead when she shot firmly to the left post. Batavia keeper Seiton guessed correctly, but Lazzerini's shot was too strong.

Through the first half and into the second half, sophomore Kirkwood distributed the ball effectively from
central midfield for West Chicago. Gomez said she is improving with each match she plays.

Overall, Gomez sees the improvement in his team, which ended a run of five matches without a win on Friday with a win against Wheaton Academy. The Wildcats' next three matches are against Glenbard schools – a Tuesday home match against Glenbard South, Thursday at Glenbard East and April 29 at home against Glenbard North.

“I told them they're going to be unstoppable when they believe they can play and they mature a little more in the game,” Gomez said. “That will take time. They have seen the good competition and they have not rolled over.”