Hornets hampered by some bad breaks in setback to Dukes

By Dave Owen

With York on a tremendous midseason roll, Hinsdale South could hardly afford freak bad bounces or the loss of one of its best players.

Unfortunately for the Hornets, they suffered both Thursday in a 4-1 loss to the visiting Dukes, who have won seven of their last eight games.

After being frustrated for the first 51 minutes by the excellent goalkeeping of Hinsdale South’s Vanessa Niestrom, York’s relentless offense finally struck for two goals in a three-minute span to take control.

Then controversy and a tough break completed a rough second half for the Hornets.

Star defender Jessica Mutters drew two yellow cards on fouls, the second on a play with little excessive contact, and was thus forced from the game by a soft red card with 23:57 left.

With Hinsdale South (4-7) limited to 10 players on the field the rest of the way, York (10-3-1) added two insurance goals in the final 9:30 of play (one off a bizarre deflection), while withstanding a late offensive flurry by the shorthanded Hornets.

In all, it was a very eventful last 40 minutes.

“We got really frustrated in the first half because we felt we had a lot of chances, and we just couldn’t put them away,” York’s Bryce Banuelos said. “In the second half we were more motivated to get the goals and end the game.”

The Dukes’ first half denials by Niestrom included her lunging stop of a 10-yard Banuelos shot in the fourth minute, her sliding kick save of Banuelos’ breakaway dribble to the top of the box in the 16th minute and another sliding block of Ellie Ordonez’s chance in the 19th minute.

And that was just the start of York’s threats in the half – Alyssa Kovatchis sent a 10-yard header off a crossbar on an Ordonez corner kick 18:30 before halftime, nice header clears by Hinsdale South’s Brenda Maugeri and Cassie Jensen denied chances off corner kicks, and Niestrom finished her great first half by punching a high Ordonez corner kick out of danger 2:50 before the break.

“Vanessa was unbelievable,” Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf said. “Even their coaches came up and said, ‘your goalie was great.’ That was nice.”

The opposing praise continued afterwards.

“Their goalie did a great job for them,” York coach Krzysztof Halupka said. “She obviously kept them in the game and was a huge player for them.

“We were a little bit unlucky – we could have scored at least two goals in the first half and that would have settled us down,” Halupka added. “But at halftime I told the girls, ‘look, it’s 0-0, go out and win the second half.’ And the score shows it. We get four goals against a good goalkeeper in the second half, and the individual efforts were very good.”

York finally broke through with 29:49 left in the match. Banuelos threaded a perfect pass through the Hornets’ defense to a breaking Ordonez, who lined a low 15-yard blast past Niestrom for a 1-0 Dukes’ lead.

“Bryce is taking it forward, peels off the defender, slips the ball through and Ellie makes a great finish,” Halupka said. “That kind of effort from two of our leaders was great to see.”

With 26:57 left, York’s Judith Flores was tripped on her drive into the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Banuelos powered home the ensuing PK, her sixth goal of 2013.

Mutters drew a yellow card after the trip of Flores, then suffered a harsh fate with another card for a foul three minutes later. The second card ended a strong night for the Creighton-bound star defender.

“Mutters is just a beast,” Wolf said. “She’s tough, she’s smart, and she’s a competitor.”

Niestrom was under even more duress with York’s one-player advantage the rest of the way, but answered with three more great saves (including a great one-handed diving stop of Anne DiCanio’s shot with 14 minutes left).

York went up 3-0 with 9:30 left when Ordonez raced in on right wing off a Kovatchis assist and powered a low shot into the far corner of the net.

“I thought Ellie had a great game,” Halupka said. “Her second goal was brilliant, getting behind the defense and hitting a rocket of a shot low far post against a great goalkeeper.

“Our center midfielders in particular Alyssa (Kovatchis) and Bryce did a great job of connecting with the game,” Halupka added. “When they were able to win the ball, they had more space in the midfield. You see their unique talents to take people on, and to dribble with speed. We did a very good job of playing the ball in a way so that we were able to attack.”

Rachael Ogdon, Angela Guerino, Lizzy Akre, Jaime Kovatchis and Elizabeth Shockey were among the other York defenders and midfielders who helped initiate the offensive attack, with forwards Kylie Bowman and Kate Leonard also producing chances up front.

“We just like to get the ball out of the back into the middle,” Banuelos said, “then play to the outside to have our forwards connect and have our outsides be there to split the defense and put the ball in the net. We really want to take advantage of our speed.”

“(Hinsdale South) lined up with four defenders in a flat four back,” Halupka said, “and we were able to get the ball in between and behind the defenders. And there was a lot of movement off the ball which really helped us. When one player had the ball, we had two or three girls making runs who were all possibilities for that girl (to pass to).”

Despite the constant pressure and deficit, the Hornets never quit.

Kelly Flemm scored off a Jessica Koziol cross with 5:49 left to make the score 3-1. Julie Vezzani then headed a Koziol corner kick just wide with 2:30 left, and with five seconds left, York goalkeeper Annabelle Lansdowne needed a great leap to deflect Koziol’s 25-yard free kick just over the crossbar.

“Even when Jessie (Mutters) was out of the game we were still playing hard,” Wolf said. “We had to adjust and Brenda (Maugeri) and Mary (Claire Ladd) were doing a good job in the back, and Sarah Puz a freshman, was up front and doing some nice things. But we’re still finding our way a little bit. At the beginning of the game we weren’t connecting passes.”

Despite its strong final push, Hinsdale South had to endure one more rough moment.

With 1:47 left, York’s Bowman put her team up 4-1 when her block of Niestrom’s clearing attempt of a loose ball near the top of the box bounced straight backward and into the net.

“Nessy was coming out to clear it,” Wolf said. “She was playing so well the whole game, and it hits the person (Bowman) and goes back into the goal. That’s hard. She had a great game.”

Niestrom’s great performance came against a York team that has outscored its opponents 20-8 in the last eight games.

“We continue to work on set plays in practice and learn how to play off each other and get more combination plays to be able to get behind the defense,” Banuelos said. “We can confuse them by moving. They don’t know where we’re going, and they don’t know who’s going to get the ball next.”

The loss ended a tough three-day stretch for Hinsdale South, which fell 2-1 to Downers Grove South on Tuesday.

“I was proud of our effort,” Wolf said. “We’re not backing down from good teams.

"We’re pretty solid in the back. We’re still a work in progress up front, but it’s getting better.”

York also continues to get better as the Dukes enter their last four games of the regular season.

“Overall this was a great effort from us,” Halupka said. “Hinsdale South is tough – they make you work for it. It’s good to come over here and get a win.”