Spartans charge past Knights to capture tenth straight win

 

 

By Curt Herron

After playing on a variety of fields so far this season, St. Francis got to step on to one of the best surfaces its seen so far on Tuesday.

The girls field at Chicago Christian was in pretty good condition and also fairly wide, allowing the Spartans to expand upon their play.

But there was one problem to the good news, and it was a big one. The Suburban Christian Conference match would be played in a steady rain.

While the cold temperatures made the afternoon an unpleasant experience in general, the Spartans were able to take some positives from it.

One of those was that the defending Class 2A champions rolled to a rather easy victory, a 6-1 win which improves them to 10-0 on the season.

Coach Jim Winslow was able to let everyone play a bit, and that's reflected as six different players scored and the same number had assists.

As the match went along, the Spartans became more threatening and had an equal number of goals in each half, but also could have had more.

About the only negative for St. Francis was that it allowed just its second goal of the year as the Knights scored right before the break.

Not surprisingly, the Spartans didn't stick around long to celebrate and were already dashing off to the bus shortly after the hand shakes.

"The field played great and it's the first field that we've played on with some width, which makes how we like to play so much better," Winslow said. "It would have been ideal if it was a sunny day, but you take them as they come. The field wasn't under feet of water like ours was last week so we'll take it.

"I was happier with our play in the second half. Our shape was better so we were able to play the ball around more and we moved the ball better than we did in the first half, when we dribbled and dribbled and then took shots from the 20, and you're just not going to have a ton of success with that.

"I'd like to see us progress quicker and I'm hoping with the change of weather that we'll do that. It's been more like progress, hiccup, hiccup, progress, hiccup type of stuff. But I'm sure that everyone is going through the same thing, other than places with turf where you can have regular practices."

Even though the conditions were lousy, there was never really any doubt that the Spartans would not pick up their fifth straight SSC win.

The Spartans connected quickly had led 3-1 at halftime against a struggling Knights squad who had scored just six goals in nine matches.

It's safe to say that the visitors could have left Palos Heights with a more decisive win if not for the efforts of keeper Tammy Mels.

About 10 minutes in, Brittany Douglass put St, Francis up for good when she scored, following passes from Andrea Ravlin and Kaity Bucaro.

Not long after Ravlin and Bucaro were denied, Emma Fickle found Anna Vonderhaar, who hit a long liner to make it 2-0 in the 28th minute.

Following stops on Douglass and Taylor Van Thournout, Rachel Rahman sent a pass to Bucaro, who scored in the 38th minute on a short try.

It looked like that's how things would stand as the squads reached halftime, but the Knights were persistent and benefited from that.

After St. Francis was called for a foul in the final seconds, Anica Pausma alertly hit a long free kick that sailed over Jenna DiTusa.

The visitors had a steady stream of good chances in the final half, most of which were halted by the keeper but some by the framework.

Ravlin hit the post and Sarah Rahman found the crossbar in the early going before Taylor Bucaro and Kaity Bucaro were both thwarted.

Not long after Vonderhaar and Ravlin were turned away, Ravlin connected in the 59th minute, following an assist from Taylor Bucaro.

Just after the midway mark, Ravlin was denied by the crossbar but in the 62nd minute, Alexa Zepeda scored off of a Kaity Bucaro pass.

Zepeda and Elli Pointer were stopped before Sarah Rahman ended the scoring in the 71st minute following an assist from Regan Kasprak.

The Spartans now have home matches against St. Edward on Thursday and Chicago Bulls Prep on Friday at Red Hawk Park in Carol Stream.