Wildcats celebrate senior night with victory over Bulldogs
By Matt Le Cren
Neuqua Valley doesn’t have many weaknesses, but one area the Wildcats have had trouble with is penetrating the penalty area against good teams.
However, that wasn’t a problem on Thursday.
The Wildcats dissected Batavia’s defense with alarming ease to score two goals just two minutes apart in the first half en route to a weather-shortened 4-1 victory on Senior Day in Naperville.
“It’s definitely good to see all the things we’ve been working on in practice are finally starting to come together,” Neuqua Valley junior midfielder Talise Romain said. “We’ve been pushing each other a lot harder on the field and we’re looking to connect.”
Neuqua (13-3-1) did that right off the bat as Hope D’Addario got loose in the box two minutes in and sent a shot just wide.
The hosts persisted with their quick passing game and broke through at the 24:24 mark when Kiley Czerwinski dribbled into the right side of the box and crossed to Katie Ciesiulka, who beat Batavia keeper Nicki Seiton with a one-timer to the far post.
Romain then made it 2-0 when she scored her first goal of the season on a shot from the right wing that went over the head of the leaping Seiton and off the inside of the left post.
“We’ve just been looking to combine to feet instead of making runs onto the ball,” Romain said. “We do look for [the runs] but we look to feet more. We’re definitely looking to play right to feet and combine with short, quick touches, one-two passes, so it’s getting balls quicker up the field.”
Romain has played a key role in that change, using her two-way speed to get involved both giving and receiving passes.
“Talise has been playing really well,” Neuqua coach Joe Moreau said. “She made some great runs today and made some good serves as well. She’s been playing great all year, just consistent.
“You don’t want a lot of mistakes and she’ll make some mistakes just like everyone else but she’s pretty consistent. She made three or four good runs today and she’s fast enough that she can get back defensively.”
Another change Moreau made was moving star center midfielder Gianna Dal Pozzo to striker and inserting junior Kat Oleskowicz in her place.
The move paid off as Oleskowicz combined with D’Addario, Czerwinski and Brooke Ksiazek to control the midfield and Dal Pozzo scored with 3:40 left in the first half to increase the lead to 3-0.
With Dal Pozzo playing at the top of the box, defender Abbey Mazur sent a pass from the right side into the box. A Batavia defender deflected the ball but Dal Pozzo got to it, turned and fired a 10-yard shot past Seiton.
“We put ‘G’ up top today to see if we could generate some different things and Kat came in and did a nice job at center mid when we put G up top,” Moreau said. “Kiley I thought made nice runs out of the outside mid spot.”
The Wildcats overcame a good Batavia defense and the rain that started pouring midway through the first half to consistently apply pressure and keep the Bulldogs chasing.
“It’s amazing to see that we’re finally putting things together and we’re getting in the final third and finishing and we’re making good crosses,” Romain said. “It’s a big change for us and that’s what we’re looking for to go all the way.”
The Bulldogs (9-4-3) interrupted the party and kept things interesting by getting on the board just 1:05 before intermission.
After the Wildcats cleared a corner kick, Batavia’s Lindsay Spears raced forward to keep the ball in the attack zone and chipped a pass over the first line of defense and back into the box.
Sophomore Karina Rosales battled a couple of defenders in the middle of the box, won the ball and sent a short shot past Neuqua Valley goalie Hannah Parrish to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Aside from a 23-yard shot from Megan McEachern that Parrish stopped with 24:00 to go in the first half, that would be the extent of Batavia’s offense.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, kept their attack humming, forcing three corner kicks in the first four minutes of the second half.
Ciesiulka just missed with two shots, including a 17-yard laser that hit the left post, and Dal Pozzo missed the target on two headers.
Dannah Williams also misfired on a pair of headers off corner kicks, but the sophomore defender didn’t give up and did convert on a third such attempt, knocking home a D’Addario corner kick with her thigh with 22:14 to go in the game.
It was Williams’ first career goal and as if to mark the momentous occasion, Mother Nature applauded the strike with a flash of lightning 100 seconds later, which ended the match.
That sent the Bulldogs racing to their bus and the Wildcats to the safety of an auxiliary gym, where they held a ceremony honoring seniors Dal Pozzo, D’Addario, Ksiazek, Zoey Goralski and Shannon Donlon.
“It just feels good to know that all my hard work paid off,” Williams said. “I was really excited and happy to show my team my contribution.
“I think that it just shows what a well-rounded team that we are and how we can have someone score from every single position no matter where you are on the field.”
Williams has been making a valuable contribution all season at left fullback. She teamed with Romain, Sophia Moreau and Kelly Keckler on Thursday hold a Batavia offense that came in averaging 3.4 goals per game over its previous 11 matches to just eight shots, only three of which were on frame.
“It was awesome,” Romain said of seeing Williams score. “We’re always really proud of all the work she does for the team. It was good to see her do something good [offensively].”
“I think in the back we’ve been playing pretty solid,” Joe Moreau said. “Overall I was fairly pleased. On the set pieces we have to do a better job of getting the ball out but overall I think we played a pretty good game against a good team.”
