Grens, Calmeyn put 4 on the board vs. Barrington

 

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By Gary Larsen

It was early in the contest when Michelle Calmeyn sent a ball ahead to Michelle Calmeyn, who found Michelle Calmeyn for the first goal of Monday’s game between host Elk Grove and Barrington.

Okay, it only seemed like there was more than one Calmeyn on the field, but that’s what happens when you do what the Elk Grove senior did against MSL rival Barrington.

No team had scored four goals against Barrington in four years, let alone one player, as Calmeyn did in the Grenadiers’ 4-3 win over the Fillies. Calmeyn also scored four goals in her side’s 5-0 win over Wheeling on April 4 and now has 21 goals on the season.

Calmeyn can seem like a human battering ram in the attacking third, and she used her speed and willingness to mix it up to great effect on Monday. If there’s a battle to be found on the field, Calmeyn never hesitates to put her nose into it.

“Every once in a while in practice I’ll try to demonstrate something physical against her and I’ll usually end up with some bone in my ribcage,” Klaus said. “She’s determined, and when she’s moving her feet like she did today, she’s a dynamic player.”

A 4-3 soccer game can unravel a coach, especially when it could have just as easily ended 7-6 either way after all the near-misses are considered.

When Monday’s wild contest was over, Klaus pointed to the grey in his hair that didn’t used to be there, and Barrington coach Ryan Stengren half-joked that that he wasn’t happy and he didn’t want to talk about the game.

He talked about the game.

“We did not show up to play,” Stengren said. “Compared to Saturday (a 2-0 win over Conant), we just were not ready to play today. We have a lot of growing up to do as a team. I think we got too happy with the Conant game and we got slammed back down to earth today.”

Barrington senior Emily Hyde couldn’t have agreed more with her coach’s assessment.

“Our mentality at school, to when we got on the bus, to our warm-up – it just wasn’t the same as it was on Saturday,” she said.  “Today was a huge let-down. Our mentality just wasn’t there.”

Elk Grove (9-6-4, 4-4-3 in MSL play) came out with energy, putting a goal on the board less than two minutes into the game when Calmeyn ran onto a ball sent ahead by Kelli Hubly and sent a left-footed shot in off the far post.

Calmeyn banged a shot from distance off the crossbar at 9 minutes, teammate Katie Naughton sent a shot just wide at 13 minutes, and at 21 minutes Calmeyn back-heeled a ball across the penalty area to Carin Fearing, who sent a good chance just wide of the post.

The Grens sent a header high of the crossbar on a corner kick, before Calmeyn struck her second goal from a long way out on the right side, lifting a shot that fell under the crossbar at the far post. Nikki Zaino assisted on the play.

Calmeyn struck from the right side on a Kelly Naughton feed to make it 3-0 at the start of  the second half before the Fillies finally found the back of the net, when Molly Pfeiffer found Hyde and the senior finished from 18 yards out.

A pivotal goal came at 51 minutes, when Hubly fed Calmeyn and she finished her prolific day of scoring by racing up the left side past a defender and going far post at 51 minutes.

Elk Grove is 4-1-2 in its last 7 games, after going 0-4-1 in its previous 5 games. The turnaround hasn’t been due to the return of attacking player Kelli Hubly alone, but she sure has helped.

“Kelli and I connect very well together. We’ve played together for three years here,” Calmeyn said. “We’ve definitely had some games where we struggled to score but now we’re starting to pick it up and find each other.”

Down 4-1, the Fillies went into attack mode. Elk Grove keeper Melissa Solorio dove to stop a Pfeiffer offering from 18 yards out at 58 minutes, and Pfeiffer forced a tip-save over the crossbar from Solorio when she teed off on a Hyde feed at 61 minutes.

Barrington (12-6-1, 7-3-1) finally cut the lead in half when Pfeiffer bent a corner kick into goal at 62 minutes. Solorio made another diving stop a minute later as Barrington earned 5 corner kicks in the second half.

Hyde buried a left-footed shot inside the near post from 18 yards at 76 minutes, and Solorio saved Hyde at the post with two minutes left in the game before time ran out on the Fillies’ comeback effort.

“I’m proud of our fight but we shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place,” Hyde said. “I hope this opens up our eyes. You can’t think any game is going to be easy because any team can beat you on a given day. We have to take every game as serious as every other one.”

“They got themselves back into it but they didn’t give themselves a chance today,” Stengren said. “It was just a very bad day and Elk Grove wanted it more than us. They were beating us to every ball.”

Elk Grove defenders Katie Naughton, Sarah Stram, Lindsey Vaccarino, and Emily Wary made Barrington settle for perimeter shots through most of the contest, and Klaus was pleased with the team-wide effort he received.

“I could point to every player. There was a lot of heart, and grit, and that sort of stuff,” Klaus said. “Rachel Pruim was solid at midfield and Lindsay Vaccarino in the first half, against Hyde, and the back line were covering for each other well when Barrington got forward. And other than the corner that got by her I thought Melissa (Solorio) was there for us when we needed her, which she’s been doing for the last six or seven games.

“I’m very proud of the girls and I think we’ve been slowly headed in the direction we want to go. We’re finding the consistency that we need to find, and we had some passing sequences that were impressive today.”

 Both Solorio and Barrington keeper Kelly Pedersen had six saves on the day. Barrington opens the postseason with a regional semifinal against the winner between Dundee-Crown and Lake Zurich, as part of the Barrington regional.

Elk Grove squares off with Bartlett in a regional semifinal of the St. Charles North regional complex.

“We’re improving a lot. We had a little six-game drought but we’re starting to pick it up right where we need it, especially with regionals coming up,” Calmeyn said.