Knights take opening loss to Nazareth in stride

By Bill Stone

Senior tri-captain Therese Walsh and her Chicago Christian girls’ soccer teammates won’t soon forget capturing the program's first regional championship in 2010.

“That was the funnest experience I’ve ever had on soccer,” Walsh said. “Winning a plaque and just getting our plaque on the wall in the gym was the greatest experience ever because soccer doesn’t get a lot of recognition.”

Before all of the Class 1A success and a 14-11-1 record that tied the single-season program record for victories, the season actually began with a 5-1 loss to Class 2A power Nazareth Academy. That’s what the Knights tried to keep in perspective Tuesday as they opened this season with a 5-0 loss to the host Roadrunners in LaGrange Park.

“We’re not taking this as a defeat because last year we lost pretty bad to them, too. We have a lot of ways to go, but after winning the regional last year it gives us a big hope that we can do it again,” said senior tri-captain Kayli Deckinga.

“We have a really good team this year. We have a lot of talented players so we’re hoping we can maybe get another one of them (regional plaques). In the preseason, we were doing conditioning and running and trying to get back into shape before we could actually practice.”

There’s many reasons for optimism. The Knights return eight starters from last year’s lineup that reached the Class 1A sectional semifinals before a 3-0 loss to Lisle, which went on to finish fourth in state.

Junior center midfielder/stopper Carolyn Richards was named all-sectional and sweeper Deckinga honorable mention all-sectional after both were on the All-Suburban Christian Conference Team. This is their third season as starters.

“Last year was an incredibly successful year and I think we can be at least to that point this year again,” Chicago Christian coach Trevor Schans said.

“That (regional title) was big for us. I think expectations are high again. We started out really, really well in training. I think this was the first year where we got into training and I didn’t feel like we had to start over with teaching everything and movement. It doesn’t necessarily translate immediately out to here, but I know that it will come because it already was much, much better.”

It was hard enough playing the Roadrunners, who reached the Class 2A supersectionals last season. The Knights were pinned in their defensive end from the outset and didn’t get a clean shot at goal until the final two minutes of the game. Nazareth had 32 overall shots with junior goalie Becca Hook making nine saves.

Still, the outing on the artificial grass surface marked only the Knights' second time outside this season.

“We’ve only had one practice (outside) and we weren’t even allowed to wear our cleats,” Deckinga said. “(The game) was really frustrating and stuff but we just need to work on the positive thoughts and we need to learn our defensive structure a little bit. We can learn from it, I guess.”

“We are trying to, and we usually get, much closer to that (level) by the end of the season but with having most of our practices inside, this is good for us,” Schans said. “At least I see it as good. I have to tell (my players) that it’s going to be a good thing but to be able to get out here, play on a good surface, get the game in, I feel this is really good for us.”

Four of the Knights’ returning starters contribute to a defense that recorded 11 shutouts last season – Deckinga, Hook, senior outside defender Annalee Hoekstra and junior stopper Lauren Kuipers. Other returning starters are Richards, outside midfielders Walsh and sophomore Megan Wise and junior forward Amber Voss.

Also starting Tuesday were senior forward Julie Michaelis, junior outside defender Katie Voss and freshman center midfielder Anica Pausma. Also seeing action as reserves Tuesday were senior tri-captain Eva Walsh (Therese’s twin sister), juniors Jasmine Kruzel and Lindsay Lang and freshmen Carissa Engelsman, Tammy Mels and Jamey Walsh.

“We have one sophomore and four freshmen so there’s a lot of upperclassmen,” Deckinga said. “We have a great team chemistry, which will help us get together and put the passes perfect.”

The Roadrunners scored just 4 minutes, 58 seconds into the game when Megan Tobin was wide open in the crease to head home a cross by Nina Peconio.

The Knights withstood the pressure for the next 25 minutes unscathed thanks to two big saves by Hook, who took over the starting job regularly the final third of 2010. She pushed Tobin’s shot over the crossbar and knocked aside Gianna Milaro’s shot after it deflected off a Chicago Christian defender.

The Roadrunners, however, scored twice in the last 10 minutes of the half with goals by Milaro and Katie Driscoll with an assist from Haley Renehan. Nazareth added two more goals in the first six minutes of the first half by Driscoll, assisted by Milaro, and Peconio on her great cross from the far right corner of the end line.

The Knights had one corner kick in the final minute of the first half after Michaelis’ attempted shot down right wing was deflected out of bounds by Dana Hillsman. Michaelis had back-to-back shots at goal in the waning moments off a pass by Therese Walsh headed along by Engelsman and after the ensuing goal kick was intercepted.

“Before the game, all season, we’ve been talking about attitude and effort and all of those things and then just trying to do things in a right way. Defensively, we’re trying to shift over to the side of the ball. Offensively, we’re trying to play to feet,” Schans said. “Even though they were the better team, we were trying to do those things. Obviously it wasn’t perfect, but just seeing that progress and seeing that they’re trying to think through those things is what we were looking for.”

After this opener, there might not appear to be much for the Knights to talk about. They realize their talk is just beginning.

“They are a really tough team, but I think from this game we learned we need to communicate a lot better. This game definitely helped us all learn to think positively even when we make a mistake,” Therese Walsh said. “Definitely communication on the field (will be our key).

Defensively, we need to keep our structure solid and then I think if we have crisp, clean passes, I think we’re solid from there.”