Knights get blanked in this week's initial match with Rosary

 

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By Ted Powers

It's safe to say that Chicago Christian will be seeing plenty of Rosary this week.

The Knights met the Royals in a match on Tuesday and will take part in Rosary's tournament on Saturday in Aurora.

After dropping a 3-0 Suburban Christian Conference decision in Palos Heights in the first meeting, Christian is hoping for better results this weekend.

The hosts turned in a great defensive effort in the first half, which included goalie Becca Hook making two great saves.

Christian's defense got in the way of many shots by the Royals (4-7-2, 2-2). Kayli Deckinga, Carolyn Richards, and Jasmine Kruzel were part of the the reason the Knights only trailed 1-0 at the half.

The Knights (9-6, 4-3) did not have a lot of shot opportunities however Lauren Frasca had to make a great save on a shot by Julie Michaelis.

Rosary's Kaitlin Johnson hit Jaclyn Nelson with a good pass and Nelson found the net with 6:17 left in the half to gave the Royals a 1-0 advantage which they took to the break.

The Knights' continued to play tenacious defense in the second half. However, Nelson hit Haley Kilbride with a nice pass and Kilbride connected with 23:33 left in the game.

"We did not totally connect in this game we were out of synch and not on the same page," Knights coach Trevor Schans said.

"We got frustrated with our lack of good shots and that wore our defense down.

"We had some great defensive effort at times but it just does not show on the score board."

Royals head coach Kevin Callaghan said that his team was ready for a battle.

"We knew coming into the game we would be facing a real skilled defensive team," Callaghan said.

"We worked through the game and finished some shots. My team's lack of selfishness was the key to today's win."

The Royals put the final nail in the Knight's coffin with 4:14 left as Nelson sent a pass to Olivia Cozzoni, who found the net to close the scoring.

With 3:23 left, Knights freshman Jamey Walsh did a graceful backward kick pass, which was just one of the signs that showed that the Knights never gave up.

Deckinga was proud of her teammates' effort.

"Our defense knows how to work together and we never give up," Deckinga said. "We cleared the ball out good today but our offense never got going.

"We learned a lot today and hopefully we can use that at the Rosary Tournament Saturday. We get a rematch with Rosary and are playing a couple other tough teams (St. Edward and West Aurora)."