Blackhawks tie 1-1 with DVC rival West Chicago

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By Casey Callanan

Even in some of the bitterest rivalries in sports, there are teams that constantly seem to have the upper hand. Call it the older brother-effect.

West Chicago coach Cesar Gomez likens the West Chicago-West Aurora rivalry to that of a younger sibling trying to defeat an older sibling.

One thing is for certain after the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie at West Aurora on Thursday night: the Wildcat-Blackhawk rivalry is as heated as ever.

“It’s always a hard game,” Gomez said. “It’s a big brother, little brother type game. It’s good competition and it’s good for the game.”

Chilly conditions, an intense amount of physical play and two scoreless overtimes resulted in 100 minutes of some of the hardest fought soccer of the season.

“West Aurora plays with a lot of heart and anytime you bring that into competition it usually takes over,” Gomez said. “We earned this tie.”

The first goal of the game -- like the game itself -- was anything but textbook. West Aurora took a 1-0 lead with 5:15 left in the first half after a ball deflected into the goal off Blackhawk junior Jessica Saffell’s face.

“(The ball) hit me in the eye,” Saffell said. “I was kind of just standing there.”

Saffell was being too modest in describing her goal according to West Aurora coach Laura Wagley.
“(Saffell) pressured the ball, and that’s how she got it to go in,” Wagley said.

The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead to halftime thanks in large part to the monster effort from senior goalie Felicia Dattolo.

Dattolo, a vocal leader on the field, came up huge midway through the first half after denying two quick shots on net by West Chicago’s Andie Lazzerini and Jessica Quinn. 

“I’m always yelling to our team to chill. Sometimes we get so excited and we just have to settle,” Dattolo said. “It’s about us playing for each other. We don’t criticize each other, we help each other.”

The Wildcats evened things up at 1-1 with 22 minutes left in regulation. Meagan Radloff was awarded a direct kick from around 30 yards away on the near side of the field.

Radloff’s kick was deflected and allowed sophomore Katie Becker to control the loose ball and bury the goal in the corner.

West Chicago goalie Kelsey Myers fought back after the goal by Becker and was near flawless throughout the remainder of regulation and overtime.

Radloff’s motor never seemed to slow down throughout the 100 minutes. The Eastern Illinois-bound senior was fouled in the first three minutes of overtime to setup a free kick.

The kick came from directly in front of the goal, but placed just outside the penalty area. Radloff slammed the kick on frame, but Dattolo saved the shot.

“There was a lot of defenders on (Radloff) and it was hard to find her the ball,” Becker said.
Radloff is no stranger to having opposing defenses focus on her.

“I just play the game and don’t concentrate on everyone man-marking and keying in on me,” Radloff said.

Wagley planned put sophomore Tori Raines in charge of man-marking Radloff, and Wagley was extremely impressed with Raines’ hustle.

“She did an outstanding job at (man-marking Radloff),” Wagley said. “This was (Raines’) first game back from a concussion and she was a complete game changer for us.”

Raines left the field feeling good about the tie. “We played our hardest, and we realized we played all 100 minutes,” Raines said.

Wagley was very satisfied with the play of her two wing-players: Sammie O’Brien and Alicia Rotolo.

“When (Rotolo and O’Brien) got the ball they were a threat out there,” Wagley said. “That’s what we’ve been looking for all season, our wings to be a threat.”