Chicagoland Soccer

Tigers' scoring woes continue in loss to rival Wheaton North

By Chris Walker
Photos courtesy of Diana Fowee

Last year Wheaton Warrenville South was outshot by Wheaton North but still managed to make the brief road trip and come away with a 1-0 victory.

On Monday night, the exact opposite happened as the host Tigers had more scoring opportunities than the Falcons, but it was the visitors who prevailed, 1-0, at Red Grange Field.

Wheaton North (7-4, 1-1 DuPage Valley Conference) scored the game-winner early in the first half when Linnae Giuliano played a diagonal ball to Kate Wiegman, who was able to get behind the last defender and slip a nice ball past Tigers' keeper Kelsey Graham into the low right-hand corner of the net.

"Linnae had quite a game and she is just relentless with her speed," Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. "Her speed, combined with her talent and strength in taking on people, really helped us dominate the first 40 minutes."

Wheaton Warrenville South (4-4-1, 1-2 DVC) had plenty of chances, including what appeared to be the game-tying goal with 19:22 left in the first half. Kate Fowee's shot found the lower half of the cross bar and seemingly crossed the end line inside the goal, but keeper Emily Barry pounced on the shot and the Falcons maintained their 1-0 advantage.

There were more opportunities in the second half. With 18:35 remaining, Hayley Charlton sent a cross to Mary Heaton but Barry denied the attempt. With 9:20 left, Natalie Jensen was given a little too much space but her shot sailed wide left. Jensen had another opportunity with 5:15 remaining but this time fired wide right.

The Tigers had two solid opportunities in the final two minutes, but neither culminated in the equalizer. With 1:56 on the clock, a cross near the right side of the goal was met by a group of players, including Barry who was knocked to the ground for the second time of the evening, but not before keeping the shutout in tact. The Tigers' final chance came on a 25-yard attempt from Heaton with 13 seconds remaining but Barry was able to run it down to seal the victory.

"I really feel bad for our girls," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. "The shot differential was big but again it's a situation where the game might not be fair perhaps, but it's honest in that you have to produce on both ends."

Wheaton North found itself working harder in keeping the Tigers from scoring than creating their own opportunities to increase its lead in the second half.

The Falcons had a few strong possessions in the second half where they threatened. Perhaps the best came on a cross from Sydney Sharkey to Giulano with 10:16 remaining. Guilano's shot was denied by Graham, and Thea Athans followed for a rebound attempt that went wide right.

Then, it was back to defending where center back Sarah Weatherred and outside backs Madie Fagan and Anne Denz did their part in protecting Barry.

"Sarah's gotten markedly better the past two weeks and she's putting pressure on winning balls in the air," McEvilly said. "Madie (Fagan) and (Anne) Denz are very difficult to beat. They step to balls actively and they can move forward with the ball. They had impressive efforts again tonight."

The scoring woes continued for the Tigers who haven't scored in their last two matches. Their last goal came on a penalty kick from Laine Jackson in a 2-1 loss to Naperville Central last Monday. That came early in the contest and the team is now in the midst of a 235-minute scoring drought.

"It's unfortunately been the template of what characterizes our play at this point in time," Callipari said. "I hate for it to be our identity because I think we're better than that and capable of more."

Meanwhile, the Falcons have momentum and confidence, and take a three-game winning streak into Wednesday's match against St. Charles East in the Naperville Invitational.

"We had some injuries early, we lost three in a row and it was pretty rough," Sharkey said. "But we've come back tighter as a team, which is awesome, and we've now been playing great."