Bulldogs settle for a draw with Tigers in season opener

By Darryl Mellema
Photos courtesy of Diana Fowee

Like the first marks in a sketch book, Batavia and Wheaton Warrenville South took their first steps into the 2012 season with Monday’s 3-3 nonconference tie.

Some of that early scrawling in Monday’s mutual season-opener in Batavia will need to be erased as the early matches of the season progress – especially some defensive miscues and missed communications on both sides.

But there was also attacking flair and a physical element and 80 minutes of experience for a number of first-year players – and those are the things that will be preserved before the final masterpiece is finished somewhere in the next 10 weeks.

The match marked the first girls varsity contest for Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco, who has been the boys soccer coach for some time. Gianfrancesco saw his team improve on recent results in the rivalry that include a 4-1 defeat last year and a 6-0 setback in 2010.

“I was impressed that we jumped on them and pressured them up and created some opportunities,” Gianfrancesco said. “Obviously we’ve got some work to do on the defensive end.”

Batavia has six freshmen on the roster and five started – Alexis Bryl, Alison Grimm, Paige Renfus, Karina Rosales and Kayla Stolfa.

“I was pretty impressed with the way the freshmen stood up,” Gianfrancesco said.

Those freshmen had an impact on the scoring portion of the match. Rosales scored the season’s first goal in the fifth minute when she took the ball during a defensive mixup and hit a sharp right-to-left shot.

“It was nerve-wracking but definitely a good feeling,” Rosales said. “This was my first game as a freshman on varsity, but I was excited. I was surprised (to score), but it was a really great feeling.”

The match marked the return of Batavia senior Alex Hanna after surgery to repair a torn left ACL.

“I played two games over the winter,” Hanna said. “This was my first game outside and fitness played a little part in it. I was getting a little tired. But I was actually very excited to play.”

Hanna was just cleared to play in January. She said she was happy to be on the field with all of her teammates, not just the other nine seniors.

“I thought we did well,” Hanna said. “We were lacking communication in the beginning. But after awhile, we got comfortable and we were connecting passes and we did a lot better.”

Throughout the match, Batavia kept its physical presence at a high level. The Bulldogs face Metea Valley on Tuesday and the western suburbs feature a number of high-caliber, high-intensity programs.

“You’re not competing with those teams if you’re not physical,” Gianfrancesco said. “You’ve got to be able to go up and compete – even if you’re a freshman, and I thought they didn’t shy away at all.”

WW South tied the match less than one minute after Rosales scored with a goal from freshman Nikki Molino. The Bulldogs took the lead again with just under 18 minutes left in the first half when Shelby Stone toe-poked the ball into the net.

That goal came after a spell in which Batavia goalie Ronnie Resek had to make three saves in three minutes to keep the match 1-1. Resek split time with Nikki Seiton, who kept goal for the Bulldogs in the second half.

After falling behind in the opening exchange of the second half, Batavia found a rally of its own and forged the tie when Paige Renfus scored with 33 minutes to play.

The back-and-forth nature of the match abated a bit in the second half as both teams tired a bit.

“It was our first game and I think we worked it out pretty well,” WW South senior Lexi Peterson said. “We’ve got some new players and I think they stepped up really well. The older players stepped up too and we did a good job with that.”

With six freshmen on the roster and three of those first-year players – Victoria Adomshick, Nikki Molino and Alexis Jakuszewski – in the starting lineup, the Tigers have certainly got some youth on the squad.

“We were nervous, all the freshman were talking and nervous-excited,” Molino said. “But once we got out there. We just played our game. We had to get used to the speed of the game because that was different.”

That is balanced by four starting seniors – Peterson, Katrina Geannopoulos, Jenna Schultz and Kate Fowee.

WW South’s trip to Batavia was complicated, but to a mixup that left the Tigers without a bus to transport them to the match. As a result, coach Guy Callipari, his staff and others piled players into cars and they caravanned to the Bulldogs’ field.

“It was a little different but, you know, we got here,” Peterson said.

The different mode of transportation took nothing away from the team’s application during the match. As they arrived, the Tigers went straight into their warmup.

“I think once we step on the field, we just get going. We focus together,” Peterson said.

Callipari himself had four freshmen in his car, including Nikki Molino.

“We made some conversation and (Callipari) talked to us about the game,” Molino said.

Molino said Callipari had control of the car radio.

“He put on some Country and we weren’t used to that kind of music, but we got used to it,” Molino said.

Callipari himself said the shift to cars, other than being a “Plan B” he hadn’t expected to implement in the season-opener, had little impact on the 80 minutes of play.

“I don’t think that took us out of anything,” Callipari said. “I think perhaps a combination of nuances such as the new with the old and the conditions – we haven’t played on grass at all. We’re conditioned to a Turf field. And then the narrowness of the field as well, certainly played into (Batavia’s) favor a little bit.”

Batavia’s physical presence made life difficult at times for the Tigers as they were adjusting to the grass and the 54-yard wide pitch.

“We were having trouble getting the ball out of our feet,” Callipari said. “By the time we learned how to control it, they had closed. The rhythm of the game got spoiled. I wouldn’t say you’d use the tape of this game for anything outside of the fact that it was our first game.”

Molino said there were some understandable jitters before the match started. Molino made the largest impact on the scoreboard when she scored five minutes into the match to tie the score at 1-1.

“That’s absolutely the positive you can take from this match, was to see the freshmen in this environment at this level, playing against kids three years older than them and watching them compete,” Callipari said.

“(Molino) made a 30-yard run, cutting to the near post and putting the ball in was great. We all thought it was wide. She was the only one knew it was in, and she was so nonchalant about it, like she does it every day.”

Peterson scored the Tigers’ other goals. First she converted a penalty kick after Abby George was taken down in the penalty area. That goal, with 15:23, tied the match at 2-2 and sent the teams into halftime break on even terms.

The Tigers took the lead for the first time in the match 99 seconds into the second half when Peterson moved into the penalty area and hit a left-to-right shot into the net for her second goal of the match.

Miller and Peterson had strong chances in the final half hour but neither was able to score and the teams finished the match tied.