Warriors find an avalanche of goals vs. Deerfield
By Gary Larsen

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The system at Wheaton Academy has been in place for years; the upperclassmen show the underclassmen how to lead, and the cycle is kept in motion.

This season the Warriors have three seniors with multiple years of varsity experience in Kristen Morency, Crystal Thomas, and Ally Witt, and they intend to meet their obligations to keep that cycle going.

"That's what we've got to do,” Witt said. “We've got to keep the program going. We care about it.”

On Tuesday, in a home game and a Pepsi Showdown opener, the lesson that the Warriors' seniors hope their side embraces is that good things happen when you play hard from the opening whistle. The Warriors (3-1) won 7-2 over Deerfield and looked particularly good considering it was only their fourth game of the season.

"In Deerfield's defense, I think it was just a perfect storm,” Wheaton Academy coach Dave Underwood said. “We played really well up top and maybe they came out a little bit flat. They seemed a little shell-shocked when we scored the first goal and the second so quickly. It was just a really good day for us and probably not a really good day for them."

The Notre Dame-bound Thomas had a whale of a first half, scoring all four of her goals before the intermission, which saw the host Warriors leading the visiting Warriors 6-1.

The senior midfielder entered the season with 56 career goals and 46 career assists, and has scored six goals thus far this year.

Witt had two goals and two assists to go with Thomas’ four goals and one assist on the day. Afterwards, Thomas also pointed to the grooming process she sees unfolding on the field so far this season.

"I'm really excited about our attack this year. We've got people stepping into leadership roles in terms of playing on the outside and I'm really excited about their potential," Thomas said. "They're going to be stepping into huge leadership roles on this team this year."

The Thomas-to-Witt and Witt-to-Thomas connection accounted for plenty of Wheaton Academy goals on Tuesday, but that connection didn’t tell the tale of the game.

"I know it sounds cliche but I was pleased with the team effort,” Underwood said. “We talked about how we can't just stand and watch Crystal and Ally do their thing, and that's what made the difference. People made really good runs off of Crystal and Ally, so we moved up top and combined with each other really well to create some pretty good scoring chances."

Alli Manske had an assist and Abby Oleson also netted a goal for the Warriors, who consistently found good scoring chances from the game’s outset.

"That was the best we've looked all season," Underwood said. "After the third goal I turned to (assistant coach Mia Della Torre) and said 'I don't who this team is but I like it'."

Morency was miffed about seeing two goals get past her, but the three-year varsity veteran is primed for another good season. The senior will play for John Brown University next season, for former Wheaton Academy coach Scott Marksberry.

Morency has stood behind a new back line for three seasons, and she’s confident that this year’s set of defenders will stand tall for her, led by the central defensive triangle of Molly Thorson, Meredith Matson, and Deborah Smith.

"Molly (Thorson) is a freshman and she comes out strong no matter what the circumstance is,” Morency said. “It's incredible considering it's her first year here. She has taken charge back there, too. We trust her a lot."

"Molly is an awesome leader, too," added Witt. "She jumped right in. She talks, she tells people what to do -- she's awesome. And Meredith is the other new player back there and she's giving us a consistently great performance every time."

At times the Warriors played with a trio of forwards during Tuesday’s win, befitting the ‘attack first’ mentality they’re aiming to play this year. Witt, Oleson and Sela McClelland worked well together throughout.

"Today it was great. I was loving it," Witt said. "People were making phenomenal runs and I was just dishing off the through-balls. There would be a little pocket there, and I knew I could play a ball there but would there be a player there? And they were there every single time tonight."

Putting seven goals on the board against a quality side like Deerfield isn’t anything they anticipated, but the Warriors’ chemistry in the final third was top-shelf from the outset.

“Obviously we want to do that every game. You don't want to sort of ease into a game," Underwood said. "We want to get our big guns moving, and working, and combining with each other, and good things are going to happen."

Marksberry led the Warriors to their second state title in 2009 during his three-year run as head coach of the program. Underwood returns to the program he led to a state title in 2004 after spending three seasons as head coach of Sterling College in Kansas.

"I love it here. This is home," Underwood said. "At (Sterling) my wife would ask me if I missed Wheaton Academy, and I missed those Wheaton South games, and those St. Charles North games, with tons of kids out here cheering under the lights. It's awesome here and I couldn’t be happier to be back.”