Eclipse Select tops ELA Elite for U18 crown

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By Gary Larsen

The rivalry between this year’s U18 Eclipse Select and ELA Elite goes back a few years – a good, heated rivalry that saw both teams playing for a State Cup title this year.

Eclipse came away 2-0 victors, but the title game didn’t quite live up to what both sides have been used to.

“We still wanted to win. We like to win everything,” Eclipse Elite’s Kecia Morway said. “But it wasn’t as intense as it was in the past.”

Alexandria Neal and Maggie Murnane scored, and Vanessa Laxgang and Lynn Froetscher assisted for Eclipse.

“This was the first time we’ve had all nineteen kids,” Eclipse coach Rory Dames said. “We came out and got the lead and did what we needed to do from a scoring standpoint. We probably created more chances than they did in trying to pull a third (goal), and we managed the second half.”

Morway saw signs of progress for an Eclipse team that won a national title last season.

“I liked our movement,” she said. “Lately we’ve been passing it around the middle but today we started attacking, and that’s something we need to get back into.”

One week after the State Cup title game, the two teams met in a regional opener in Dayton, Ohio, with the Eclipse again coming out victorious.

“We’re the best two teams in Illinois but the same thing happened last year,” ELA Elite’s Taylor Heatherly said. “We had to meet in the first regional game last year, too. We’re not too happy about it.”

“But (Eclipse) is always a solid team and their depth is hard to deal with. After Alexa (Rowe) went down we only had two subs (in the State Cup game).”

For ELA Elite coach Tom Chmela, assessing the State Cup title game came down to two simple facts.

“They’re the national champs. We made a couple mistakes marking and they scored,” Chmela said. “And it doesn’t help when some of your best players are out.”

ELA Elite played without the services of University of Illinois-bound forward Janelle Flaws, who was injured during the IHSA state finals three weeks ago. Defender Danielle Romano also sat out with an injury during State Cup play.

“I told the girls not to be disappointed. They had a couple chances and we gave up a couple unmarked goals,” Chmela said.  “But these kids have always bounced back and played hard.”

Chmela applauded the play of Stacey Sanders, Amanda Brait, and keeper Dee Libricz in the State Cup final, “and I thought we played as well as we could in this situation,” he said. “We didn’t quit. We had a couple chances and we knew if we had them they were going to be off of counters or restarts.”

Depth of talent will again be a key factor as Eclipse Select’s U18’s chase another national title, along with no small amount of familiarity.

“The core of kids – there’s eight of them that have been here since they were ten,” Dames said. “So it’s a solid core of kids that have played together for a long time.”

“These girls have been doing this a long time and they know what they need to do. They’ve definitely learned how to win and they manage the games on their own at this point. There’s not a lot that I need to do except switch people in and out of games.”

One primary motivation for this year’s team was born two years ago, when the then-U16 Select team lost in a national title game.

“They came back after that and got after it. We came back last year and won and we’ve won this year,” Dames said. “They’re a good group of kids that enjoy playing together, and play well together. We don’t really have any superstars on our team. Some of our kids stand out but the group plays well together. It’s a good cohesive group.”

Dames was pleased with a handful of efforts he received during the State Cup game against ELA.

“I thought Katie (Uyenishi) and Kecia (Morway) got forward out of the back, and when those two are getting forward from the outside back spots and joining in, we become much more dangerous,” he said.

“Maggie (Murnane) and Erin (Pekovitch) in the first twenty-five minutes were moving well, and Maggie scored on a great little flick on a ball from Kecia. And Sam (Scofield) and Chelsea (Grant) are just hard to break down. Even when you get out they’re probably going to catch you.”