Hornets blanked by Redhawks in regional opener

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By Gary Larsen

Fourteen shutouts and only 9 goals given up in 22 games.

Naperville Central coach Ed Watson has at times bemoaned his squad’s scoring woes this year, but any team playing the Redhawks’ schedule that can boast the above numbers has a defense that has had a whale of a season.

The Redhawks posted shutout No. 14 in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Hinsdale South, in a Class 3A regional semifinal played at Naperville North. Gina Maddi buried her chances and posted a hat-trick to lead the way.

The sophomore Maddi leads all Redhawks with 18 goals and 7 assists through Tuesday’s win.

“We’re finishing more, and we’ve needed that girl to finish them,” Central defender Sally Stocchero said. “Gina definitely did that today.”

Of the top six seeds playing in the Naperville Central sectional, the No. 4 Redhawks and top-seeded Waubonsie Valley are the only two teams that have held opponents to less than 10 goals for the season. The Warriors have also only given up 9 goals in 22 games.

Naperville Central’s defensive unit features a central defender in Taylor Heatherly and a goalkeeper in Jill D’Amico who posted her 12th shutout this year and now has 28 career shutouts at Central.

Stocchero, Veronica Ellis, and Hannah Brenner have anchored the back line with Heatherly, and Carly Franzese’s recent return from injury will only bolster the defense.

“We’ve protected Jill pretty well but there have been times when she has saved the game,” Stocchero said. “Against (Naperville) North, she saved us. And the key is having Taylor back there. I was new to it this year and she has really helped me.”

Tuesday’s win for the Redhawks sets up a rematch on Friday against No. 5 Naperville North with a regional title on the line. Central won 2-0 over North in a DVC game on April 19.

The Redhawks (15-2-5) are 9-1-1 in their last 11 games, and Watson believes the season turned after one particular game played in mid-April.

“I would say a pivotal point in our season was the afternoon when Neuqua beat us 1-0,” Watson said. “We came back to Central and sat all the girls down, and we detailed our plan for what we wanted to try to accomplish.”

Integral to that plan was the role that Heatherly would play from that day forward. As a junior Heatherly played a large role in the midfield, but as one of the best defenders around her services this season were required in back.

“With the personnel that we have we just couldn’t afford to play her at midfield,” Watson said. “We moved her and Sally (Stocchero) back there and just asked them to play even up with each, and be partners. Sally is so comfortable back there, and when she and Taylor got back there together that’s when we finally clicked.”

“Hannah (Brenner) just gets the job done, she recognizes what that job is and just performs it. And maybe I’ve held back praise of our freshmen, but Veronica Ellis is a very good player for us.”

Watson is also happy to see defender Carly Franzese getting back to form after an injury suffered a month ago.

D’Amico is already third all-time in shutouts at Central. Ashley Koenig (class of ’99) is tops all-time with 45.5 career shutouts, and Shelley Krueger (class of ’96) is second with 34 shutouts.

Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf’s young squad played hard, competitive soccer from the game’s outset before the Redhawks’ first goal nicked a chip off of the Hornets’ confidence.

“We gave up that first one away, but the second one was the tough one to take,” Wolf said. “But we played hard and had some energy. But the second goal was deflating.”

“We’re still relatively young and we still need that one person that reaches down and gets us some energy. Someone needs to be that person.”

The Redhawks had to adjust to a Hornets team they knew little about heading into the contest.

“I don’t know that were a lot of opportunities that we had to defender early on, but (Hinsdale South) possessed real well early on,” Watson said. “They kept the ball away from us.”

Central’s Krissy Many sent a blast just high of net from distance in the game’s 7th minute, and sent another shot on net 20 minutes in. Taylor Heatherly ripped a free kick just off frame a minute later, and the Redhawks’ attacking pressure began to mount.

Hillary Scott fed Sabrina Cisneros up the left side two minutes later, and Hornets keeper Vanessa Niestrom saved Cisneros’ hard-hit shot at the near post.

The ice finally broke in the 25th minute, after Maddi blocked an attempted Hornets’ goal kick. The sophomore raced to the near post shortly thereafter and buried her first goal of the day.

“Gina had a great hustle play there, and a nice finish,” Watson said. “She does a real good job of head up, and passing the ball past the goalkeeper. On the second goal, she was very opportunistic. All three of her goals were quick-hitters, and we’ll take them.”

Maddi ran onto a long ball sent over the top and made it count in the 32nd minute, and she completed her hat-trick two minutes later, scoring near the goalmouth after an Alex Coon throw-in deep in the final third.

Friday’s rematch against Naperville North (13-6-2) figures to hinge at least in part on North’s ability to defend restarts. The Redhawks scored on a pair of restarts against the Huskies, who have 12 shutouts and has only given up 14 goals in 21 games.

“Until we got up 2-0, I think we won the majority of the fifty-fifties in that game,” Watson said. “I thought we also found the weak side and took advantage of having the ball.”

For Hinsdale South, this year figures to pay dividends next season. The Hornets bid farewell to a few key seniors on Tuesday but will return most of a young team that figures to benefit from an 8-13 season that featured a formidable schedule throughout.
 
“You have to play the hard teams if you want to measure yourself. We played hard against Waubonsie, and Downers (North), and Lincoln-Way

The Hornets said goodbye to seniors Talia Avci, Sarah Fazal, and Morgan Heasley on Tuesday, but they’ll return a good core of experienced players next season.

Jessy Mutter, Jackie Belmonte, and Meagan McPherson stood out for the Hornets on Tuesday, and all three will be back.

“We played a lot of tough teams this year and we learned that we have to play hard the whole time, and stick with it,” Belmonte said. “We came out hard and played a good possession game today, but then we fell flat after that goal.

We’ll come back stronger and play more as a team next year, and come out with more victories.”

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