Wolves roll past Fenton in opening home match

By Eddie Burns

There was not much for coach Lauren Anderson and the rest of the Oswego East Wolves to complain about after their home opener.

The Wolves dominated Fenton by a 6-1 margin in the nonconference match played on Monday in Oswego.

"We were knocking the ball around, keeping good possession and we really worked well together," Anderson said. "We were swinging the field nicely."

Oswego East (1-0-1) had the better of the play for 95 percent of the match. Almost the entire first half was played on Fenton’s side of the field.

The Wolves were aggressive early and it showed by their ability to force four corner kicks in the opening 11 minutes.

All of the hard work paid off when senior midfielder Lauren Hoppensteadt sent a cross toward the Fenton penalty area where junior forward Katie Ross was waiting.

Ross finished off the scoring chance when she beat Fenton goalie Kathrine McEvoy to make it 1-0 in the 12th minute.

Oswego East kept up the pressure as it added goals by Carli Schlaker and Hoppensteadt shortly before intermission to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead at the break.

"One reason we had the better of the play was that we took away their passing," Ross said. "I thought we were a step quicker to the ball.

"We've been working hard in practice at being the first to the ball in those 50/50 situations and it showed."

Ross later increased her team's lead to 4-0 when she scored in the 47th minute.

"Katie has a lot more in her," Anderson said. "I'm waiting for her to break out because she's an excellent player who does a wonderful job with ball control.

"She's got a great shot, but I'm still waiting for her to break out this season. It is still early, but we're looking for her to be one of our leading scorers this season."

Hoppensteadt added her second goal two minutes later to make it 5-0 game.

"We really passed the ball well and kept up our intensity," Hoppensteadt said. "We took care of the opportunities that we had.

"When we lost the ball we made sure to come back and recover and get it right back so we could connect with our teammates."

Fenton (1-1) managed its goal on a direct kick restart when Jessica Falco slipped a shot past Oswego East starting goalie Elizabeth Perez, who managed two saves.

Senior Theresa Grandenitti capped the scoring for Oswego East in the 68th minute.

The Wolves put 23 shots on the Fenton net and would have liked to have come away with more goals.

"We can't miss those prime scoring opportunities against state-ranked teams when they only give one or two chances to score, so that is something we need to clean up," Hoppensteadt said.

"We're going to have to start taking hold of those situations."

Anderson's starting lineup featured four freshmen in forward Brittany Brewer, midfielder Victoria Pecci, midfielder Megan Ross and defender Anida Phetchanpheng.

"Having four freshmen start is not normal," Anderson said. "It wasn't something done on a whim -- they each deserve to start. They know they have to come in here and prove that they belong.

"That's been a good thing for us for the upperclassmen because they don't want to lose their spots to a newcomer or a freshman, so it really gets the team working and playing together right off the bat."

The Wolves begin Southwest Prairie Conference play on Thursday at home against Romeoville.

"The Fenton match only gives us confidence as we move into that portion of our schedule, which will tell us a lot about our team," Anderson said.