Wildcats aiming high in 2010

CLICK HERE FOR GAME PHOTOS VS. ST. FRANCIS

By Gary Larsen

With three inches of snow on the ground, West Chicago’s Anna Mercaldo got a message Saturday morning from Wildcats coach Cesar Gomez.

“He called me at like 8:30 in the morning,” Mercaldo said. “He said to text everyone and tell them to come to the field at 10:15. I texted everyone and told them to bring their parents and bring shovels.”

Mercaldo and dozens of West Chicago teammates, parents, and jayvee players spent an hour shoveling the snow off of the artificial surface of their home field, so they could play their season-opener against St. Francis.

“We really wanted to play,” Wildcats junior Rachel Thomas said.

And even though the Wildcats lost 2-1, they were anything but discouraged when it was over. “I thought we did really well. We did everything we’ve been preparing to do,” Thomas said. “Even though we were down we kept playing the way we’re supposed to.”

The way the Wildcats aim to play this year, like they have every year under Gomez, is to play quick to feet, work the ball up the field, and attack, attack, attack.

“I’m very happy with the way we played today,” Gomez said. “We saw some very good things today and we’re excited about the season. For the coaches, this gave us a good view of the future, which is eight or nine games in.”

Senior captain Mercaldo is a converted midfielder expected to help hold down the back line this year on the outside, along with sophomore Jessica Quinn. Fellow senior captain and former forward Stephanie Salinas will sweep for the Wildcats for the second season, and junior Jenny Amaro completed the back four on Saturday. Senior captain Thomas will be a key figure in back for West Chicago.

“We’re just getting used to each other but as time goes on I think we’ll get better and better,” Salinas said. “For most of us this is our second year playing our positions, so I think we’ll get even more comfortable over time.”

Junior Kelsey Myers started in net on Saturday, “and she looked good,” Gomez said. “She’s going to help us tremendously and she’s gaining confidence.”

“She has come a long way,” Thomas said of Myers. “She’s trying very hard, she’s on top of things, and she’s one of those players in practice that you never see slacking.”

Steering the midfield are a pair of quick and skilled players in junior Mary Rojas and sophomore Bianca Navejas, with a now-healthy senior in Kelsey Whitaker and a fiery player in junior Sarah Opel on the outside.

“We have players that can construct and players that can destroy,” Gomez said. “Sarah is a destroyer. She’s going to get in your way and she gives us energy. Kelsey has been hurt but she has come in with a new lease on the sport.”

The value of junior forward Meagan Radloff was on display against St. Francis.

“I thought we looked very good for the first twenty minutes, and then when Meagan (Radloff) went down it changed things for us. We’re very young and when she went down, we don’t have that person yet who is going to say ‘I’m going to pick it up’.”

Radloff is an athletic, fast, and skilled junior forward and will draw plenty of attention from opposing defenses this season. “She’s smart, she’s fast, and on top of everything she’s athletic,” Gomez said. “She’s good and people are going to feed off of her, because she’s also unselfish.”

Helping Radloff up top will be a trio of freshmen forwards to add scoring this year, in Andie Lazzerini, Lauren Ott, and Katie Becker. “They don’t play like freshmen,” Salinas said.

Sophomores Kim Fester, Kristyn Pavnica, and Cassie Thill will all contribute this year, as will juniors Amber Del Rio and Kayla Freund to a team that you won’t see sending long balls over the top.

“We want to play attractive soccer,” Gomez said. “I want to see us play that type of soccer at this level. I want to stay away from kick-and-chase. Get it on the ground, complete two or three passes and get it forward.”

“We have high hopes,” Thomas said. “Even though we lost, the other coach (St. Francis’s Meg Boler) complimented us and told us we were moving the ball better, and we did this and that better.