West Aurora cruises past rival East

Photos: East Aurora vs. West Aurora

Having scored early and often through the first half Saturday, West Aurora coasted past rival East Aurora 5-1 in the second of five rounds for the Blackhawk Soccer Tournament.

In addition to improving to 4-4-0 on the season, West Aurora put itself in the driver's seat to capture the title for the five-school round robin, especially in lieu of defending champion Kaneland suffering a second tourney setback having allowed Plainfield East to come from behind for a 6-4 victory in the morning opener. Despite standing 2-0, West Aurora must still deal with a pair of teams with 1-0 tourney ledgers --- initially on Monday against Streamwood and then on Tuesday against the Bengals of PEHS.

"The first half we played our game; the second half, not even sure it's accurate to say we coasted. It's like we thought it would be a piece of cake and they (East) came out fighting. We're lucky we didn't give up two or three goals," West Aurora coach Laura Wagley lamented with an amount of frustration that was in direct contrast to the Blackhawks' 5-0 first-half romp.

Freshman Sammie O'Brien's somersault flip throw-ins had West knocking on the door early but it was O'Brien who followed up on a 3-yard tap-in when Reilly Kulakowski's shot caromed off the crossbar just 6:52 into the match. Two minutes later, Kulakowski headed an O'Brien flip throw-in off the crossbar, but at 13:51, Kulakowski booted that throw-in home for a 2-0 lead.

"I'm always going for the header if possible, but it was kind of 50-50 if the keeper could get to it and I guessed she wouldn't, once she didn't it was an easy tap in," Kulakowski admitted. "Being the East-West rivalry, it's a big victory in itself, but being 2-0 now in the tourney is really building our confidence. We just have to stay strong to complete the goal we set of winning our own tournament."

The Blackhawks looked like a team that wanted to remove any doubt scoring three more times in a 12-minute span. Alicia Rotolo's kick from a scramble in front of the Tomcat cage made it 3-0 with 17:47 left before intermission. While EA goalie Cynthia Reyes got a hand on Lauren Gaffino's blast, the ball was clearly headed netward when Kassandra Ramirez swooped in to make certain it made the last two yards for her first goal before Blackhawk standout Jessica Saffell worked past a couple defenders to rocket home a 14-yarder from the right wing inside the left post for the 5-0 halftime lead.

"No one had two goals and that balanced scoring is awesome," Wagley noted. "Usually Jessica or Sammie both have one, two or more goals, so it was good to see others getting involved offensively."

While West Aurora (1-6-0) ended the match with a 17-15 edge in overall attempts and an 11-10 edge for on-goal tries, the second half was clearly the better 40 minutes for the Tomcats highlighted by Andrea Garcia's 24-yard direct free kick that sailed over WAHS starting keeper Felicia Dattolo and under the crossbar with 19:31 still to be played.

"I was aiming for the far post and when I saw it go in it really felt great," Garcia said of her second goal of the year. "I think it helped motivate us to keep playing hard for the rest of the match."

That was obvious as the Tomcats had several near misses including a cross through the crease with 11 minutes to play that just needed any kind of toe-poke to go in.

"The first half you have to give West all the credit, they used their athleticism and those long throw-ins to their advantage, but in the second half, I really thought we were the better team," East coach Matt Shirk said. "While we can take some solace in not giving up and fighting so hard to the end, it's still the same old story: we play great for a half or in stretches, but not for the whole match.

"Defensively I was really pleased with Gabby (Lechuga), whose assignment was to shadow Saffell and despite her one goal, I still think we kept her under wraps pretty well," Shirk added.

In the morning opener, Kaneland (3-5-0) looked determine to bounce back from Friday's 3-0 loss to West Aurora as the Knights' Sophia Blank just missed with two tries before her third boot --- a 17-yarder from the left side --- found the back of the net. Five minutes later, KHS standout Emily Heimerdinger gave a textbook demonstration of an in-swinger on a corner kick for a 2-0 lead. A Kaneland defensive lapse enabled Cynthia Pineda to cross to a wide-open Karissa Hahn for Plainfield East (5-2-1) to make it a 2-1 halftime tally.

Thirty-three seconds after the second-half restart, Heimerdinger fed Blank for a lightning-quick strike and a 3-1 advantage, but just over two minutes later, another KHS miscue was followed by Anna Gahafer's 7-yarder. A handball violation on the Knights had the Bengals thinking tie but KHS keeper Michelle Ortiz smothered Gahafer's PK try.

With 23:55 remaining, Heimerdinger 19-yard blast from the right side gave the Knights a 4-2 lead and a false sense of security. With 18:27 to go, Gahafer's cross was parked into the net by Julia Buchholz and just over five minutes later, the same duo clicked again for a 4-all deadlock. Not even two minutes later, Plainfield East took the lead when Brianna Bernholdt boomed a 24-yarder over Kaneland's Ortiz. When Pineda tallied her second goal with 4:20 still on the clock, the Knights were left hoping to change what became the final 6-4 score.

"The only thing we can hope for is that this was a learning experience for the girls," Kaneland coach Scott Parillo stated. "2-0, 3-1, or 4-2, no lead is ever good enough, you have to fight to the end. Unfortunately everything broke down for us. Our passes went to the other team, our headers went to the other team, and when it mattered the most, the best shots went to the other team."

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