Saffel, freshmen lead way for West Aurora

Updated: April 9, 2011 7:36PM

West Aurora midfielder Jessica Saffel has a strong right leg.

Whether the left is equally powerful remains to be seen, but Saffel needed only the right Thursday night to assist on a 35-yard free kick goal and score from 20 yards out to lead the Blackhawks to a 3-0 victory over visiting Kaneland in the Blackhawks Invite.

"That was the first complete game we played and they beat us last year here at our tournament so it was a big game for us," West coach Laura Wagley said. "We wanted the revenge and we played very, very well."

Saffel is an elder statesman as a junior on a West team laden with 10 freshmen. But oh, how they're talented.

Saffel's free kick from deep on the right sideline in the 11th minute found freshman Alicia Rotolo's foot on the left side of the goal area for an early 1-0 lead.

Then in the 36th minute Saffel pushed a ball up the left side, stopped just outside the 18-yard box and lofted a bending shot to the right corner that dropped over the Kaneland keeper.

"Slow start, every game," Knights coach Scott Parillo said. "We get put in a hole and it costs us. We're forcing, we're pressing and we're just not playing Kaneland soccer. Hats off to West Aurora."

Speedy freshman forward Sammie O'Brien wreaked havoc on the wing, offensively and defensively, assisting on a goal by freshman Rachel Simpson in the 49th minute.

"It's really nice being this far along in the season and them being able to play well with us is really good," Saffel said about the freshmen. "We'll just keep progressing from here."

O'Brien never found net despite ripping three second-half shots that needed the crossbar and an in-the-right-spot pair of goalie hands to keep the score from getting out of reach.

But she didn't need to. The damage was already done with her pesky play disrupting the ball in the back or attacking goal, which led to chances for teammates.

"Having the freshmen score for us was awesome," Wagley said. "All the teams know Jess from last year so they're putting a lot of pressure on her, but we have other girls now who are just as good as Jess and can do anything for us. They will create more opportunities for our other girls and it takes a lot of pressure of Jess."

Kaneland (3-3) never found maneuvering room for forward Emily Heimerdinger, who was a foot wide from a goal on a shot in the opening minutes.

Defensively the Blackhawks (3-4) bottled up the Knights shifty captain with constant attention, while outshooting Kaneland 13-2.

"We man-marked her the whole game," Wagley said. "She got that one shot off, I pulled my girl who was marking her, told her if she got the shot off she's done and put her back on and we got her. They took her out second half so we accomplished our goal of stopping her."

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.