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Royals prevail in rivalry match
Updated: April 28, 2011 11:21PM
Funny thing about neighborhood rivalries, there’s no telling what drives their significance.
None of the current participants have any idea when Aurora Central Catholic last beat its Edgelawn Drive neighbors in girls soccer, but that didn’t keep Rosary from considering Thursday’s 4-0 victory as payback for a loss earlier this year in another sport.
“We’ve got a few girls who wanted some payback for the regional title game loss in basketball, so they were up for this contest,” Rosary coach Kevin Callaghan said. “I’m more excited about seeing us start to really get it together. We’re getting used to each other and clicking a lot more as a team.”
That was evident in how much time the ball spent not just in ACC’s half of the field, but in front of the Chargers’ goal. All that pressure paid off just 11:29 into the match when Kallie Renfus was able to slip a pass to Kaitlin Johnson for a six-yard strike from center.
“Kallie did all the hard work initially shielding the ball from them, getting clear and getting me a great pass,” Johnson said. “I’m glad to have finished it because getting off to a good start and taking the lead was pretty important.”
ACC keeper Danielle Hernandez made several saves and defensive clears to keep the margin from growing until only 12:42 remained prior to halftime. That’s when Renfus followed up her own blast that was initially blocked before a 3-yard tap-in.
“(Assistant) coach Jennifer (Berg) is big on reminding us to follow up all shots, so that’s just what I did,” Renfus said. “On our first goal, I was just trying to get the ball into the middle, Kaitlin had an awesome shot.”
Rosary’s Samantha Duarte hustled into place to get off a 19-yard direct free kick that sailed perfectly into the far inside corner of the net with just 24 seconds left in the half for a spirit-breaking 3-0 lead. The host Royals’ domination was reflected statistically: 20-5 for overall attempts, 14-3 for shots on frame and 11-1 for corner kicks. Olivia Cozzoni had the assist on Duarte’s 5-yarder to end the scoring with 6:38 left in the match.
“Everyone agreed Haley Kilbride was our game MVP. She was all over the field making plays and helping set everybody up for shots or helping the people who then got assists,” Callaghan said. “Defensively, Courtney (Bila) had another strong game for us.”
The junior sweeper certainly made it a fairly dull match for freshman goalie Lauren Frasca as Rosary enjoyed three straight shutouts for the first time this season in evening its Suburban Christian Conference mark at 3-3-0 and improving to 5-8-1 overall.
A late spring break left ACC with a shorthanded roster in addition to not being able to capitalize on the momentum of a 3-2 win from their last win as postponements left the Chargers with two weeks of game rust.
“Mentally we just weren’t consistent enough,” ACC coach Maria Della Torre said. “We had moments of solid play but overall out intensity and our timing was really lacking. I know Danielle is frustrated with herself for a couple bobbles, but she made several huge saves, including at times when we should never have let them get into position for the shots they took.
The loss dropped ACC to 3-5-0 and 1-3-0 in the SCC with five of their final eight matches not only on the road, but coming within a 12-day span thanks in part to rescheduling.
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