Week 2, Better than Week 1?
- acphoto22
- Mar 30
- 4 min read
The first week of any season is always exciting. Games are so much more fun than the work of fitness and repetitive drills against teammates. The days leading up to the season, with coaches talking about positioning and shape, all start blurring into Charlie Brown’s teacher.
Second weeks feel different and rarely sustain the excitement of a first game, but this week, for me, was in some ways more exciting than the first week.
Quality teams playing quality opponents. All four games were decided by only a goal or resulted in a tie. It was definitely a good week of soccer.
Tuesday, 3/25, I was in Wheaton for a matchup between the Falcons of Wheaton North (1-3-1) and the Mustangs of Metea Valley (4-1). Through three-quarters of the game, the score was 0-0. The Falcons' keeper Leah Roe, who will be playing next year a few blocks away at Wheaton College, made a number of quality saves on shots from inside the box.
Both teams were strong in the midfield, challenging on every ball.
Metea's first goal came on a PK after a foul in the box, but the second goal was truly a work of art. The Mustang's Chloe Birch crossed the ball into the middle, and Lily Senese gently headed the ball into the far side of the net, well away from North's keeper.
Metea came away with a well earned victory, but anyone who plays Wheaton North should ignore their record and prepare for a tough game.
Thursday, 3/27, I was in Burbank to watch Lincoln-Way Central square off against conference foe Andrew in the Windy City Ram Classic championship game. It was a competitive, physically intense game. The Knights came out on top and enjoyed the win.
In the back, Central has a strong, heady player limiting opponents scoring opportunities. Abby Sudkamp owns her half of the field, and any player who goes at her with anything less than 100% shouldn't bother. In the midfield the Knights have a sophomore tearing up the field. Jules Rafacz seemed to be everywhere, and she seemed ready to shoot from anywhere. She scored Central's first goal and drew the foul that earned the PK that Sudkamp buried.
And up top, or in the midfield depending on where she is most needed, Maddi Watt is a tremendous athlete.
Her strength will be tough for any team to counter.
Friday and Saturday I spent in Naperville watching first the Huskies and then the Redhawks play Edwardsville. The Tigers put a hell of a line up on the field. They subbed six or seven players off the bench, and there wasn't any noticeable drop off in play. They defeated North 1-0 on a wind-aided shot from just inside midfield. They played Central the next morning at 10:00 am to a 1-1 draw. I won't be surprised to see them back in Naperville in June.
On Friday, the Huskies put a talented lineup on the pitch, but players seemed to struggle in the first half to find the level of intensity necessary to compete against a high level opponent. In the second half, there was a noticeable increase in North's competitive fight.
Saturday morning Central came out ready to play. The first half ended 0-0, but Central was going into the wind--wind that was not as strong as Friday's across town--and the Redhawks were moving the ball.
The entire game was a physical contest. Freshman Natalie Liesch won the battle in the photo above, but she took as many hard hits as she gave. Liesch never backed down.
Emerson Burke's goal was pretty incredible. As I looked at Edwardsville's wall, I couldn't see a shot scoring, so I focused on her teammates expecting Burke to play the ball into the six for a header.
Awesome players forever make plays teammates, fans, and photographers can't believe. Burke bent the shot around the wall and inside the far post. It truly was an awesome shot.
Edwardsville evened the score on a PK, and the game ended in a tie, but the Redhawks look like a team with goals for the end of the season.
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