Huskies battle but fall 2-0 in home opener
By Gary Larsen

With cabin fever finally giving way to outdoor space, Naperville Central and Oak Park and River Forest were happy to square off on an actual soccer field on Tuesday.

“This was a practice for both teams,” Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. “Everyone just got to get dressed (in uniform) for it.”

With temperatures in the mid-30’s and under a light snowfall, the Redhawks got second-half goals from Abby Joyce and Autumn Muckenhirn and bused back to Naperville with a 2-0 victory under their belts.

“It feels good to be outside,” Joyce said. “We’re all pretty new, we have a bunch of different age groups, and it’s hard to click right away but I thought we did a really good job of that for our first game.”
Through 40 minutes, OPRF kept a Central team with the wind at its back out of net. Defenders Wren Osler, Isabela Ecalona, Erin McCormack, Naomi Johnson, and Emily Verticchio kept danger to a minimum and senior keeper Elise Delligrazie kept a clean sheet to halftime.

“(OPRF) plays a very high line and in the first game of the year the tendency is to get in behind, and we just couldn’t catch it,” Watson said. “And their goalkeeper did a nice job of getting to anything that we couldn’t get to.”

Central found midfielders Veronica Ellis, Grace Orndorff, and Alison Kincaide with more regularity in the second half, allowing the Redhawks to keep the Huskies more firmly pinned in their defensive third.
The scoreless tie broke in the 55th minute after Joyce slid a pass to her left and a charging Orndorff took a touch or two to the end line on the left side.

Orndorff sent a pass towards the near post where Joyce was making a run, and Joyce finished from six yards out with Delligrazie charging out at her.

“Since we didn’t get any (goals) in the first half we were trying to get all over them in the second half,” Joyce said. “I saw (Orndorff) going down-line and I tried to get her through the defense. She made a move on her girl and got end line, I made a move off my ball and fortunately she looked up and saw me.”

The Redhawks struck again two minutes later when Ellis centered a short pass to Muckenhirn, whose long chip from 22 yards out fell under the crossbar.

Central sophomore Abby Hershik made four saves in her first game as a varsity goalkeeper, coming away with the shutout behind a Central backline that allowed very few shots on frame.

“I thought Amanda (Alberts) and Meredith (Tunney) did a nice job of controlling the back and I thought (Orndorff), Alison (Kincaide) and (Ellis) in the midfield – that’s a nice group of players,” Watson said. “It was nice to see (Ellis) playing the way we knew she could play and it was a good group effort today. (Joyce) gets us a lead and (Muckenhirn) puts it on frame, and when you put it on frame good things happen.”

For OPRF coach Ignacio Ponce, Central’s two-goal outburst in a two-minute span didn’t detract from the effort his girls in back put forth. Delligrazie made 12 saves and played aggressively throughout.

“I thought (Delligrazie) did great in the goal today,” Ponce said. “On their first goal, a defender did not follow her runner and by the time she realized she was running through, it was too late. But we were at zeroes for fifty-five minutes so at that point it was anyone’s game. I thought the backline played pretty well. We have some newcomers in back that are learning.

“For the first fifty-five minutes it was zero-zero and that was fine. We had some opportunities in the attacking third but obviously they dominated more of the game. They had more possession and I told our girls that we have to work on the anticipation aspect of play. They seemed to anticipate the plays and passes to one another and had more trust. They read the play faster than we did and we reacted after they got the ball rather than when they released the ball. “

OPRF’s seven returning starters this year include two of its leading scorers from last season in Ruby Gonzalez (11 goals, 10 Assists), Meredith Blatner (5  goals). Alicia Gerin also showed signs of attacking promise on Tuesday.

“I was very pleased with Alicia Gerin today,” Ponce said. “We tried her at outside mid and then switched her up top, and that allowed us to put some pressure on them. She was creating some nice plays. She’s the one that came off an ACL injury last year and she’s finally at a hundred percent this year. And Meredith Blatner was at defensive mid at the beginning of the game, we moved her to attacking mid, and she’s a playmaker and she’s very aggressive. It will obviously just take some time for us to find the chemistry that we need.

“(Naperville Central) won all the balls in the air today and that’s also an area we’ll improve on. Their number 12 (Ellis) is solid and it’s always good for us to see Naperville Central early in the season because we’ll only improve from here. I’d love to continue to play them and I think it’s only a matter of time before we’re able to beat them.”

OPRF plays at Nazareth on Friday while the Redhawks play at Whitney Young before hosting Plainfield North on Saturday.

“Effort-wise I thought we were all there today, all supporting each other, trying to boost each other up, and trying to make runs for each other to make it easier,” Joyce said. “It looks like it’s going to be a really good season.”