Hilltoppers keep scrapping in loss to York
By Dave Owen

Alyssa Cantore’s extraordinary effort showed why Glenbard West’s defense has been tough to score against all season.

But keeping York’s explosive offense quiet for 80 minutes proved as impossible as stopping the rain on Tuesday.

The Dukes (9-3-1, 3-1 in conference) scored twice off second-half restarts to win 2-0, the first time this season that the host Hilltoppers (2-7-2) have lost a game by more than one goal.

“Obviously cold and rainy isn’t the ideal conditions for both teams, but I think our girls did a nice job,” York coach Krzysztof Halupka said. “We did better in the second half than the first half – we still struggled to put a few passes together, but they (Glenbard West) also defended well.”

Defending well was an understatement with 23:40 left in the first half, when Cantore made one of the hustle plays of the year.

Bryce Banuelos’ shot from inside the box beat Glenbard West goalkeeper Kylie Paul, but defender Cantore raced from out of nowhere to stop the rolling ball at the goal line – denying a sure goal while keeping her balance by hanging on to the net.

“I kind of knew it was coming,” Cantore said of Banuelos’ open net chance. “I just ran back, looked up when I stopped it and he (the referee) said it was on the line. It was just kind of an exciting feeling.”

“Bryce was unlucky,” Halupka said. “She got behind the goalie and pushed the ball to what we think is an open net, only to find that they stop the ball on the line.”

That sure goal turned super stop was just one of York’s many early chances.

The Dukes had an 8-1 edge in first half shots, and Cantore, Britta Franzel and Abby Ohmstein also all had two or more clears of balls in the box (one by Ohmstein of a Banuelos header in the crease) to repel potential scoring threats in an eventual 0-0 first half. A nice long ball up the left sideline by the Hilltoppers’ Kate Strieker set up a corner kick six minutes into the game for Glenbard West’s lone good chance of the half.

Unfortunately for Glenbard West, the pouring rain and the deluge of York scoring chances never let up in the second half – and the dam eventually had to burst.

“We did really well in the first half,” Cantore said. “I think the rain got to us at the end, and York’s a good team. Every year they’re consistent and do well against us, so I think we held our own in the first half. But for part of the second we just lost focus a little bit.”

York’s defense faced the first tests of the second half. The Dukes’ Rachel Ogdon nicely cleared a cross to the box by Glenbard West’s Alexandra Levin 40 seconds into the second half, then Ogdon denied a Grace Burrello threat near the top of the box three minutes later.

After that, York was back on the attack stronger than ever.

Paul made three nice saves in a four-minute span before York produced a beautiful finish to an Ellie Ordonez corner kick with 27:31 left.

Annalisa Lapo lofted a high 30-yard shot off the restart, and Kovatchis perfectly timed her arrival in the crease to head the go-ahead goal into the net.

“Annalisa crossed it in, and we’re trying to get the ball to their head,” Halupka said. “She made a good cross and we were there. I think the goalie was waiting for it and Alyssa beat her to the ball.”

“It was just a really great ball from Annalisa, and I just went in and headed it in,” Kovatchis said.

“Obviously the rain was a big factor in the game,” Kovatchis added, “but we tried to move the ball as best we could, especially since the field’s not as wide as we’re used to having it. And we did that. We had the ball for the most part, which was good.”

Possession of the ball meant many more York chances, but Glenbard West (which has allowed just 12 goals all season) proved a challenge.

Paul was able to deflect a Judith Flores 15-yard blast with 24:10 left, and Levin cleared the loose rebound away from the goal line. Then Paul followed three minutes later with a tremendous point blank stop of a Kylie Bowman shot.

“Their goalkeeper had a very good day,” Halupka said. “If she didn’t, the score could have been much different. In the second half she had great saves on Kylie and Judith.

“I give them credit. They stuck it out and they tried to prevent us from doing what we wanted to do, but you can only do that for so long. Once we got the first goal that made it a little easier for us. They deflated a little bit to our advantage.”

York’s lead grew to 2-0 with 13:10 left. Ordonez’s nice corner kick to a crowd in the crease was headed into the net by Jaime Kovatchis – despite a great effort by defender Abigail Murphy to again nearly keep the ball from crossing the goal line.

“A good corner kick by Ellie Ordonez and Jaime gets forward and gets her head on it,” Halupka said of the goal. “Those are the set plays that in past years we weren’t lucky on, but now they’re working for us.

“In the second half we played much better with the ball, and we got dangerous shooting from the outside.”
Paul made two more great saves in the final 10 minutes of play (including a block at the post of an Ordonez 12-yard rocket), but York’s defense led by Ogdon, Angela Guerino, Edith Flores and Jaime Kovatchis prevented any major challenges to the Dukes’ fifth shutout of the year.

“Defensively as a unit we didn’t allow many chances,” Halupka said. “When they (Glenbard West) did clear the ball our defense was ready. We were organized. You have to have composure – it’s not ping pong. Let’s win the ball and attack, and I think we did a good job of that.”

Alyssa Kovatchis noted the Dukes’ chemistry as another key factor.

“Everybody on our team is playing together so well now that we’ve had so many games,” she said. “It’s getting a lot better.

“It was nice to get a win because this team (Glenbard West) doesn’t give up many goals. They’ve lost a lot of games by only one goal.”

The Hilltoppers have been close in every game this season despite a lack of depth, with just two substitutes available on Tuesday.

“I think with our numbers being a little low this year that we’re doing pretty well,” Cantore said. “We keep improving during practices, then we come out and play pretty consistent against tougher teams.

“We haven’t had many wins, but our games have been close,” Cantore added. “It’s usually just an unlucky situation that happens in the end. That was just a marking issue (on the first goal). We’ve been working on that, and hopefully we’ll eliminate those mistakes more during games.”

Denied on many scoring chances, York weathered that challenge and the deluge of rain to emerge with a win.

“Anybody can play in sunny weather,” Halupka said, “but the girl that’s going to show up, put her game face on and be ready to play in these conditions: that’s the test. You learn something about yourself every time you step on the field, and today was a good experience.”