It's all Bartlett in win over visiting East Aurora

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By Darryl Mellema

It might seem a little early for the balloons, roses, photos and group hugs that accompany Senior Night celebrations – yet here was Bartlett, honoring Trisha Donlon and Amanda Zindel at halftime of Tuesday’s contest with East Aurora.

The night was one extended celebration too. The Hawks shook off their recent scoring doldrums in the match and shut out the Tomcats 8-0.

“I think it is nice to have it in the middle of the season,” Zindel said. “If it’s at the end, then it’s just like ‘it’s over.’ Now we have more to look forward to, more games to look forward to.”

Bartlett coach Heather Thomas enjoyed the opportunity to honor Donlon and Zindel, who have both been heavily involved in this year’s surge to a 6-3-2 record.

“It’s always nice to honor your seniors and to get them a good win,” Thomas said.

“They’ve worked hard for four years and have made some tremendous plays throughout the four years. It’s nice to get them some recognition and to honor their achievements and hard work.”

Donlon and Zindel even had the opportunity to combine to score one of the team’s goals, with Donlon passing to Zindel in the third minute of the second half to make the score 6-0.

“We’ve known each other forever and played together from third grade up until like seventh and now in high school,” Donlon said.

While there are key freshman on Bartlett’s roster like Alex Cappello, Brittney Van Ness and Kendra Videckis, there is an established core in the squad as well. This year’s seniors have been a large part of integrating all the classes together.

“I’ve been playing for a long time with a lot of these players,” Zindel said. “It’s a good feeling that we’re a strong team and that we play really well together. Being a senior and being a leader, I think, is really important. You don’t want to be a controlling leader but a really good teammate to our younger girls who will be pursuing it for the next couple of years.”

These two seniors have been a part of the program all four years at Bartlett and have a deep feeling for being a Hawks soccer player.

“I think we all get along,” Donlon said. “It’s important to be a nice person and a good player and to not be yelling at your teammates and things like that.”

They also enjoyed their moment with parents at halftime, and the smiles were just a bit wider because the score was 4-0 at that time.

“I’m happy thinking over the past seasons and this season,” Donlon said. “I’m excited for it to not be over with and to go far this year when we get to the playoffs.”

Bartlett took the lead on its first attack when Brittney Van Ness dribbled into the penalty area and Nicole Gobbo took a loose ball and scored. That lead came 30 seconds into the match. As East Aurora failed to get any shots in the game, Bartlett was off to more than a good start.

“We don’t go into it like it’s going to be an easy win,” Zindel said. “We do into it hard like we do for any game. We always play for what we need to work on in every game.”

Bartlett continued to attack. Jessica Cosentino just missed on a shot after 5 minutes and took a corner kick that Lisa Palmer saw blocked off the goal line. And all this took place in the opening 10 minutes.

Ashley Johnson doubled Bartlett’s lead in the 11th minute when she sized up a shot from 30 yards and powered it into the net.

Goals came quickly at this point. Fourteen minutes into the match, Donlon took a long shot that hit the crossbar and Videckis knocked the rebound into the net from close range. Five minutes later, Ashley Johnson sent a free kick off the crossbar and Lisa Palmer scored on the rebound.

Ahead 4-0 at haltime, Thomas emphasized the need to continue to take the match seriously. There are sterner tests coming for Bartlett, and the need to remain sharp was hammered home.

“We talked that there were things that we needed to work on going into St. Charles East,” Thomas said. “This isn’t something where we can play lightly. We’ve got team goals and team things that we want to get done. So hopefully we were able to work out some of the kinks from our last three outings.”

Half of Bartlett’s second half goals were directed into the net by East Aurora players. Erin Mancuso was given credit for the goal on the first, which came 57 seconds into the half. Donlon and Zindel combined two minutes later for their goal.

And when Videckis took a shot that was knocked into the net by an East Aurora defender with 30:54 to play, the lead stood at 7-0 and the remaining time on the clock was halved.
In those 15 minutes, Cosentino scored Bartlett’s final goal of the match.

“It’s nice to get our forwards back in the swing of things and get them going and get them confidence again – all that stuff that we lost for a couple of games,” Thomas said.

Bartlett goalie Natalia Grodzki was a spectator for much of Tuesday’s game. The first time she touched the ball in the match came with 6 minutes left in the first half when Palmer sent a back pass her direction and Grodzki kicked the ball back upfield. The match was played almost exclusively in East Aurora’s defending half.