Naughton leads Grenadiers to 3-0 win over Buffalo Grove

By Matt Le Cren

If you want to see a demonstration of how a defender can be an important contributor to a team's offense, just watch Elk Grove sophomore Katie Naughton.

Naughton, a member of the Under-17 national team, is a rock in the middle of Elk Grove's defense, but her value goes far beyond keeping the ball out of the Grenadiers net.

Those talents were on full display Wednesday night as Naughton scored the game-winning goal in the first half and spent much of the rest of the match helping trigger the transition game.

That helped Elk Grove snap a three-game winless streak as it knocked off visiting Buffalo Grove 3-0 in Mid-Suburban League action.

She gave the Grenadiers (4-4-3, 2-2-1) the only goal they would need at the 29:31 mark of the first half when she bent a 20-yard free kick around the defensive wall and into the upper left corner of the net for her second goal of the season.

"It felt good coming off my foot," Naughton said. "I was aiming for the upper 90 in the left corner, pretty much where it ended up. It resulted in a goal, but it was a team effort.

"They got it up forward with some nice runs and it resulted in a foul. So that allowed me to put it in the back of the net."

Naughton began her career as an outside midfielder in grade school before her coaches switched her to defense to use her speed to match up with opposing forwards.

She was a star as a freshman but Elk Grove coach Dan Klaus has noticed subtle improvements in her game.

Evidence of that came early in the second half when Buffalo Grove's Sierra Bugno sent a dangerous cross in from the right wing.

Naughton picked the ball out of the air, settled it and kept control despite two attempts by a Bison forward to take it away from her.

She then cleared it quickly up to the midfield and the hosts went on the offensive against the Bison (3-7, 1-4).

It was the type of transition the Grens excelled at, especially when they got it to speedy forwards Kelli Hubly and Michelle Calmeyn.

"I like [playing defense]," Naughton said. "I've kind of grown accustomed to it and I think it's my strong point. I’m able to see the field and direct players.

"It's nice having Kelli and Michelle up there because I know that if I can get it over the defense that they'll run right onto it and hopefully get a crack at it."

That's exactly what Elk Grove did late in the match. Freshman defender Emily Wary took a page from Naughton's book by taking the ball away from Buffalo Grove's Kelly Mahoney 10 yards in front of the Grenadiers' net.

Wary passed to Hubly, who raced 60 yards up the field before crossing to Jill Zelek, who was wide-open in front and tapped in her second goal of the season with 15:58 remaining.

The Grens finished the scoring on a similar play at the 2:10 mark. Sophomore Rachel Pruim won the ball at midfield and an alert pass sent Hubly off to the races again up the right wing.

This time Hubly's cross found Calmeyn streaking into the box and the junior finished for her team-leading 12th goal.

It all felt like the start of something positive for the Grens.

"It feels great to finally get that victory," Naughton said. "The games that we lost were really close so it was hard to lose those games, but we knew that we could have won them.

Winning here is just kind of finally putting everything together. I think we're starting to break the ice finally. I think this is probably the starting point and hopefully we'll be on a roll from here."

Klaus, noting that his club got a solid effort from all 11 starters, had similar sentiments.

"When all of our girls are working, we're tough to contend with," Klaus said. "We had some early chances that we didn't finish that hopefully, if we're firing on all cylinders, we can finish those and then keep on trucking the whole rest of the game.

"But overall I'm proud of the effort that we put forth tonight. Even though our results have been mixed, I still think it's been a steady ascent."

Klaus was especially pleased with the efforts of Pruim and junior midfielder Anne Klancnik, who helped control the midfield despite playing with a sore foot.

Senior goalkeeper Nicole Ricci made six saves, including a sliding stop to thwart a breakaway by Carolynn Wieland in the first half that prevented the Bison from tying the game.

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