Bradley-Bourbonnais repeats as All-City champs with 5-0 win over McNamara

BRADLEY – Before the girls soccer season started last month, Bradley-Bourbonnais, like scores of other teams around the state, made a list of preseason goals that they hoped to accomplish.

Tuesday night, they checked the first box on their home turf.

Thanks to a furious four-goal rally in the last 15 minutes of the first half, the Boilermakers shut out Bishop McNamara 5-0. Paired with last week’s 3-2 comeback win over Kankakee, Tuesday’s win made the Boilers the repeat All-City champions.

“Playing on this field and defeating the other teams for All-City means everything to them,” Boilers head coach Kristen Powell said. “This was something they made as a goal at the beginning of the season, so to see them accomplish it, it’s one of hopefully many that they’re gonna achieve this season.”

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Harper Tollefson, left, has her crossing pass defended by Bishop McNamara's Lily Walker-Dionne during a game at Bradley-Bourbonnais Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Mason Schweizer)

After seeing the Boilers (4-2) turn their speed into offense in their win over the Kays, the Fightin’ Irish (0-3) made it a point to focus their defensive attention on that outside speed, which led to a back-and-forth battle for the first 20-plus minutes Tuesday.

But as the Boilers were able to find opportunities in the box and from the middle of the pitch, they scored in bunches. Aaliyah Lanum kicked off the scoring with a long-distance boot from the top middle of the box 23 minutes into the half, the first of four goals in the final 17 minutes.

Six minutes later, that speed broke free when Nia Lawrence dashed down the left side and found the back of the net. Lanum tacked on another with just more than three minutes left before Rylee Villegas, a Bishop McNamara transfer, put in a long distance boot in the final seconds of the first half.

“Once they saw that we were able to pass and get into the box, and once they realized they were able to follow that up and finish the ball and that they could be fruitful, I think they were just encouraged and continued to work hard on offense,” Powell said of the furious rally that ended the first half.

After the offense took center stage in the first half, the Boilers’ defense and goalkeeper Jocelyn Zettergren took over in the second half.

The Irish got a couple of good scoring looks from Ella Langellier, Ellen Ehrman and Lydia Nugent, but all were denied before Villegas added her second goal in the game’s closing moments.

Although the final score leaned heavily toward the Boilers, the Irish and head coach Jason Dionne saw some good moments. They were able to follow their game plan of containing the Boilers’ outside speed for most of the night and had their share of looks in the second half.

With their first three matchups against Kankakee, Herscher and Bradley-Bourbonnais, currently a combined 12-3-1 this season, Dionne knows his team is gaining valuable experience through a tough chunk of their schedule.

“We’re learning how to grow as a team,” Dionne said. “We’ve taken on some tough teams to start the season and we’ve learned a lot. We’re taking that and gonna keep rolling.”