Batavia sophomore Gianna Reid stars in varsity debut, shuts out Bartlett

BARTLETT – Warming up before a JV soccer game a year ago, Batavia’s Gianna Reid got injured.

The Bulldog’ sophomore goalkeeper sustained a concussion and missed most of her freshman season, but she most certainly didn’t miss out on starring in her varsity debut on Tuesday.

Reid denied all of Bartlett’s scoring chances at Millennium Field in Streamwood and the Bulldogs blanked the Hawks, 1-0.

“We were all prepared really well and all had the confidence in each other,” Reid said. “The confidence was all here because we came into the game thinking we were going to win.”

Reid denied Bartlett senior midfielder Grace Johnsen in the 56th minute. Johnsen had gained possession of a loose ball that caromed off a Bulldog player toward the goal giving her a look at the net with just Reid remaining as a roadblock.

Reid punched out Johnsen’s shot and the Bulldogs made their goal early in the second half stand up.

“Last year we had a goalie (Reagan Sulaver) who went to Western Michigan and I think we were just ready for a change,” Batavia senior forward Natalie Warner said. “She (Sulaver) was amazing and Gianna like held her expectations really well and had some good saves out there, and was talking which helped move defenders and stuff. I think that was a good confidence boost and we were able to work up top to get a goal to win a game.”

Leah Zimberoff probably scored the Bulldogs goal early in the second half. Then again, it may have been Emma Wecker who finished it.

“I was the one that crossed the ball on the end line and I passed it and it bounced around a little bit, but I wasn’t sure if anyone touched it,” Zimberoff said. “It may have swerved in.”

Wecker didn’t divulge whether she got a flick on the ball before it settled in the back of the net with 35:38 still to play. Rather, she patted her teammates on the back for their effort.

“I think this is the first time this group of girls have all played together,” she said. “Like half of this team is new to varsity so I think we did a really good job of working together and communicated well. Getting the win was very good for us.”

Bartlett (0-1) only surrendered nine goals last year but the Hawks are working with a new back line in front of keeper Megan Kron.

“The Batavia goal was really well worked,” Bartlett coach Vince Revak said. “They used the speed of (Zimberoff) on the outside and got a little chaos in the middle and we couldn’t clear and that’s all she wrote for a 1-0.”

The Hawks last solid opportunity to score came in the 66th minute on a free kick from Mia Lanz that Larissa Aguilar soared to get a head on, but sent it too high.

“The defense looked good and confident,” Revak said. “Now how do we become more dangerous in our final third?”