Suburban Life girls soccer notebook: Hinsdale Central continues shutout streak

Hinsdale Central posted its fourth straight shutout and won for the fifth time in sixth games on Monday night with a 2-0 win over Sandburg.

The Red Devils have also blanked Oswego East, Proviso West and Geneva during their shutout streak, outscoring opponents, 22-0, during the stretch.

”I think we owe the girls and our senior leadership mostly for the current winning streak that we are on,” Hinsdale Central coach Tony Madonia said. “The girls have shown serious perseverance and positivity with the way our season began. It is still early, but we are showing some signs of what type of team we can be when we collectively hold ourselves to the high standards and are opportunistic.”

Captains Avery Edgewater, Peyton Rohn and Eme McClenahan have a combined 10 years of varsity experience and are using it to lead the way.

“It has shown through the ebbs and flows of the season so far,” Madonia said. “They have helped us keep the focus, but we have a mature locker room full of leaders on and off of the field. We have talented players from back to front starting with our goalkeepers Gabby Gjeldum and Eme McClenahan, to our forwards who have combined for 12 goals this season so far and everyone in between.”

Madonia also praised the play of Emily DiTomasso.

“Emily DiTomasso has been a standout midfield player for us, who was an all-conference player as a freshman last year,” he said. “I am also happy with how our backline has adapted to a new style of play. Vital personnel from a defending standpoint have been Tegan Steines, Adriana Giannini and Sloane Kumskis. No one stands alone on this roster. They work for each other, are energy givers and all contributors to our season.”

Losing three of their first four games to Young, Lane and Wheaton Warrenville South didn’t deter the Red Devils.

“We play a tough schedule and that is on purpose,” Madonia said. “We can draw on challenges in our early games against tough, well coached opponents, to be mindful of how to adapt to obstacles that come our way in each and every game. As the season progresses, the plan is to continue honing in on our versatility. We believe working hard is a talent and remaining focused on our incremental growth - day in and day out - is what will help us in times that it most matters.”

Patience pays off for Lyons

Lyons (2-2-1) appeared to do enough to earn a victory in at least one of its first few games, but found itself in a rare winless situation heading into last Wednesday’s West Suburban Silver opener against Glenbard West.

“We felt like our effort and play was pretty good through our first three games, but definitely a bit frustrated to have not won at least one of those first three games,” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said. “That said, we also knew we lost to two really good teams and that we needed to focus on the positives and continue to improve as we have a number of new players and we’re still trying to figure out how to play together.”

Lingering frustrations from the lack of a successful result were taken out on the Hilltoppers with a 4-1 win behind goals from Lauren Salvino, Caroline Mortonson, Avery Lusk. Carolina Capizzi. Mortonson, Capizzi and Estelle Guistini had assists.

Momentum from that win carried over into a 2-0 win against Lake Forest behind goals from Capizzi and Mortonson, with Capizzi and Giustini delivering assists.

“We played an excellent game with tremendous effort against Glenbard West - four different goal scorers and a great effort by our defense and midfield,” Lanspeary said “Lake Forest - another good win against a good team. Very happy with the result and hoping to build on these wins going forward.”

Belmonte joins 100 Win Club

Last Tuesday Jen Belmonte picked up her 100th win as the head coach at Hinsdale South as the Hornets defeated Romeoville, 3-2. She became the latest area coach to reach that milestone.

She follows a few others who recently reached triple digits. Downers Grove South’s Chris Hernandez won his 100th game last year, Benet’s Gerard Oconer won his 100th in 2023 and Morton’s Jim Bageanis earned his 100th in 2022.

Lyons’ Bill Lanspeary won his 200th game in 2021 and Wheaton North’s Tim McEvilly won his 200th last spring while Lemont’s Rick Prangen won his 400th in 2022.

Tigers remain unscathed

Wheaton Warrenville South (6-0-1) advanced to the Body Armor final after a 3-0 victory over Warren on Monday night.

“Warren has a lot of offense, but we have a lot of offense,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. ”We’re hoping that our defensive box holds up better than theirs and that we can into the championship. It’s one of of our goals and we’re going to put our foot on the pedal and get after it.”

Kelsey Clousing (six goals, nine assists on the season) scored twice and Ashlyn Adams (seven goals, five assists) also scored in the victory.

Around the area

Downers Grove South (3-2) has seen a little bit of everything through its first five games. The Mustangs have been overwhelmed (6-0 loss to Naperville North) and they’ve overwhelmed a team (9-0 win over Proviso East). They’ve won a tight one (2-1 over Glenbard East) and lost a similar one (3-1 to York). Most recently, they blanked Riverside-Brookfield, 2-0, on April 10. The Mustangs were scheduled to host Willowbrook (1-5-1) on Tuesday. It’s certainly great experience for a team that starts four seniors but also has five sophomores and two freshmen contributing.

Lemont will look (6-3) to get back to its winning ways on Tuesday against Bolingbrook (1-5-3) in the Porter Cup. Lemont lost a tough game, 2-1, to Wheaton North on Saturday when it opened up play in the tournament. The Class 2A program’s other two losses have also come against 3A schools, Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way Central.

DePaul College Prep cooled St. Francis on Monday, beating the Spartans 2-1 to snap their six-game winning streak.