The Times Girls Soccer Notebook: Streator off to impressive start; Ottawa continues to improve

The Streator girls soccer program had a magical 2017 season in its 10th year of existence, putting together an undefeated regular season capped by the program’s only regional championship.

The Bulldogs followed that 20-1-1 season by going 12-5-1 in 2018 and 10-7-1 in 2019. But in the two seasons since the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has finished below the .500 mark. Last spring, in particular, brought frustratingly close defeat after frustratingly close defeat.

Now the Bulldogs seem to have a bit of that magic back.

Streator is off to a 10-1 start. Included among those 10 wins was head coach J.T. Huey’s 100th career victory leading the program, which he took over in 2012 after a bit of a revolving door of head coaches in the program’s early years.

Upperclassmen such as strikers Anna Russow, Ellie Isermann and Annabelle Dean, sweeper Josie Goerne, midfielders Alyssa Arambula and Bridget McGurk, forward Zuzu Gonzalez and keeper Monsy Gonzalez have been leading the Bulldogs to their fabulous start.

Also a key factor? Streator has been finding ways to win those close matches that more often than not turned into close losses the previous couple of seasons, including 2-1 victories over Mendota and Rochelle, a 3-1 win over Morris, a 1-0 shutout of Orion/Sherrard for the title of last weekend’s Princeton tournament and – perhaps even more satisfying – a late-minutes comeback for a 3-2 home win over Illinois Central Eight Conference rival Lisle.

“It feels really nice [to win those close ones],” Huey said after that invigorating Lisle win. “I think I said it in our season preview [with Shaw Local]. We had to start finishing the soccer ball, and we had to start playing as a team and having vision. You’re seeing that happen.

“We’re finishing the soccer ball, we’re playing as a team, they’re getting better with their vision every single game. This has been a very nice start to have, especially after having a rough rebuilding coming out of the pandemic.

“We’re starting to see the results of that work pay off.”

Ottawa staying positive, gaining experience, improving

Ottawa kicked off the season with a slow start, but the Pirates and coach Sean Porter have seen solid improvement in the past couple of matches.

Ottawa led La Salle-Peru 1-0 at halftime in a 2-1 loss, then held tough in a 3-1 loss to Streator, a Bulldogs squad that is 10-1.

“We have a very young team with only three seniors and have played teams with much more experience, but I feel like we are gaining traction as far as learning the style of play that we have to play at the high school level,” Porter said. “Our past two games against La Salle-Peru and Streator have been very competitive, and each half we’ve played has been better than the one before it. That said, the girls aren’t happy with our record as it stands, but they are staying positive, see we are improving and working hard to get the results we are looking for.”

With the young group he has, Porter said he feels his team will keep improving throughout the rest of the season as players continue to understand that the game of soccer is more than just quick reactions.

“We still have ways to go in certain areas, especially in our anticipation,” Porter said. “The younger girls are learning that while just reacting to situations on the field at the youth levels worked, it doesn’t work as well at this level, you have to be playing the game in your head a couple of steps ahead. We have some really bright girls on this team, and they are starting to get it.”

One senior on the Ottawa roster this season is Ryley Jett, who Porter said has been shifted out of her comfort zone but has made the move an overall positive for the team.

“Ryley has been very versatile for us this season,” Porter said. “She has always played defense, is comfortable with that and does a wonderful job at that spot, but this season we’ve asked her to take on an offensive center midfielder spots at times. She has brought a level of calmness to our team with that switch, and while I’m not surprised with how well she’s filed that role, I think maybe she even surprised herself with how she’s done in a new situation. I’m excited to see her continue to grow and succeed if she’s asked to contribute on the offensive end moving forward this year.”