Girls soccer notes: Burlington Central hopes to learn from early season losses

Burlington Central coach Jessica Arenson isn’t too concerned about her team’s record or its scores.

The Rockets are 0-4-1 and have been outscored 25-3 in five matches this season, but it’s how Burlington Central players have responded that has the coach encouraged. Burlington, which plays in the Class 2A postseason, has played four Class 3A teams, which was done on purpose to prepare her players for the latter part of the season.

“I do think that setting it up where you have a tougher schedule than you might when you go into conference is definitely the better way to do things because you’re not surprised,” Arenson said. “You’re not caught off guard, and you can really work through some of the kinks that exist on our team.”

[ Girls Soccer: Freshman Ashlyn Adams scores first two varsity goals, leads WW South win over Burlington Central ]

Arenson wants her players to focus on working together and defending better as a team.

Many of their opponents’ goals have come because of defensive mistakes off set plays or free kicks, Arenson said. Offensive players need to take more of the responsibility of defending so that defense can lead to offense.

Arenson is proud of the way her leaders are invested and how much closer the losing has brought the team together. The Rockets know it might be hard now, but they’re hoping early-season losses turn into trophies.

“It can be a little discouraging with the scores of games that we played, but it seems as if they’re bonding over it and becoming more of a team,” Arenson said. “We hope that continues.”

Richmond-Burton finding perfect mix

Coach Casey DeCaluwe wasn’t only proud because his Richmond-Burton squad won the Round Lake Tournament on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Round Lake.

His plan for the nonconference portion of the season had worked too.

DeCaluwe wanted the Rockets to face teams from bigger classes and to play on turf so they would be ready for the conference part of the schedule and also potentially for a long Class 1A postseason run. R-B finished the first portion of its schedule with a 5-0-1 record.

“It gives us a nice challenge, and I thought we played really well and raised our level to that competition,” DeCaluwe said.

Through those six matches, the Rockets outscored their opponents 30-4. Reese Frericks scored 11 goals and had two assists in those games, while Margaret Slove knocked in eight goals and added eight assists.

DeCaluwe credited a strong defense for leading to goals.

“Our back line has done a really nice job of once we do get the ball, we turn it quickly into offensive possessions,” DeCaluwe said. “It’s paid off big time because we’re having so many different girls put the ball in the back of the net.”

The Rockets have shown off their versatility by playing to their opponents’ strengths, sometimes playing three back and sometimes playing four. DeCaluwe is proud of the way his players have adapted to different roles in different matches, a key for later on in the season.

“Just kind of playing with the versatility of different lineups and different systems that we can play with this group has been really fun,” DeCaluwe said. “I’d like to see us continue to get a little more comfortable with that.”

Woodstock North puts it all together

Woodstock North coach John Sullivan wanted his players to regroup during spring break and work on some different aspects of their game after he felt the Thunder played flat in a 4-3 loss to Cary-Grove on March 24.

The Thunder responded with an 11-0 win over Marengo on Tuesday in Kishwaukee River Conference play.

“Great passing, good communication,” Sullivan said. “Just an all-around great team effort.”

Sullivan wanted to get his team’s wing midfielders more involved and his players to help more on assists and tracking back on defense. He also wanted the Thunder to work up the sidelines.

“We were getting offense from a lot of different contributors, which is what you want to see during a game,” Sullivan said. “You don’t want to see one person racking up most of those goals. Being able to distribute the offense was an asset.”

While Sullivan was happy of his team’s performance, he also didn’t want his players to dwell on one match at the start of conference play.

“We’ve got to stay focused,” Sullivan said. “We need to move on from this game and take the lessons that presented themselves during this game, but also realize we have other games to play and not let this one linger too much in our minds.”

New faces, positions for Huntley

When Huntley’s Gabi Farraj transferred to the Red Raiders this season after playing at Marian Central last spring, she didn’t just change schools.

She also changed positions.

The sophomore has played forward instead of the defender position that she’s listed at on the team’s roster.

“Yeah, she told me she was a defender, but you see by the way she runs with the ball and the way she’s willing to take people on, she’s got all the pieces to be a great attacker,” Huntley coach Matt Lewandowski said. “She’s not hesitant at all. She’s ready to rumble all the time.”

Lewandowski said Farraj brings a lot of energy and can do anything on her feet. The sophomore isn’t afraid to be physical, which is valuable to have somebody who brings everybody else’s energy up. Farraj scored in her team’s first match of the season and has enjoyed being part of her new team.

“Everyone was so welcoming and warm, and I couldn’t ask for better teammates honestly,” Farraj said. “They made moving 10 times easier.”