Kit Girls Pitch Shutout, Rule Deep Dish Classic

If your defense doesn’t dominate a soccer game, the next best thing is to bend --- but don’t break.

That’s the identity Evanston’s girls have established so far in the 2024 season.

Embracing that philosophy --- if not the mistakes that can come with it --- the unbeaten Wildkits pitched another shutout Saturday, blanking Naperville North 1-0 and capturing the tournament championship for the first time at the 6th annual Malnati’s Deep Dish Classic hosted by New Trier.

Evanston ruled what might be the best “in season” tournament in the state of Illinois at the end of a grueling stretch of games that tested the Kits mentally and physically. They atoned for the only blemish on their perfect (9-0-1) record by edging a North squad they tied 1-1 during group play earlier in the week.

The Wildkits weren’t going to settle for second best this time after earning runnerup honors last year and in 2018. Senior Sydney Ross made sure of that with her left-footed shot in the 72nd minute that produced the game’s only goal.

“The competition in this tournament is just amazing,” Ross pointed out. “We were not satisfied with the way it turned out last year (4-1 loss to Lyons Township in the championship game) and so this felt a little like unfinished business for us today.

“It’s a hard tournament and I know both teams were tired. Toward the end, I think we had more energy than they did.”

Ross broke up the scoreless deadlock in a scramble in front of the North goal, beating Huskie goalie Olivia Ochsner with a close in shot with 7 minutes, 24 seconds left in regulation play. The loss dropped the Huskies to 7-2-2 on the season.

“The ball came through and deflected off one of their defenders,” Ross said. “I just took my touch and struck it hard like Coach (Franz) Calixte always tells us to.”

“When you play this many games in a short time, against such good competition, that’s when the mental piece really comes into play,” said ETHS head coach Stacy Salgado. “Then the team that wins is the one that stays checked in mentally. They found a little spurt at the end when we needed it.

“I wouldn’t say it was our prettiest game. There was a lot of bend, not break, but we still found a way to get it done against a really good team. It’s a tough tournament when you have to play a team like Naperville North a second time in a week. We really wanted to win it. But at the same time, it was also a learning game for us to find out what we need to work on to get better.”

Limiting the number of mistakes made by a brand-new defensive unit --- with a new starting goalie in senior Shea Lucas backing them up --- is part of that bend but don’t break mantra. And so far, the Wildkits have been able to cover up for each other whenever those mistakes happen, as Saturday’s win marked their sixth shutout in 10 games.

That’s a remarkable start when you consider that freshman Maizlyn Kelly and sophomore Damilola Adeniyi are rookies on the back line and are still adjusting to the pace of varsity play.

But no one can fault their decision making so far, and the 5-foot-8 Kelly and the 5-11 Adeniyi helped the Kits match North’s physicality in Saturday’s rematch.

“We bend, but we don’t break,” said Kelly. “We just found a way to keep pushing and make it happen today. I get called a brick wall back there on defense --- except occasionally when I let a ball get over my head.

“Today there were some rough fouls called against us that probably were not as accurate as they could be. But we stayed positive when things got tough. I thought we played really good and really strong today. I played against some of their girls in club and whenever you play people you get a little more insight into what their weaknesses might me.

“I’m just here to work hard, support the other girls and play the game I love.”

Salgado is going to love making Kelly and Adeniyi the building blocks of that defensive foundation over the next three seasons.

“Both those girls are strong and feisty playing back there,” she said. “We’re trying to get them to the point where they own that back line. We gave them (North) some chances today, but Shea made a couple of great stops in goal.

“They’re both solid players with both feet --- Maizlyn is a little stronger in the air --- and they both have good speed, too.”

Lucas was credited with four saves for the tourney champs, including a game-saving effort midway through the first half when North’s Claire DeCook got a step on the defense and had a breakaway chance with only Lucas between her and the go-ahead goal.

The ETHS senior raced out and smothered the shot, and the Huskies couldn’t get off a shot on the ensuing corner kick, either.

Naperville North benefited from five restarts inside the 30-yard line in the second half, yet couldn’t put a shot on goal on any of those chances.

“With a new back line like we have, it’s been interesting,” said Lucas, who served as a backup the past two seasons on the varsity level. “I’m really happy with the way the defense has been playing recently.

“You can feel it before the game, during the game and after the game, the way this team works together. Last year it brought us down a little when we lost here, but we knew we had a shot at winning it this year. The competition is so great here and we learned a lot from every game we played. We look forward to the hard work it takes to play teams like this. Winning this tournament will give us more confidence, and that will bring us together even more.”