Wildkit Girls Fool Foe In 4-0 Soccer Triumph

While the Evanston girls soccer squad is still in the early stages of trying to sort out the best possible lineup combinations this spring, that doesn’t mean the Wildkits don’t have a trick or two up their sleeves despite the uncertainty.

And April Fool’s Day turned out to be the perfect time for the Kits to pull a fast one on a foe.

Maddy Varela’s goal in the first five minutes of the contest --- off a short and quick corner kick, a strategy rarely used in the girls program --- sent the Wildkits on their way to a 4-0 victory at Saint Ignatius Tuesday night.

Junior Bridget Durkin scored a pair of goals and freshman forward Leah George also tallied in the second half as Evanston improved to 2-0-1 on the season.

That quick restart --- off a corner originally created by George’s run on offense --- caught the Wolfpack defense napping. There wasn’t a defender within 10 yards of Varela, who registered her second goal of the young season by ripping a shot into the upper left hand corner.

Varela credited a scouting report based on film of one of St. Ignatius’ previous games for the go-ahead goal that eventually dropped the Wolfpack to 4-3 on the season.

Varela, a three-year starter and a team co-captain along with senior classmates Mia Darer and Maddie Ball, normally handles the corner kick duties but switched roles with George, a promising first-year player, on that scoring play.

“Before the game we talked about how we saw on the game film that on set pieces (restarts), they weren’t strong at reacting quickly,” Varela explained. “We haven’t done a quick corner like that in a long time and there was no one on me when I got the ball. I had an opportunity to do that in our last game (a 1-1 tie with Huntley), but I just went back into the mix that time.

“It was the first corner (opportunity) of the game and I don’t think they knew what to expect from us. It really caught them off guard, it happened so quickly.”

“We had a plan coming in, and it was successful because the girls realized that they had a chance to try that play,” said ETHS head coach Stacy Salgado. “It was so great that they recognized that. We were able to put pressure on them right away, just like we wanted to.

“It’s still early in the season and we’re still trying to figure out what lineup combinations and formations will work best for this group. We have people playing positions they might not think of as ‘their’ positions. We used Maddy at outside back (on defense) for the first time because we’re still in the early stages of figuring things out.

“We also have some young players starting (freshmen George and defender Ella Dunlap, and sophomore defender Maizlyn Kelly) and we don’t know how they’re going to compete with players who are older and stronger. We can only find out by putting them in these situations.”

Kelly and Dunlap are part of a new-look defensive unit that has featured different starting lineups in all three games to date. Senior Fiona Vosper and Varela started next to Kelly and Dunlap Tuesday night and neutralized the St. Ignatius possession attack completely. Goalie Kanako Wagner, a junior, was credited with five saves, all of the routine variety.

Varela pointed out that Evanston’s defense has had to find new faces to replace at least half the starters in each of the past two seasons and the Kits have responded by recording 19 wins in each of those campaigns.

“We have a lot of talent on this team,” she said. “We’re still trying to figure out who fits best in what position, and we’ve used a lot of new formations, too. We’re trying to find where we’re going to be best connected (as a team). Early on like this it’s difficult to get organized, but as the season goes on we’ll get better. And we’ll play with more urgency and with more heart. We didn’t do that against Huntley.”

Salgado’s concerns coming into the season were equally divided between defense and offense.

Tuesday, the Wildkits were without sophomore forward Alexandra Merriam, who notched three goals in a season-opening win over Immaculate Conception but was absent while competing for the Under-17 Honduran national team in a tournament in Trinidad. She’s expected back next week.

“We lost our top two scorers from last year (to graduation),” the coach noted. “And we’ve used a lot of different players so far on defense. We used Dami (Adeniyi) more on the attack today and we’ve used Maddie Ball on the back line, too. We’re just trying to find out what works.”