Girls Soccer notes: Young Wheaton North team showing growth in early going

Junior forward Macy Hutchinson’s consistent play and scoring a positive for the Falcons

Early in this season, Wheaton North has experienced the typical ups and downs stemming from fielding a young team.

The Falcons opened the season hosting the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic. The highly competitive six-team field included eventual champion Metea Valley, Glenbard West, Benet, Plainfield North and Sandburg. Wheaton North, Benet and Glenbard West all finished with six points in the tourney, but Benet earned third place via a tiebreaker. Plainfield North placed second.

The Falcons (2-2) gained valuable insight into their team in the tournament, Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said.

“We’ve played against some quality competition with a team that is significantly younger and less experienced and without our starting goalie,” McEvilly said. “As a result, we knew there was likely to be some ups and downs to the first month of the season. We’ve felt those highs and lows. Sometimes within the game itself. Sometimes from game to game.

“Regardless, I’ve been very pleased with our willingness to grow from mistakes and evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses. This is an inexperienced group, but one that is up to the challenge of playing against the top teams in the area.”

Junior forward Macy Hutchinson’s consistent play and scoring has been a positive for the Falcons. She has three goals and three assists and earned all-tournament honors at the Kickoff Classic. Sophomore goalie Olivia Iberle stepped up against top competition in the tourney while the Falcons await the return of starting goalie Zoey Bohmer. Senior defender Rowan Smith, a former club player, immediately paid dividends for the Falcons.

“[Macy] has worked tirelessly in the attack to both facilitate for her teammates and create for herself,” McEvilly said. “Olivia played the first four games in goal and she had two shutouts and exhibited extraordinary courage stepping up to the challenge of filling Zoey’s shoes. Rowan is a natural outside back, but picked up the leadership role as a center back after our organizational issues from our first game. She’s a top talent in the backline for any school in the state.”

McEvilly said he’s hoping the early season games will speed up the progress of his young team, especially when Bohmer returns to the net.

“We anticipate that we will continue to grow into a more consistent team,” he said. “With the return of Zoey, the maturation of our defense, we will be a much stronger team in the back. We believe we can score goals on anybody with a talented group of experienced and new varsity players that are true attackers.”

Glenbard East at .500

With a 2-2 record, Glenbard East is building toward a strong showing in the Upstate Eight Conference. The Rams suffered tough defeats to Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West.

“We’re a little disappointed because we thought we didn’t have our best effort in those two losses,” Glenbard East coach Kent Overbey said. “But we’ll take those experiences into conference play next week and be better prepared. I think we’ve learned a lot the first two weeks of the season. Winning a conference championship is our top priority. We’re excited to get the conference schedule started with East Aurora.”

Freshman Julia Bereta and sophomore Sophia Sommesi are two building-block players for the Rams. The strong start by both underclassmen bodes well for the Rams.

“Julia has done a great job adjusting to the high school game,” Overbey said. “As a center back, she reads the game well and steps hard when necessary. Sophia has done a great job transitioning from forward to defensive center mid. She covers a lot of ground and wins a ton of balls.”

Hilltoppers update

Glenbard West fell just short of pulling out a big victory over Metea Valley last week in the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic. In the final game, the Hilltoppers dropped a 1-0 decision to miss a chance for the championship.

The Hilltoppers (2-2) defeated Sandburg 3-1 in the tourney opener, but lost 4-0 to Wheaton North before rebounding with a 1-0 win over Benet.

“This tournament is top quality,” Glenbard West coach Adam Szyszko said. “There’s no bad teams in this tournament. Sandburg is struggling, but they were a supersectional team last year. That shows you how good this tournament is, and all the teams are coached well. There’s no bad teams. You have to bring it. For an early season tournament, this was a great test. I’m happy with 2-2, but more happy we performed every game. We saw a lot of bright spots.”