Girls soccer: Richmond-Burton defeats Woodstock to stay perfect in KRC

WOODSTOCK – Richmond-Burton junior forward Margaret Slove fired a looping shot off the crossbar and past Woodstock goalkeeper Val Sardelli for Wednesday’s opening score.

Slove’s goal with 26 minutes left in the first half helped open things up for the Rockets, who added two more goals and beat Woodstock, 3-1, in their Kishwaukee River Conference game at Creekside Middle School.

With the victory, the Rockets (12-1-1, 6-0 KRC) stayed perfect in KRC play with four matches remaining. They entered Wednesday’s game with a 34-3 scoring advantage in their first five KRC games, scoring at least six goals in every game.

[ Photos: Richmond-Burton vs. Woodstock girls soccer ]

Slove’s opening score that first hit the crossbar before going in was a common theme for the Rockets, who nailed the crossbar six times. Slove’s score came after R-B had put six shots on goal in the first 14 minutes.

“I knew we had to get the lead, so I just tried to make an offensive move,” Slove said. “When our team gets the first goal, we normally find that momentum and then we keep scoring. We were finding feet well, that’s what we’ve been working on. Moving not only with the ball but off the ball and just really working together as a team.”

Sophomore Jordan Otto scored the Rockets’ second goal with 9:21 left in the first half when she struck a low shot past Sardelli, giving R-B a 2-0 lead at halftime. Sardelli made 16 saves for the Streaks, including several key stops to keep Woodstock in the game.

The Streaks put their first shot on goal with 31:50 left in the second half and converted on a Natalie Morrow free kick from just outside the penalty box, cutting the Rockets’ lead to 2-1. The goal came after the referee ruled an R-B defender knocked Morrow down.

The Rockets, however, answered less than three minutes later on a goal by sophomore midfielder Layne Frericks, who earlier in the half had a potential goal on a free kick knocked over the crossbar by Sardelli.

Sophomore Taylor Labay made two saves in goal for the Rockets.

“I liked our quick response when Woodstock scored,” Rockets coach Casey DeCaluwe said. “I’ve been stressing more ball movement, quicker ball movement and overlapping runs, so we are not so one-dimensional. I think we’re getting there, but we’re not there yet. There’s still more room to improve.”

DeCaluwe felt the Blue Streaks (3-5, 1-4 KRC) did a good job of frustrating his team early on with a new-look defense. The Rockets beat Woodstock, 6-1, in their first conference game April 4.

“I give all the credit in the world to Woodstock for coming in with a game plan and frustrating us,” DeCaluwe said. “They played with nine behind the ball, packed it in and really made it difficult for us to spread out. We took it to them early, but we couldn’t get any early finishes. I think we got frustrated.”

The Rockets took their first loss of the season Saturday against Neuqua Valley, 6-2. Junior defender Madison Havlicek thinks that loss will do more good than bad as R-B moves forward in conference and, eventually, the postseason.

The Rockets won a Class 1A sectional championship last year before falling to Timothy Christian in the supersectional.

“I think that game taught us more than any other game we’ve played,” Havlicek said of the loss to Neuqua Valley. “We played really hard, but they were just the better team for that day. It made us realize there are teams out there that can beat us, and we need to work that much harder.”

“I’m just so hyped to be able to work with these girls who are incredibly hardworking and always give 110% in every single drill we do. I think that’s where we get our success. Everybody works so hard, and we all want to win so bad.”