Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Pekin 5, Limestone 0

BARTONVILLE, Ill. -
Pekin’s girls soccer team got through the bad weather and made things stormy for host Limestone Tuesday, shutting out the Rockets 5-0 in a Mid-Illini Conference match.
Colleen Quilty scored twice for the Lady Dragons, who handed Limestone (2-1, 0-1) its first loss of the season.
Quilty got Pekin on the board in the first half, scoring off a Sarah Zuercher assist in the 18th minute for the only tally of the first stanza.
Zuercher put the ball in the net next for the Lady Dragons, scoring off a Lauren Cash assist in the 45th minute. Quilty had an unassisted goal in the 57th minute, followed by Kelsey Armstrong’s unassisted goal in the 65th minute.
Jakki Johnson closed the scoring off a Zuercher assist in the 77th minute.
The Dragons will host six-time defending conference champion Morton on Thursday in a 4:15 p.m. match at Coal Miners Park.

NOTE: Michaela, not Colleen scored twice in this match.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Pekin 2, Orion 1

ORION -
Pekin got on track Saturday, winning their first girls’ soccer match of the season 2-1 over host Orion-Sherrard.
The Lady Dragons got on the board just four minutes into the contest. Shawna Swisher flicked a Sarah Zuercher corner kick towards the far post, where freshman Megan Campbell set up and finished with a beautiful header for her first career goal.
“We’ve been working a lot on redirection and creating chaos in the box,’’ Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval said. “ Every opportunity in there is different, but getting them used to it is key.”
The score remained 1-0 with about ten minutes left in the half when Zuercher found Campbell on a give-and-go right down the middle. With two defenders draped all over her, Campbell found another freshman, Michaela Quilty, cutting in from the left side for her first career goal.
“Michaela had a couple chances against Normal Community that she wanted back and she was really focused in practice yesterday, even taking extra some shots on her own between drills.
Clearly it paid off,” Sandoval added.
Orion-Sherrard avoided the shutout on Amanda Schmendt’s second half goal.
Pekin outshot its host 16-5 but was unable to generate another goal.
“We just couldn’t find the back of the net. We had so many shots and many more chances and we just couldn’t take advantage,’’ Sandoval said. “They dropped a lot of defenders, but you have to be able to adjust.”
The Lady Dragons have a week of practice before kicking off the Mid-Illini Conference schedule with a trip to Limestone March 31.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Normal Community 2, Pekin 1

PEKIN - Pekin’s girls soccer team got off to a bit of a rough start to its 2009 season Thursday, although the Lady Dragons’ 2-1 loss to visiting Normal Community did show some good as well.
The Dragons’ defense, led by Marissa McGurr, Colleen Quilty and Morgan Lynn, was tenacious in the first half, limiting the Lady Ironmen to just a few chances on goal.
Those chances finally materialized early in the second half, when an unassisted goal by all-stater Kelly Shulman (Indiana State University signee) and then an assist from Shulman to midfielder Meg Rogers put Normal Community up 2-0 just four minutes in.
“We came out flat,” said Pekin coach Edgar Sandoval. “I’m not sure why because our girls were so jazzed after the first half, but it happens.”
The Lady Dragons responded five minutes later. Freshman midfielder Megan Campbell found freshman forward Sarah Zuercher at the top of the box. Zuercher sent a left footed rocket past Lady Ironmen goalie Jessica Rolfs (University of Tennessee signee) for her first career goal.
“Megan and Sarah have great chemistry having played together for so many years before high school,” Sandoval said. “I think this was the first of many great moments we’ll see from them.”
It was a tough, physical match and Pekin’s aggressiveness seemed to frustrate the visitors, who committed twice as many fouls (10 to 5) and were issued two yellow cards.
Pekin had a few solid chances including one from freshman Michaela Quilty at point blank range, but Rolfs was able to turn the Lady Dragons away.
“This was a great showing for us,” Sandoval said. “Normal Community might just be the best team out of the Twin Cities. They’ve got two D-I signees and several other players who will get looks. For us to play them close to even is a great start to this season.”
The Lady Dragons travel to Sherrard on Saturday morning for an 11 a.m. match with the Orion/Sherrard co-op team.

2009 PCHS girls soccer preview

PCHS soccer ready to take next step

PEKIN, Ill. -
Pekin High School girls soccer coach Edgar Sandoval enters the season with healthy doses of optimism and realism.
He’s optimistic because the Lady Dragons are coming off the second winning season in the program’s 12-year history (11-7-3) and have all 11 starters back in terms of scoring and minutes played.
Then there are six freshmen from the heralded Pekin Pride ‘94 travel team that has placed first or second in 20 tournaments across the state and finished first in the Central Illinois Youth Soccer League several times.
The group includes Megan Campbell, Nichole Fulk, Megan McGurr, Michaela Quilty, Holly Spangler and Sarah Zuercher. McGurr, Quilty and Zuercher have older sisters on the Pekin team.
This is the first large group of travel players to join the Pekin program. Previously, most of the experienced players came from recreational leagues.
“The successful high school programs in the area — Dunlap, Metamora, Morton, Peoria Notre Dame and Peoria Richwoods — are all fed by strong travel programs,” Sandoval said. “They get a group of kids with this kind of experience every year, which is why there has been such a gap between us and them even in our best years. These girls from the Pekin Pride will help close that gap.”
The gap is the source of Sandoval’s realism.
Nobody has to tell him that Pekin is 0-13 against Dunlap, Metamora and Morton in its two seasons in the Mid-Illini Conference, and has been outscored 41-1 in those games.
“When we start beating those three teams, that we‘ll know we‘ve arrived,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval has toughened the Lady Dragons’ schedule to make it more challenging for his talented squad.
“It’s not just about winning. It’s also about seeing how our girls develop against the best competition,” he said.
Richwoods (led by midfielder Courtney Holtz, a University of Louisville recruit), Moline, Normal Community and Normal West have been added to Pekin’s dance card.
Sandoval says Normal Community, Pekin’s opening day opponent today, could be the best team the Lady Dragons face all season.
Normal Community goalie Jessica Rolfs (36-8 record, 29 shutouts the past two years) is a University of Tennessee recruit.
Normal West, which finished third in last year’s Illinois High School Association Class AA state finals, and Peoria Christian have joined the field of the third annual Lady Dragons Invitational April 24-25.
Gone are Peoria Woodruff and Sterling. Pekin outscored those teams 21-0 in four invitational games the past two years. Lincoln remains in the four-team field.
Another reason for the revamped schedule is Sandoval wants to prepare his team for the first season of IHSA three-class girls soccer.
The Lady Dragons could find themselves facing teams like Moline, Normal Community and Normal West in Class 3A come state tournament time.
All-conference junior defender Marissa McGurr is back to anchor Pekin’s back line.
“Marissa is the glue back there. She organizes our defense and cleans up when we make mistakes,” Sandoval said.
Junior Colleen Quilty and senior Allie Zuercher, both second-team all-conference selections, give the Lady Dragons a strong one-two punch in the midfield.
“Colleen is physical. She fights for every ball in her area. She also has a devastating throw-in,” Sandoval said. “Allie makes great decisions and passes.”
Zuercher is one of four seniors who have been on the team since they were freshmen. The others are Jessica Allen, Lindsay Coffey and Jakki Johnson.
Coffey, another second-team all-conference player, and sophomore Morgan Lynn are Pekin’s top goalies. Junior Kaitlyn Worrall provides depth.
Senior Mallory Dodson, juniors Lauren Cash, Emily LaBanca, Haley Lower and Shawna Swisher, and sophomore Danica Mason are the other returnees.
LaBanca was Pekin’s top scorer the past two seasons, while Mason started every game last season as a freshman.