Waubonsie Valley holds on against Bartlett

By Curt Herron

Although Waubonsie Valley captured its fifth win in its last six matches on Thursday, veteran coach Angelo DiBernardo wasn't pleased.

That's because the Warriors were outplayed by Bartlett throughout much of the squads' Upstate Eight Conference match in Aurora.

Waubonsie Valley converted on a corner kick just 5:19 into the contest to record the match's only goal as it captured a 1-0 victory.

Following their early score, the Warriors (5-3, 2-1) had few chances against the Hawks (4-2, 1-1), who controlled play after the break.

The narrow victory was especially disappointing for Waubonsie since it was coming off of a 4-1 win at Streamwood on Wednesday.

"After scoring the goal we regressed," DiBernardo said. "Maybe it had to with playing two games in a row, I don't know, since Bartlett showed more energy than we did.

"Our game kind of broke down and we didn't get any passes together and we were just trying to survive in the second half. We were just defending and moving the ball out and that's not the style of ball that we want to play."

The Warriors had several corner kicks during the opening minutes of the match and were able to capitalize on one of those chances.

Johnny Akl sent a corner in front of the Hawks net where Oliver Mayer got his head on the ball and directed a shot that found the net.

Neither squad challenged much during the rest of the first half as Mayer got off another attempt that keeper Jeff Gal stopped midway through.

Warrior keeper Sean Elvert also faced few threatening shots in the initial 40 minutes, stopping a header by Joe McCullough a short time later.

It was a different story after the break, however, as the Hawks turned up the pressure and continued to send attempts that Elvert halted.

Defenders such as Amar Pandya, Jack Dickens and Jason O'Brien had their hands full trying to slow down the relentless Hawks attack.

While Bartlett had 10 shots that were stopped by Elvert following the break, the Warriors were able to put very little pressure on Gal.

A short time after Mayer was just wide on a short attempt that could have made it 2-0, Akl fired off a shot from the side that was stopped.

In the final minute, the Hawks had one last good chance to tie things when McCullough got off a shot that was cleared by Corey Lettieri.

After scoring one goal in each of its first six matches, Waubonsie found the net four times in its victory over the Sabres on Wednesday.

But the Warriors chalked up another one-goal effort on Thursday, which also happened to be the squad's fourth 1-0 victory on the season.

"We actually played fairly well against Streamwood and we did some good things," DiBernardo said. "And we also did some good things in the first half today but after that it wasn't pretty to watch."

"Maybe it had something to do with fatigue and if it did, that's okay since we can use it as an excuse. If it did not, then it was ugly. I'd rather lose a game and have us play better, quite honestly."

2009 Schedule

Waubonsie Valley starters vs. Bartlett