Even though Rosary and Aurora Central Catholic are no longer conference foes, the Edgelawn Avenue neighborhood rivalry still remains special to both schools.
Thanks to Quincy Kellett’s instincts, Rosary protected its home turf for a 2-0 victory Tuesday that came down to which team finished opportunities better.
The schools meet again Saturday morning as one of four games each will play in the Rosary Invitational, a round-robin event that uses abbreviatedd halves.
But first, Rosary (5-3) has a Thursday visit to St. Francis while ACC (8-3) returns home to face Metro Suburban West contender Wheaton Academy.
“We wanted to get as many hard shots on net as possible to cause problems and then crash the net, I thought we did that pretty well,” Kellett said. “Being rivals, it’s good to win but we’ll see them again soon.”
Both teams were locked in a midfield battle until the final 20 minutes of the first half. That’s when Kellett had a header go high and a right wing blast that Charger goalkeeper Bry Mandarino tipped wide.
Aurora Central then tested Rosary goalkeeper Mary Dant when Gina Cortino’s shot had to be tipped over the net. Dant smothered a point-blank shot by Shannon LoPresti off a stellar give-and-go with teamate Anna Dudziak.
“We had the momentum and I kind of wished we could keep playing instead of breaking for halftime,” ACC coach Kristy Kane said. “They grabbed momentum to start the second half and finished their opportunities, something we’ve struggled with at times.
“Other than the outcome, I thought this was our best game. We worked on making more runs and getting more people involved, we just didn’t get to the back of their net.”
That was the icing on the cake for Dant, who earned her third shutout of the year.
“Last year we had a tough loss due to our own errors making it a game we let get away,” Dant said. “This time we came out and executed better as a unit.”
Rosary certainly executed its attack to start the second half, and just 5:07 in, Maria Witte’s cannon of a shot was blocked by Mandarino only to have Kellett pounce on the rebound for a five-yard tap-in.
Less than four minutes elapsed before Emma Porteous put a cross to the near post, where Kellett got the right touch on the ball past Mandarino.
Kellett’s season total rose to a team-high 11 goals to go with nine assists. Witte, who has 10 goals, earned her seventh assist and Porteous her second.
“Missing four starters was a concern, but with that in mind, we played well in spurts, which could be expected,” Rosary coach Brian Frank said. “We had a few JV players give us significant minutes and our regulars were all solid.”
Among the varsity callups deserving a pat on the back were sisters Elizabeth and Angela Kvitek and Sam Suchaczewski.
Nemeth is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
