Walking into the stadium with her West Aurora teammates, junior midfielder McKenzie Pearch won’t likely stand out in the crowd.
Let the game begin, however, and the 5-foot-2 Pearch is hard to miss.
In fact, Blackhawks coach Jorge Espana believes she may be the program’s next big thing.
“McKenzie is kind of the heart of the team,” Espana said. “I wish I could measure how many miles she runs. Not only that, she gives us direction.”
The signs were there Tuesday night in West Aurora’s 2-0 Upstate Eight West victory at crosstown rival East Aurora.
Sophomore forward Giselle Perez scored both goals — assisted by sophomore defender Morgan Adler in the seventh minute and Pearch in the 53rd minute — boosting her season total to 11.
The Blackhawks (8-2-1) dominated play and kept the pressure on freshman goalkeeper Alondra Cepeda, who made seven saves for the Tomcats (7-7-1, 1-2).
Sophomore goalkeeper Maelynn Coyle, subbing for injured senior Claire Anderson, needed just one save to record her seventh shutout of the season for West Aurora.
Pearch’s game has continued to grow in her third varsity season. It’s been an important piece with attacking midfielder Olivia Del Toro, the team’s leader, missing the first five games due to injury.
“McKenzie is very fast and she just goes,” Adler said of Pearch. “Honestly, we give her the ball and we know she’s going to get up the field. She knows where to play the ball.
“It’s all just about getting up and finding those opportunities on goal and she can do that for us.”
That’s what happened on the clinching goal as Pearch gathered the ball just across midfield, drove up the middle of the field and chipped it over two defenders to her left for a sprinting Perez.
Perez gathered it and slipped a 15-yard shot past a hard-charging Cepeda coming out of the net.
“Ever since last year, we want to give them that freedom,” Espana said of midfielders Del Toro, Pearch and sophomore Makayla Parra. “We want them to pick and choose. We want them to make that call as long as we are covering that space in the middle.
“Having that flexibility is incredible because when they see they have a chance, they can go down the middle and know that someone is going to cover their spot.”
Pearch said missing Del Toro, a James Madison recruit, actually helped the team grow in a 6-0-1 start to the season.
“I knew I had to step up a lot more,” Pearch said. “I feel like everyone stepped up more because we knew we were missing a really good player.”
Perez also has been a key.
“She’s pretty quick, so as long as we create a space and put that nice through ball either on the ground or high like McKenzie did, we know she is going to get there,” Espana said of Perez.
The first goal came off Adler’s free kick from 35 yards out that Cepeda bobbled and lost control of with Perez bearing down for a tap-in from 5 yards out.
“It counts as much as any other goal,” Espana said. “You were there. Put it away. Perfect.”
Pearch is the daughter of Aurora University men’s and women’s wrestling coach Justin Pearch and his wife, Lisa.
“I tried it,” McKenzie said of wrestling. “It wasn’t quite for me. I kind of like having my own thing and dad has his own thing.”
She lifts weights and works to improve her speed and skills.
“I’m not gonna beat a lot of people physically,” Pearch said. “I’ve had to work on my confidence. When I get the ball at my feet, I know I can create something.”
Espana asked if she remembered him questioning her last year if she knew how good she was.
“You asked a couple times,” Pearch said to Espana. “I just nodded my head, but I feel like now I truly believe it. You have to be confident or you’re not going to get the results on the field.”
