BYRON — The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity soccer team gained a new sense of confidence after scoring its first two wins of the season and finishing third at the Byron Tournament on Saturday.

Rochelle overcame an opening-round loss against LaSalle-Peru, defeating both Christian Life and Rock Island to conclude the tournament in third place. The Lady Hubs (2-11, 0-6 Interstate 8) edged Christian Life 2-1 during their second match of the tournament, with senior Sydney Thorne and junior Emma Kennay each scoring goals on assists from junior Makayla Lara.

“I think these two wins will really build our confidence up,” Thorne said. “I thought we communicated a lot more and our teamwork skills have improved, especially on the front line. We were connecting on more of our passes and we’ve started to connect more as a team because we’ve been spending so much time together. Confidence helps all of us and we know now that we can win, even with a lot of new players, who know they can win now too.”

Rochelle clinched its third-place finish with a 3-0 shutout over Rock Island during its third and final game of the tournament. Three different players scored goals including freshman forward Taylor Olsen, who earned her first career varsity goal during the match against LaSalle-Peru. Thorne gave the Lady Hubs a 2-0 advantage with her second goal of the tournament before junior defender Betty Flores scored late in the match to help Rochelle preserve its shutout.

“It was really satisfying and uplifting because it’s been a hard season,” Flores said. “I think our performance was a stepping stone for more victories in the future. We handled the ball more and we were getting rid of the ball quickly. We possessed the ball more and our confidence was what really brought us together. We have a lot of new girls on the team, but we don’t want them to feel intimidated. We all came together equally and I thought we played as a team.”

Olsen’s goal against LaSalle-Peru came on an assist from sophomore Evileth Mendez. The goal allowed Rochelle to avoid the shutout in a 4-1 loss to the Cavaliers to start the tournament. The wins over Christian Life and Rock Island enabled the Lady Hubs to snap an 11-match losing streak. Rochelle will look to continue its winning ways during Monday’s road match at Kaneland.

“We’ve had trouble with our chemistry since the start of the season because we lost a lot of good starters and we had a lot of incoming freshmen,” Lara said. “They’re a big part of our team now and I thought we played more as a team over the weekend. Knowing our positions and knowing how each person plays has improved our chemistry and we’re seeing that on both offense and defense. It’s a huge confidence booster for everyone because all of the losing earlier in the season was letting everyone down, but those two wins brought us back up.”