NIFTY FIFTY
Pelayo assists on Mendoza’s 50th goal of season as Bloom moves past crosstown rival Marian Catholic
Every hero needs a sidekick, and senior midfielder Ixchel Pelayo is more than happy to play that role for Bloom teammate Charlene Mendoza.
Mendoza, a junior forward, scored her 50th goal of the season Friday. Pelayo had the assist — her 24th of the year.
The duo has connected countless times throughout the last two seasons.
“My freshman year, I focused on goal scoring,” Pelayo said. “But when I got with Charlene, I focused on racking up my assists. I realized we couldn’t do anything alone, but together we could really go far and do big things.
“I love assisting. It’s just my favorite thing.”
Pelayo has not stopped scoring, either. She added her 18th goal of the season as the visiting Blazing Trojans topped crosstown rival Marian Catholic 3-1 in Chicago Heights.
“She’s been so huge for us,” Bloom coach Zack Radtke said of Pelayo. “She’s over 20 assists and she’s creeping toward 20 goals and 20 assists, which would be another absolutely unbelievable feat.
“The two of them work so well together. It’s just fun to watch.”
Tanya Martinez also scored for Bloom (20-3). Chloe Terry scored a goal and Cordelia Vazquez made seven saves for Marian (4-12-1).
Mendoza scored the milestone goal in the 16th minute, taking a pass from Pelayo down the right side of the field and scoring on a shot inside the left post.
Fifty is a number that has been on Mendoza’s mind for a while.
“It was one of my goals coming into the season to get 50,” she said. “I just wanted to come out and score goals.”
Mendoza is quick to credit Pelayo for aiding her success.
“She makes the goals for me sometimes,” Mendoza said. “She helps me so much. I don’t know what I’m going to do without her next year.
“She does 90% of the work on my goals. I just have to go look at
the goal and finish.” Pelayo said it took a while for her and Mendoza to develop chemistry because the 2020 season — Mendoza as a freshman and Pelayo as a sophomore — was canceled due to the pandemic.