North Stars stays perfect in Pepsi Showdown play

By Mike Garofola

St. Charles North extended its unbeaten streak to 10 matches after its 1-0 victory over Saint Viator on Thursday, moving its Pepsi Showdown record to 2-0 in pool play heading into Saturday’s Game Three against Kelly.

Sophomore Connor Lefelstein hit the game-winner just after the half-hour mark to help cap a superb session of play, during which the North Stars’ faithful may have witnessed their team’s best 40 minutes of soccer thus far in the 2010 season.

"Yeah, that could have been some of the best we've played for a half this year," North coach Eric Willson said.

Willson watched a free-wheeling Stars' attack move with speed and pace, as every one of his players from front-to-back made an imprint on the match, giving the home side Lions (3-2-1) plenty to deal with in its own end.

"That could end up being one of the most physical teams that we will see this year," began Lions head coach Mike Taylor.

"They are big and strong, and will run at you, and force you into decisions that you might not be ready to make, but we made a nice recovery in the second half and I think showed that we can play with a team like that if we do the things that we know that we can do."

The North Stars were led at midfield by some masterful play from Noah Anthony. The North Stars’ senior, as he did at the Barrington Classic last weekend, directed the attack from the opening whistle.

With terrific support from his mates alongside in Alex Behm and Jared Casey, the center of the park belonged to the North Stars (8-0-2), who did everything but score when the opportunity was there.

"This is the way we want to play every time we go out there, and our goal is to just keep on winning all the way through the regular season and into the playoffs," the North Stars’ Hayden Hagemann said.

Hagemann would run freely up-and-down the outside to give the Stars another weapon in their attack, and if wasn't the junior delivering a well-paced ball from the left side to cause trouble, it was his frontline mates Joe Stone, Zach Matuszak or Matt Rasmussen who would provide that extra octane as the trio would constantly run hard at the Lions back four.

"They clearly had the advantage in the first half, as we had some trouble staying organized in the back," offered Saint Viator sophomore Troy Wheeler.

Wheeler, Dan Loizzi, Jack Simpson and Joe Surdam did their best to bend, and not break, and keep the action away from keeper Scott Faul, who returned to the first-11 after leaving early on Tuesday when he tweaked a shoulder in the Lions’ 2-0 victory over Kelly.

Lefelstein's back post run from out of nowhere led to the lone goal of the match at 33 minutes. The sophomore finished a sensational ball from Hagemann from the near touchline, after both he and Anthony helped create the scoring opportunity with a dazzling 1-2 combination.

"We wanted to move the ball quickly along the outside today, and for most of the first half we did, and eventually we got the goal that Connor scored," Hagemann said.

Despite their strong play, however, the North Stars were unable to solve Faul and his backline mates to add to their lead, and it was the Lions who would grab back some much-needed momentum, thanks to improved play from its midfield and a switch in the lineup at the break from Taylor.

"(Jack) Horvath and Adam Fetter didn't mesh very well out there in that first-half, but when we moved Ashton Cornelius into the middle with Adam, those two did a great job together and began to make things happen for us, while Horvath and Bill Krawzak immediately began to click to give us the offense we were missing for 40 minutes," Taylor said.

Although the Lions did not create a serious shot on frame to test Stars’ keeper Garrett Creasor, it was clear as to who owned the run of play from the hour mark, right up until the end of regulation.

"We were kind of our own worse enemy," began Willson.

"We forgot that the best defense sometimes is to have a good offense. We stopped playing with that same aggressive style in the second half, almost sitting back and allowing (Saint Viator) to attack."

"Our game suffered, and they are so well coached, so we suddenly found ourselves in a bit of a fight."

Wheeler and his defensive trio turned in a superb second-half performance in the back, both defensively and in going forward, with each of them taking turns getting into the attack, or by connecting with either Cornelius or Fetter, who in turn helped step things up in the Stars’ end.

"I really liked the way we played in the second-half, and it was encouraging to see the boys play, and to control the game after the break," said Taylor.

"That's what we're looking for, and (they) now know if they are able to stay at that level ... then we can play with anyone."