North Stars shine in win over Streamwood
By Seth Hancock

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Teamwork pays off.

That’s the lesson St. Charles North boys soccer coach Eric Willson has been trying to teach his squad.

And that lesson seemed to have sunk in after the North Stars defeated Streamwood 3-1 in Upstate Eight Conference River Division play Tuesday night in St. Charles.

“I think the talk from the start of the game was how much chemistry and how much team unity goes into the game of soccer,” Willson said. “The guys took that to heart and played as a team, and it was probably our best team performance of the season.”

After a scoreless first half, the North Stars (6-8-2; 2-3 UEC River) broke up the shutout about 10 minutes into the second half then added the game winner two minutes later with Italian exchange student Simone Sperarti assisting both.

“The second half, we played really well as a team,” Sperarti said. “It was a team effort, and we were stringing a lot of passes together.”

The first came as Sperarti was coming up the left side of the field and he passed to Phillip LeGare who found the top left corner of the net with 30:13 on the clock.

Sperarti again came up the left side of the field and found Tom Wittmann in the middle of the box. Streamwood goalkeeper Phil Lewy (7 saves) came out of the net to try and stop a shot from being made, but Wittmann was able to get the shot off and the ball rolled slowly into the bottom left corner of the net with 28:01 on the clock.

“I was coming up the left, and I saw Kyle Swanson on the right but he wasn’t open,” Sperarti said. “But I saw Tommy was open in the middle, and I sent it to him and he got off a great shot.”

The Sabres (9-6; 2-3) did cut their deficit in half, but LeGare assisted a Brad Johnson goal with 16:14 left on the clock to give the North Stars a two-goal advantage again.

Streamwood’s goal came with 23:03 left on the clock off a Christian Vences corner kick. The ball was played to the middle of the box, and after a scramble for the loose ball Luis Rodriguez was able to finish with the goal.

“We had some flashes of good soccer, and we moved the ball well at times,” Streamwood coach Matt Polovin said. “But we weren’t very good in the back. The defense has been our rock all season. Our defense has been great all year, but tonight it just wasn’t there.”

While teamwork on offense helped the North Stars score, teamwork in the back also loomed large. Streamwood was able to produce 9 corner kicks to St. Charles North’s 4.

“The main thing was unity tonight,” said St. Charles North defender Justin Stanko. “We played well together and communicated well in the back.”

“At times this season, we haven’t played really well together because we have a new group this year that hadn’t played too much together. Tonight, we played as a team in the back.”

“The guys did what they had to do to get the win,” Willson said. “The guys had to play together on defense. You might give up some corner kicks, but then you just have to defend it. Eight out of the 9 we defended well which is a pretty good percentage.”

Stanko, who stands at 6-foot-4, used his size well to help defend on those corner kicks.

Mario Rodriguez and Nestor Ascencio both had solid shots on goal in the first two minutes of the game, and Streamwood earned its first corner kick in the first half with 37:30 on the clock in the.

In the final six minute of the first half, Alejandro Avalos used some nice solo work to force a corner kick which led to three straight corner kicks from Ivan Rosales. Christian Rodriguez got a header on the first that deflected out off a North defender, the North Stars’ Jack Fries headed out the second corner kick and the third produced no shot.

“St. Charles North, even if this is considered their bad year they’re still a great team,” Polovin said. “Justin Stanko, with his size in the back, was tough and their defense stopped us.”

The Sabres had an advantage in shots with 21 to the North Stars’ 17, but only six of Streamwood’s shots were on goal.

“I thought we moved the ball nicely, but we struggled once we got into the final third,” Polovin said.

Avalos ripped a solid shot on goal with 43.5 second left on the clock which took a diving stop from North Stars’ goalkeeper Billy Larsen (5 saves) to preserve the scoreless tie.

“We can’t dwell on it,” Polovin said. “We’ll correct some things and clean some areas up, and we’ll be ready for Burlington Central (on Thursday).”

Kyle Swanson had several strong scoring chances for the North Stars.

St. Charles North has been going through a rollercoaster season, but the North Stars seem to be coming around. Coming off a 2-1 win over tri-cities rival Batavia and with this win, the North Stars hope to keep the momentum going into their cross-town clash with St. Charles East on Saturday and into the postseason.

“I think, just for us personally, we turned a corner in training last night and as we prepared before this game,” Willson said. “The guys are starting to play together. I think we’ll be a force to reckon with in the postseason if we keep playing like this.”

“We definitely need to carry this over, but I definitely think we can still play better,” Stanko said. “We’ve got a lot of talented players on this team. Everyone on this team has a ton of talent, and we’ve just needed to play better as a team. I have a lot of confidence in this team that we can go far in the playoffs.”