North Stars rally past Bulldogs following DeMoss speech

By Darryl Mellema

In the history of the world, there have been a number of inspirational speeches.

Shakespeare gave great words to Henry V before the battle of Agincourt.

Winston Churchill's "we shall fight on the beaches" speech from 1940 ranks up there, too.

In the sports world, Knute Rockne's "we're gonna get them on the run, we're gonna go, go, go, go" speech made its way into the film Rudy.

Then there is St. Charles North's Leah DeMoss, who gave some very well-chosen words to her team during a weather-related delay in the midst of Friday's IHSA Class 3A Hoffman Estates Regional semifinal against Batavia.

And the North Star senior's words helped key a 3-1 victory for her squad and a trip to the sectional in the process.

The setting, in high school girls soccer terms, was not quite significant.

The heavily-favored North Stars were trailing 1-0 to the Bulldogs and had only 45 minutes of play remaining whenever the lightning-laced storm left the area.

Worse, by anyone's definition, the North Stars weren't playing their best soccer. So as they left, the question was who would deliver some inspired words.

Some figured it would be head coach Ruth Vostal – but while Vostal did speak, it was DeMoss who delivered the key words.

"Leah DeMoss was the refocusing thing," North senior Sammy Gage said. "(Coach Ruth) Vostal came in and essentially just said 'you guys need to pick it up.'

"And then she walked out. And that was a sign that we needed to do this on our own. She calmly talked to us and put us back in place. We came out after her incredibly inspirational speech."

DeMoss, standing next to Gage during the post-match interview, laughed at the words "incredibly inspirational speech."

But she did admit to the emotion behind her words to the team.

"I said 'guys, if you aren't going to fight for yourselves, fight for me because if I lose, this is my last chance to be playing with you guys,'" DeMoss said. "I told them 'I just want to let you know that I want this more than anything.'

"They just kind of looked at me and I looked at them, and I could see that they wanted to fight. They were going to fight for themselves. They were going to fight for their coaches. They were going to fight for the people on the bench.

"It was awesome. I felt the need to say that and I knew the team would do it, that they would fight for me. That's how we won that game. They put in that fight."

The North Stars had already been heading into the ascendancy before the weather break, but they still hadn't had a solid shot on goal.

And the moments after the restart didn't much change that fact, but that was only for five minutes – before the teams broke again for halftime.

When play resumed in earnest for the second half, then the North Stars surged comprehensively and claimed victory.

"We were blessed with a 30-minute timeout where we could regroup," Vostal said. "We didn't talk strategy. I gave then about a 30-second quote. I knew they wanted it and I told them right before they came out that I believed in them."

Still, it took time for North (19-1-1) to seal the victory that earned the North Stars a trip to Tuesday's Schaumburg Sectional. North faces either Geneva or York in a 4 p.m. match.

"I knew we'd have some players step up," Vostal said.

Alyssa Peterson tied the score 16 minutes into the second half when she put away a rebound of a fierce Gage shot, one which Batavia goalie Elana Mudrak could only parry.

"In the first half, I thought we were overplaying the midfield," Vostal said. "We kept saying 'get Sammy involved', get Alyssa involved.'

"(Gage) does anything you ask. She followed the ball. We knew there would be some rebounds. And once you tie it up, the whole momentum changes."

North's players reacted to Peterson's goal with a joyous celebration and moved to midfield to push for the go-ahead score.

"It was one of those celebrations where we were just like 'this is our team and we're going to win,'" DeMoss said.

The momentum at this point swung almost entirely in St. Charles North's favor.

"That was the turning point in the game," Gage said. "As (DeMoss) said, getting that first goal set us thinking that we'd score more – and (DeMoss) scored two more. Also, it put Batavia a little on their haunches."

DeMoss got the next two North Stars goals. The first game three minutes after Peterson's equalizer when she took an Alex Gage pass, worked around Mudrak in the penalty area and scored.

"(Alex Gage) comes off the bench and she does great," DeMoss said. "She will work her butt off and she will give me those passes all day. That was the best pass, honestly, that I've had all year."

Then DeMoss completed an emphatic second half performance by her team when she won the ball off a defender and netted with seven minutes left in the match.

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