Warriors head downstate for third time in four years

By Gary Larsen

Waubonsie Valley boys’ soccer coach Angelo DiBernardo isn’t a man prone to excitability, but he leapt out of his seat in the stands at Benedictine University on Tuesday.

His daughter Vanessa brought him to his feet.

Warriors’ senior Vanessa DiBernardo scored the third game-winning goal in a super-sectional of her career – all at Benedictine – when she took a few touches left-to-right across the 18 before striking a perfect shot from a tough angle, that sailed under the crossbar near the far post.

“I was kind of waiting for the defender to bite. Then once she did, I placed it,” DiBernardo said.

DiBernardo’s goal made Waubonsie Valley (21-1-4) a 1-0 winner over Lyons Township (18-5-1), in the game’s 71st minute of play.

Illinois’ Gatorade Player of the Year scored overtime game-winners in super-sectionals against St. Charles East in ’07, and St. Charles North in ’08.

The Warriors won state titles in both of those seasons, and head downstate for their third time in four years. They’ll take on Glenbrook South (24-4-4) on Friday at North Central College at 7:00 p.m., in a Class 3A state semifinal game.

On Tuesday, a first half marked by more kick-ball than either side usually plays gave way to a more prominent possession game from Waubonsie Valley after halftime.

The Warriors’ Chelsea Stoeckigt, Shannon Donelson, and DiBernardo each sent shots in on Lions’ goalkeeper Renata Butikas in the second half, as their attack kept working to find dangerous space.

“Just working it around the field, looking for openings,” DiBernardo said. “As long as you keep it and keep working, then something will eventually open up.”

That ‘something’ occurred when Stoeckigt found DiBernardo, who netted her third goal against the Lions this season. She also scored twice in a 2-1 win over LT on March 18.

“If she didn’t dress, that would help us,” Lyons Township coach Bill Lanspeary joked of DiBernardo. “As good a job as you can do on her through most of the game, she’s still going to create chances for herself and for other people.”

Lyons Township freshman Ari Kowalski draped herself on DiBernardo for most of the night, but being shadowed by marking backs isn’t anything new to the All-American.

“It’s just something I have to deal with,” she said. “And it can be fun at times, taking (a defender) wherever you want. It’s kind of like a game and you have to play around with it.”

Warriors goalkeeper Allison Fox and defenders Colleen Gorkis, Kerri Skotnicki, Mary Wright, and Rachel Miller were rock-solid yet again on Tuesday, posting their 18th shutout in 26 games. Waubonsie Valley has kept opponents out of net in 7 of their last 8 games.

“Colleen is a brick wall back there,” Fox said. “She holds her ground and I know I can trust Mary, Kerri, and Rachel back there. They’re a strong back line.”

Lyons Township has a pair of dangerous attacking players in Katie Nasenbenny and Kelsey Holbert, but the Warriors did well in keeping track of them all night.

“We do our best. I guess sometimes we get overlooked but we just do what we can to keep the ball out of the net,” Fox said. “We had to stay on (Nasenbenny) tight. We kind of knew how they played, making those runs and playing through-balls. But we had to stay on (Nasenbenny) because she’s one of their strongest players.”

Nasenbenny raced up the right side late in the second half and fired a hard shot with a defender on her hip, but Fox was there at the near post to snare it.

"I was just on my toes, ready to do the best I could. If anything I thought it might go into overtime, since that’s what we did here the last two times we got this far.”

Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom has fairly pulled a rabbit out of a hat with this year’s team. The Warriors have solid talent again this year, but after graduating eight players from last year’s team that are all now playing college soccer, this year’s squad had to come in with question marks.

“It’s definitely been a big surprise how well we’ve worked together and how well we’ve done this year, “ DiBernardo said. “We knew it would be difficult early in the year but we’ve come together. We have a core group of juniors that maybe didn’t start last year, but they’re good.

(Going downstate) is a big accomplishment. It will be fun and not a lot of girls have been downstate so it will be a good experience for them. It’ll be a different experience for me as a senior.”

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