Warriors tie St. Charles East but still claim UEC title

By Eddie Burns

St. Charles East used a tough, hard physical style of play to force Waubonsie Valley out of its comfort zone and it worked.

The Saints forged a 0-0 draw with the Warriors in an Upstate Eight Conference match that was moved from Waubonsie's soggy natural grass stadium to Metea Valley's synthetic surface on Thursday.

Despite settling for a tie, the Warriors still claimed the Upstate Eight Conference championship after finishing UEC play at 8-0-2 while Neuqua Valley and St. Charles North both finished 8-1-1.

In the UEC, three points are awarded for a win and one point is given for a tie and based on the system, the Warriors finished with 26 points compared to 25 each for the Wildcats and North Stars.

But there wasn't any type of celebrating going on for the Warriors, who completed the regular season with a 16-1-4 record.

"I don't think we came out as hard as we could," Waubonsie's Vanessa DiBernardo said. "St. Charles East was getting us instead of the ball.

"They weren't really going for the ball and it is sort of hard to go against someone who is always going after your ankles. I think that took us out of our game a little bit. We didn't do a good job of matching up against that, so that is our fault."

Both teams also had to fight very gusty cross wind that had a direct impact on the match.

"I think the wind was a huge factor and it forced the ball to one side of the field, which prevented us from switching the ball like we like normally do," DiBernardo said.

Unlike Lake Park, which was content to pack it in when it managed to play Waubonsie to a 0-0 draw, the Saints were aggressive and dangerous throughout.

"St. Charles East was one of the more physical teams we've played this year," Waubonsie's Megan Green said.

"Every single time we got the ball they were on you. It was different for us and we didn't really know how to react to it until it was too late."

In the game's final minute, St. Charles East's Hannah Ketterling put the crowd into a bit of a frenzy when she sent a dangerous cross toward the Waubonsie net, but Warriors goalie Allison Fox managed to come up with the ball.

The Saints consistently kept pressure on Waubonsie's defenders Mary Wright, Colleen Gorkis and Rachel Miller.

St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison, whose team finished the regular season at 7-8-3 overall and 6-3-1 in the UEC, was extremely proud of his squad.

"We've struggled all year to put 80 minutes together," said Jennison, whose team has lost close matches to New Trier, Naperville Central, St. Charles North and Neuqua Valley. "We've tied or been up on each of them and it's been one or two mistakes that has cost us in the end.

"We've been telling the girls that if they can play for 80 minutes they are going to get a good result somewhere along the line. We knew Waubonsie was a good team and we stuck to the game plan for 80 minutes and we didn't give anything away."

Green said the Warriors were out of sync.

"We weren't really communicating with each other," she said. "We didn't play the ball to each other's feet. St. Charles East attacked us hard and we were holding onto the ball too long. I think we finally realized that when it was way too late."

The Warriors did begin to play with a real sense of urgency in the closing minutes but outside of a few DiBernardo restarts, Waubonsie never really put a scare into St. Charles East goalie Zoe Samaan.

"I'm a little disappointed," DiBernardo said. "I think we're capable of beating (St. Charles East) and we just didn't play as well and as hard as we could.

"I wouldn't say this is a step back, but we didn't progress. We stayed where we were. We can always fix things and we have some time to get things ready for the postseason."

The Warriors begin the Class 3A postseason on Tuesday in the Waubonsie Valley regional against the winner of today's match between West Aurora or Romeoville.

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