Chicagoland Soccer

North Stars headed to the Elite Eight
By Gary Larsen

St. Charles North reached a Class 3A state title game last season and another quality North Stars team has carried high expectations throughout the 2013 season.

And after a 1-0 sectional final win over Geneva on Friday put North one win away from a return trip to the state’s Final Four, North Stars defender Megan O’Leary talked about how her side has again met the challenge of high expectations.

"We don't take this for granted. We work our butts off, every day," O'Leary said. "We have talent but we're not the most talented team in the state. But we try our hardest at practice every day. We really do."

North’s Kelly Manski scored the game’s lone goal, as St. Charles North (19-3-1) eliminated a team in Geneva (15-9-1) that pushed the North Stars to play their best.

“Playing another Tri-cities team, we know each other's style pretty well," North coach Ruth Vostal said. "I know they've been playing great in the second half of their season. They have very talented players and we knew it would be a battle. I’m just pleased with how we played today.”

North’s Alyssa Brandt lined up the game’s first corner kick one minute in as the North Stars came out in high-pressure mode through the game’s first five minutes, just as Geneva striker Amanda Lulek knew they would.

"They come out strong and with a lot of heart, every game," Lulek said. "We knew we had to come out with that same intensity and that same heart. It's hard because we play club with these girls, we're friends with them, and you don't want to knock them around so mentally you just have to play like you don't even know them, and come out strong."

Geneva turned the game into a midfield battle after North’s strong opening, and flirted with a few dangerous scoring chances on the North Stars’ half through 10 minutes.

The North Stars answered when Sophie Pohl sprang Brandt to the endline on the left side at 14 minutes and Brandt’s serve eventually found the foot of teammate Jenny Barr, who hit a shot from distance just high of frame.

A freekick by Geneva’s Megan Kozlow at 18 minutes turned around to a North Stars clear and counter, with North’s Alex Gage sending a long one-hopper in that Geneva keeper Sam Hauser fielded easily.

Stitz saved a Pohl offering from distance at 20 minutes, Geneva earned a couple deep throw-ins, and at 30 minutes the North Stars sent a corner kick into the mixer, with both teams getting multiple touches on it before Geneva cleared it out.

Gage sent a freekick wide of frame at 38 minutes as the first half went scoreless, and the latter part of the half also featured a few Geneva through-balls with Lulek running on, but the North Stars girls in back along with keeper Shelby Stitz repelled every advance.

"(Lulek) is a very quick player and we knew that if we always had cover, we'd be fine," O'Leary said. "She’s very fast, she's a great player, she's going to Iowa, so we just knew we had to have each other’s backs."

North’s Natalie Winkates ran onto a through-ball sent up the center channel from Gage at 42 minutes, but Hauser saved Winkates’ shot from 18 yards out, and Lulek reached the endline at 44 minutes and served a ball that got touched to the far side, where the Vikings’ Courtney Lardas shot was saved by Stitz.

Manski gave it a try from 30 yards out the went wide at 45 minutes, and Stitz came out to intercept a Lardas through-ball a minute later

That’s when Manski took center stage.

There are Handworks at Plainfield North, Zickerts at Buffalo Grove, Bucaros at St. Francis, and on Friday night Manski held up her family’s tradition at St. Charles North.

"I've had all the Manski kids, starting with Lisa, and I know that family well,” North coach Ruth Vostal said. “Kelly is unbelievable.”

47 minutes in, the senior Manski set up a freekick from 20 yards out and sent it whizzing inside the near post on the left side to provide the day’s lone goal.

"I set it down and just hoped I would strike it well," Manski said. "My main goal was to get it on frame and I'm glad it went in. I didn’t know it was in until it hit the back of the net, but I watched it the whole way in.”

At this stage of Manski’s career, Vostal is not surprised by anything she does.

“She is just a kid that is extremely coachable, her work rate is always a hundred and ten percent and her work rate made her into an unbelievable player,” Vostal said. “She took the talent she had and made it ten times better by working hard, year-round. She's one kid I can count on all the time."

After Manski’s goal, an already intense game found another level of intensity.

Brandt sent in a corner at 53 minutes that Kozlow cleared out, Kozlow sent a long freekick to Stitz at 54 minutes and hit another freekick chance wide of frame from 20 yards out at 60 minutes.

O’Leary raced back to thwart Geneva’s Annie Waldoch on a Lulek through-ball at 62 minutes. Brandt sent a long freekick off the post at 65 minutes and Geneva earned a corner kick two minutes later.

Stitz left her line to intercept a ball sent over the top for Lulek at 70 minutes, and the Vikings’ Molly Axen found herself with Geneva’s best equalizing chance of the day, but her head shot off a Kozlow serve went off the crossbar and over at 72 minutes.

They were ultimately kept out of net but chasing a goal and with its season on the line, the Vikings had risen to the occasion.

"You can't coach heart, and that's all this team has is heart,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “Everyone counted us out, that since we had a few losses to good teams that we weren't going to amount to anything this season, and look how far we went?

"I thought both teams were very evenly matched. So it comes down to who makes the fewest mistakes, and we made a mistake in the middle of the field and gave them an opportunity. If we take that away, we're in overtime right now. We made one mistake and they capitalized on it. But we fought hard and left it all on the field."

Lulek, Axen, and Sam Billek are Geneva’s lone seniors this year and they leave the program proud of another season spent defying expectations.

"Every year we're the underdogs, and every year it's our goal to prove people wrong," Lulek said. "This was our first sectional championship game in four years and I could not be more proud of this team. I have total faith in this team next year. I've been here for four years and it's hard to say goodbye, but I have total faith in them. They're going to be great next year."

St. Charles North will play host Barrington (17-4-1) in a supersectional game on Tuesday, and a North Stars team that has only given up 10 goals in 23 games will look to shut down a Fillies team that has gone 13-1 in its last 14 games, outscoring its opponents by a 58-3 margin.

"We'll keep the same mentality and stay focused on what we do well,” Vostal said. “We'll make minor adjustments if there's a special player that needs attention, but I think we'll mainly pay attention to what we do well."

Vostal was particularly pleased with the day’s work that Gage and Winkates put in for her in the middle of the pitch, along with an O’Leary-led effort in back.

"Megan was awesome,” Vostal said. “She's often that unsung hero, where she's not marking up that one player but she gives cover and you don't notice but she's the one behind there playing the ball out.

"I thought our backline was incredible today. Geneva has some great offensive threats and we were able to shut them down. They've been able to do that game after game after game, and they don't do it with just one person, but as a unit."

Geneva will be back next year with loads of varsity experience, and the way the Vikings played in Friday’s sectional title game has Owens feeling optimistic.

"North is a great team and they've been at the top for a couple of years now, so for us to play with them every step of the way -- I don't think either team dominated and it came down to one mistake," Owens said. "But the fact that we hung with them today and it came down to one mistake I think speaks loads about my girls.

"We've had a lot of success over the past few years and been overshadowed by North a lot of the time, and it's always been them that ends our season. But of all those games, this was by far the most evenly-matched one. And the awesome thing is that we only graduate three and bring back seventeen, plus one player with an ACL (injury)."