Saints, Naperville Central battle to a tie
By Darryl Mellema

Naperville Central's Nikki Connors’ main sport in high school has been volleyball – and she’s pretty good at it too – starting as a middle hitter for coach Brie Isaacson’s team this year.

But this spring, Connors is playing soccer for the first time in years as a backup keeper on Ed Watson’s team. She got into one game this year, the second half of the team’s win over Whitney Young.

Thursday night, Connors was called into action again – and this time the opponent was much stronger, the intensity was much greater – and Connors came through just fine.

Naperville Central tied St. Charles East 0-0 in a full-blooded, end to end match in the St. Charles East Invitational. Connors entered the match with 5:29 left in the first half after starting keeper Abby Hershik injured herself attempting to save a free kick by Shannon Rasmussen. That free kick whacked the crossbar and Hershik’s diving save attempt left her unable to continue after she hit the Norris Stadium natural grass.

“Once I saw my goalie (Hershik) down, all I could think of was to make sure she was better and making sure I was ready to get on the field to back up my teammates and to do whatever I can to keep the ball from going into the goal,” Connors said.

Connors seemed cool under pressure, and St. Charles East pressed through the half to get shots at the Naperville Central goal.

“It was a little bit different perspective tonight, to come in cold off the bench,” Watson said. “Obviously it was a talented team that she was playing against. She did a great job.”

A born-and-bred Napervillian, Connors has played soccer before, but it’s been a long time.

“I played one half all season,” Connors said. “I had a minute to prepare myself tonight. But we have a great defense and a great offense and great coaches. I knew that I was prepared to do what I could to help my team.”

So if wearing a soccer uniform isn’t alien to her, being a varsity goalkeeper in a match between two of the area’s top teams was a new experience.

“I’ve been getting the question asked ‘do you play soccer Nikki?’” Connors said. “I was like ‘you know, fifth grade park district – it’s no big deal. I did used to play park district soccer. I played a little basketball and softball, but my main focus has been volleyball.”

Helping was the fact that the 10 field players reached a higher level of concentration in a match where both teams were fully-involved to begin with. Time and space on the ball were both in short supply and neither side ever settled into much of a rhythm because the other team was unwilling to allow that to happen.

“I thought Amanda (Alberts) and Ellie (Fricke) in the center back and Meredith (Tunney) and Kayla (Rowan) – our back four – battled their fannies off,” Watson said. “Grace Orndorff who would have liked to have been attacking a little more, knew what her job was, setting that screen in front and making sure nobody got any attacking opportunities.”

St. Charles East (5-1-1) plays rival Geneva for the second time in five days in a 7 p.m. match that caps tournament play.

“I thought that was a good high school game tonight,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “It was end-to-end and very physical. I was impressed with (Naperville Central’s) physicality.”

The invitational title is still available for three of the four competing teams, St. Charles East leads after two rounds with 13 points with Naperville Central on 12 points. Schaumburg has 10 points. After two losses and having scored one goal, Geneva has 1 point.

St. Charles East’s start is its best in years, and the team’s veterans are enjoying the matches.

“I love playing soccer with every girl on the team,” St. Charles East senior Carly Pottle said. “I trust every girl out there – and everyone who comes into the game off the bench. Everyone has a role on the team and it’s a good feeling. There’s seven seniors who’ve been together for three years now – it’s a solid group.”

The Saints are in a brutal stretch of matches. Thursday was the team’s third match in as many days. They have a rest day Friday and a further rest day on Sunday before playing three more matches in as many days to start next week.

“It was our third match in a row and our legs were a little tired,” Pottle said. “But we feel we should have won the game. (Naperville Central’s) a good team, obviously.”

Naperville Central (4-1-1) plays Schaumburg on Saturday at 5 p.m. and still has every opportunity to win the tournament.

“Schaumburg’s a good team,” Watson said. “They’ve got as good a chance to win this thing as anybody. Schaumburg’s going to play a physical game. They’ve got a talented forward up top, a talented center-mid and they give you a different look because they play so high and try to catch you playing lazy.”

Scoring chances were limited through the contest. In the first half, the teams played to a stalemate until the final quarter-hour, when St. Charles East had a flurry of opportunities. Brianna Kruit shot over the crossbar, an Allie Arvizu free kick came to Hannah Rawson, who shot into the side netting and Rasmussen raced up the left wing before having a shot saved by Hershik.

“When we came off at halftime, I felt Naperville Central was on top of us a bit,” Jennison said. “It’s not that we weren’t doing much, it’s that they were very physical and they were getting at our first touches and stopping us playing.”

The Saints continued their surge through the opening exchanges of the second half. Pottle had a shot saved and Naperville Central’s defense scrambled the ball to safety. And after nine minutes, Rasmussen again raced up the left wing, this time sending a cross that Pottle shot off the crossbar.

“It was a little rough in the first half but we finally got it together in the second half,” Pottle said. “We just couldn’t get it into the net.”

But now Naperville Central was getting chances as well. Just before Pottle hit the crossbar, Veronica Ellis forced a save from Saints keeper Kendra Sheehan. Fourteen minutes into the half, Ellis moved up the left wing and sent a cross that Autumn Muckenhirn volleyed over the crossbar.

Ellis, who played wearing a brace as a junior in 2011, is fully back in-form again, said Watson.

“She’s back to the level she was playing at before the injury, which I’m sure Indiana (University) is happy about,” Watson said. “She’s so fluent and so powerful out there.”

Despite not scoring, Muckenhirn was dangerous for the Redhawks.

“She’s crafty,” Watson said. “Abby Joyce up top is going to find (a goal.) I said to (assistant coach Barry Baldwin) that this is what it’s going to be like. We’re going to battle our fannies off – but we don’t have the scoring threats.”

The next two chances fell to freshman forward Ryan Dudycha. First she took a pass from Alison Kincaid and shot wide, then she snatched a loose ball in the six-yard box and volleyed over the net.

St. Charles East’s Darcy Cunningham had the last solid chance for either team, but her shot from the top of the penalty area with five minutes to play went over the crossbar.

“It could have gone either way,” Jennison said. “If they’d have walked out with the win, we’d have said ‘fair play’ to them. If we’d have won, I think everyone would have felt that was fair enough too. After coming out there tonight, especially after the game we had with Schaumburg (3-2 win), which was toe-to-toe, I think this was great. Two wins and a draw this week has been great.”

St. Charles East’s central midfield pairing of Amanda Hilton and Anna Corirossi in midfield – with Sam Lombardo as well – have proven to be very successful starting Saints attacks. Thursday, they showed they can be solid as a defensive screen ahead of the back line.

“They are solid,” Jennison said. “You can tell that they’ve had two very physical games in the last two days. You’re asking them to play center midfield, play high energy and be box-to-box players. It is a lot to ask, but I thought they did well. I thought they gave it everything they had.”