North Stars edge Saints for St. Charles bragging rights
By Darryl Mellema
In anticipation of Tuesday’s St. Charles East-St. Charles North girls soccer match – the odds of a high-scoring affair seemed slim as two defenses that average fractions of a goal per game took the field at East’s Norris Stadium.
Most definitely, both teams score goals – each team averages better than three goals per game. But it is on the defensive end where both teams have shined – racking up shutouts like they are something to be hoarded.
And so it was that after 80 minutes of play on Tuesday – only one goal was scored – a fine individual effort by North senior Kelly Manski. The 1-0 victory almost certainly gives the North Stars the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title and will set them in good position to claim the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A Hoffman Estates Sectional when they are announced in eight days.
“They were pretty tough,” North defender Kenzie Rose said of the Saints. “But overall, our team defense was great all around the field. Forwards, midfielders and backs, we played so well together.”
While the conference title was on the line, the desire to win the latest renewal of this crosstown rivalry superseded the battle for league honors.
“It's a crosstown rivalry where you know the opponents, where the coaches know the other players and all of that kind of thing, there's always that extra intensity.” North coach Ruth Vostal said. “We knew the first few minutes coming out, it was going to be a little messy. But we settled into it.”
As has been mentioned many times, North (10-1, 5-0 UEC River) has allowed just one goal this season – a penalty kick by Neuqua Valley.
Watching the North Stars defend is to see how an entire team works together to keep the ball out of the back of its net. Certainly the back line is integral, but the forwards and midfielders also track back to try to win back the ball before the other team can get a shot on goal.
And that trait was on full display on Tuesday, where the North Stars hurried and harried and limited the Saints chances at goal.
The North Stars needed those defensive efforts because East (9-2-1, 3-1) had an edge in play through the opening half, creating chances and working to open the scoring.
“I thought, for the first 30 minutes, that I could only see one outcome coming,” East coach Paul Jennison said. “I thought we were fantastic. I thought we had the majority of the play and the majority of the possession and we were moving the ball nicely. We were looking good.”
The chances started after 10 minutes when Sam Lombardo shot over the crossbar. The Saints were getting space to work multi-player passing moves, and 11 minutes into the match. Anna Corirosi passed to Carly Pottle, who fed Darcy Cunningham, who had a shot saved by North Stars keeper Shelby Stitz.
The North Stars hit back when Alex Gage sent a left wing cross that was directed toward goal by a Saints defender – but kept out of the net by Saints keeper Kendra Sheehan.
The Saints, however, were back attacking shortly after with Pottle taking a Cunningham pass and shooting over the bar.
“I think we played our hardest,” East senior defender Clara Stoffel said. “We were ready for the game and we worked so hard for this. We worked so hard and it's so disappointing.”
Then the North Stars had a five-minute surge and scored. First Alyssa Brandt fed Elizabeth Parrilli, who shot over the bar. Then Manski found the ball in space in the left wing at the top of the penalty area the senior put the ball over Sheehan and into the right side netting.
“It was exciting,” Manski said. “But it was a fight the whole game. Both teams were fighting for it. That goal – there were people all around trying to get any shot off.”
Manski’s goal came with 11:29 left in the first half and from that moment through the first 10 minutes of the second half, the North Stars held the attacking edge. Sophie Pohl had one shot saved and sent two shots wide in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
“I thought we had a ton of chances that should have been in the back of the net,” Vostal said. “We hit wide or we were a second late. We've been working on finishing those chances and luckily we were able to get one from (Manski) early.”
Manski has been either the scorer or assist player on a number of key goals for the North Stars this season. In the past week alone, she scored against Geneva, provided the assist for a goal against Batavia and scored the only goal against St. Charles East.
“She’s come up big,” Vostal said. “Even before the game, I said to (Assistant coach Annie) Lauterer, ‘she’s going to get one.’ Lauterer was saying we didn’t work really hard on that (scoring) play – it didn’t look great. But (Manski) worked hard and she was the one who came out with it.”
Somewhere in the middle of everything the North Stars do is defensive midfielder Gage, who never finishes a match with a clean uniform – which is a bit of a trait with this team.
“She’s like the quarterback,” Vostal said. “She distributes the ball well. She’s often that second assist. I talked to her at halftime and said ‘let’s be a little more of the distributor. It was slick here and you couldn’t dribble very well – so there was space behind the backs. (Gage) listens and she is part of almost every offensive play and great defensive stop.”
Once again, East rallied and went in search of an equalizing goal. But in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, the Saints best chance came on a Pottle shot that was blocked after the senior moved from left-to-right through the penalty area.
“We knew they had two good center backs, but like anything, we say there’s no one that’s unbeatable back there,” Jennison said. “We thought if we worked the ball nicely, we’d get chances. And the two chances that got stopped on the goal line, on a different day, those might be going in.”
East is incredibly strong defensively this year, having allowed only six goals after Tuesday’s loss.
“The defense this year, we’re such a close unit and we work so well together,” Stoffel said. “Every single one of those girls, it doesn’t matter who you put in, they’re going to work their butt off and they’re going to do their job.”
With two very strong defenses, there were periods where chances were in very short supply, and that happened on Tuesday in the middle of the second half, though the Saints were still pressing for an equalizing goal.
“At one point, they got momentum in the second half and they were down there and we know that happens,” Vostal said. “We just weather the storm. We don’t want to bunker down because sometimes then they get more shots and with the weather and the field, we didn’t know what would happen with it.”
That portion of the match came late in the second half, when the Saints once again gained possession and moved forward. But the best effort was a strong corner kick by Cunningham that forced Stitz off her line to make collect the ball in heavy traffic.
“In the second half, I think they came out the first 5-10 minutes up-tempo and caught us on our heels a little bit,” Jennison said. “But we got back into our rhythm and threw a heck of a lot at them. It just wasn't meant to be today.”
Balancing the Saints efforts was a moment nine minutes from the end of the match when Hanna Durocher fed Pohl, who took a goal-bound shot that was cleared at the last moment by Stoffel.
“I just sprinted back because I knew if they scored again, the game would have been over,” Stoffel said. “So I ran back and, at first, I thought I was going to kick it in. Luckily it went past the goal. My heart was definitely racing.”
Both teams are in a strong section of matches in the middle of their seasons. For North, there is a trip on Friday to play Divine Savior of Wisconsin followed by a Monday match with undefeated Plainfield North. Next weekend, the team travels to Iowa for their annual competition in the Tournament of Champions.
“Our goal was to take it one game at a time,” Vostal said. “It sets us up for a great game in Wisconsin on a Turf field, so we’ll be able to knock it around a little bit. And then that sets us up next week for Plainfield and going into Iowa.”
The North Stars are on course for one of their best regular seasons in school history – and the team has had some very successful regular seasons since it opened in the 2000-01 school year. But more importantly to Vostal is the improvement her team is making.
“I think we’re truly in a great spot,” Vostal said. “I look at that Neuqua game (1-0 loss) and we tackle and get a PK inside the box and so we learned then that we have to be more careful. I’d rather learn that then than later. I think our work rate has been incredibly good and I think our team defense has been incredibly good. We definitely have some things we need to work on, but I think we’re in a good spot.”
East heads into the Naperville Invitational this weekend, facing Barrington on Thursday and Evanston on Saturday. Then next week, the Saints compete in the latter stages of that same invitational. By not scheduling additional matches between the tournament matches, the Saints have a chance to have some practices in what is usually a hectic time for many teams.
“We’ve got two top teams coming up and we’re looking forward to it,” Jennison said. “The season’s not going to let up. I don’t want the girls to walk out of here in any way disappointed. They left it all on the field.”
