Saints finish regular season with a draw vs. Metea Valley
By Darryl Mellema

There’s no easing into the IHSA tournament for St. Charles East or Metea Valley – two of the top teams in their respective divisions in the Upstate Eight Conference.

The Saints and Mustangs met Tuesday in St. Charles East’s final regular season contest – and they played out a fast-paced match where either side could have won and neither squad was particularly pleased with the result.

“Am I disappointed we didn’t win?” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison asked. “Absolutely. But as I just told the team, you’ve got to take the positives out of this. It’s the last game of the season. Both teams came to play and that was two quality teams going at each other, and that’s going to put us in a good position going into playoffs.”

Twenty-four hours after surrendering a 1-0 lead and losing 2-1 to St. Charles North – the Mustangs battled hard against St. Charles East.

“I thought we were going to be a little bit worn tonight,” Metea Valley coach Pat Feulner said. “We had to play a lot of kids. East put on good pressure and made us play fast and when you’re tired, it’s a little tough. But it was a great game.”

The goals came at nearly the same point of each half and both had as much to do with individual effort as they did to the strong attacking play that led to the scoring chances.

Metea Valley (9-5-1) struck in the 16th minute of the first half when Alena Sidwell had an effort in the penalty area, went to the ground during the resulting scramble, got back to her feet and put the ball into the net.

“That was a good goal,” Feulner said. “It was the second game where we’ve gotten out in front and haven’t been able to sustain it. That’s a little disappointing. We’ve got to keep working to finish games and put them away.”

To that point, the match had been balanced. St. Charles East’s Morgan Settle and Hannah Rawson had long-range efforts saved while Metea Valley’s Jenna Kentgen had raced through the defense and into the penalty area with a characteristic burst of speed before the ball was taken away.

Two minutes after Sidwell’s goal, the Mustangs nearly doubled their lead when Alyssa Fox sent a shot just wide from the top of the penalty area.

The Saints (13-5-2) regrouped. With 8 minutes left in the half, Shannon Rasmussen sent a right wing corner kick toward Amanda Hilton, who headed from outside the left post into the left side netting. Minutes later, Sam Lombardo played the ball in from the right, Julianna Harmon had a pair of swings at the ball, which finally came to Darcy Cunningham, who shot wide.

The hosts opened the second half aggressively and a sequence of corner kicks resulted in a Rasmussen shot blazed over the crossbar from 10 yards and another Cunningham effort that went wide.

But 12 minutes into the half, Carly Pottle played a through ball in the center of the field. The pass split Metea Valley’s defenders and found Cunningham racing free on goal. Cunningham’s strong first shot was half-saved by Metea Valley keeper Megan Geldernick, but the ball continued toward the net, and Cunningham never stopped running and finished from inside the six-yard box.

“We felt like we had a lot of good chances and we felt like we should have finished a couple, but we felt like we dominated the game,” Cunningham said. “It’s kind of bittersweet for the seniors, ending with a tie when we feel like we should have won. But it’s good to end on it. We heard they battled with North last night and it was good to stay with them.”

Cunningham had praise for Pottle’s pass that set her on her way toward the goal.

“It was a great ball,” Cunningham said. “I saw the run in behind and so I called for it. The defenders were kind of not moving and (Pottle) played me a great ball.”

The rest of the half moved from penalty area to penalty area. Rachel Stoffregren forced Saints keeper Kendra Sheehan to make a strong save, and Alyssa Fox forced an even stronger save from Sheehan.

Then Rasmussen found herself free in the penalty area but the chance ended without a Saints effort on net.

Eleven minutes from the end of the match, Kentgen again raced into the penalty area, but send a curling shot wide of the left post. The last reasonable scoring effort of the game came when Rasmussen fed Pottle for a shot on goal.

“In the second half, we got one back and had chances,” Jennison said. “

Jennison was pleased with the all-around efforts of his players in their final home game. 

“If you’re not playing well and you’re winning, that’s great,” Jennison said. “If you’re playing well and you’re not winning, that’s something else. In years past, we found ourselves playing like that and coming on the wrong end of the result. Today we stuck in there and held our own and it was a great squad performance.”

For Pottle, Allie Arvizu, Settle, Liana Imbrogno, Clara Stoffel, Kelsey Roxworthy and Brienna Kruit, the match was their last-ever at Norris Stadium.

“This senior group is quality,” Jennison said. “There’s no doubt we have some leadership in that group. Sometimes at the end of the year, you start to lose focus a little bit. But I told our team that they were never going to get leadership like our seniors have given them this year again.”

“It was a great game,” Jennison said. “To be honest, I think they scored against the run of play. Once again, we gave up one shot in the first half and we found ourselves 1-0 down. But we came out and never let the energy drop.”

Fox and Kentgen were a handful for St. Charles East’s defense to handle, though players like Settle, Allie Arvizu and Clara Stoffel worked hard through the match to limit chances.

“They had two quick girls up top and if you give them anything, they’re going to get in,” Jennison said.

Kentgen has been troubling defenses with her speed all season and the junior showed her talent again on Tuesday.

“Since I’ve been in the high school game, she’s the best I’ve coached,” Feulner said. “She’s just a workhorse. She never stops. She played all night last night and all night tonight. We had a couple of kids hurt who we would have subbed in for her, and she just says ‘I’ll stay in.’ Sometimes I’m trying to get her to throttle herself down. She’s her own worst enemy. She’s so aggressive; she loses a lot of opportunities because of it. She’ll knock the ball so far in front of herself she can’t catch up to it.”

St. Charles East’s attack featured a number of players in a continuation of a trend that has existed throughout the season.

“That’s something I’ve been preaching to them,” Jennison said. “We do have a great team. We don’t have one who’s a go-to person. We use everyone. That makes it hard to go against.”

But Metea Valley had an answer in Geldernick, a two-time all-state player who is headed to Ohio State this fall.

“For four years, she’s pretty much been the leader of the group,” Feulner said. “She’s a born captain. The kids love her and she’s a great role model. Our backup goalkeeper (Kylie Dunning) could be playing at 95 percent of the schools in the state and I can’t get her in big games because we have Megan. Kylie’s going D-I too.”

Having played the top two seeds in the Hoffman Estates Sectional, Metea Valley heads next to play Plainfield North (17-3), the No. 2 seed in the same Bolingbrook Sectional in which the Mustangs compete as the No. 6 seed.

“It hasn’t gotten any easier for us,” Feulner said. “When you look at our sectional, you have to beat Waubonsie Valley or Neuqua or Naperville North or Plainfield North – just to get out of a regional. Why not play games like this going in because every game in the postseason is going to be a war. Really, we’re in the playoffs right now.”