North Stars come back to top Metea Valley
By Gary Larsen

St. Charles North isn't accustomed to playing from behind, having only given up four goals all season, but that's where the North Stars found themselves on Tuesday.

With barely three minutes gone in the North Stars' game against Metea Valley, the Mustangs had grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Jenna Kentgen goal, leaving North with a hill to climb.

The North Stars embraced the opportunity.

“It was really good for us to go down a goal against a great team like Metea because then we learn that we have to push back and get extra goals to put the game away,” North Stars senior Alex Gage said.

A first-half goal from Gage and a second-half goal from Rachel Michieli helped North to its eventual 2-1 win.

“With our lineup changing as much as it is and different formations going on out there, I thought it was a great eighty minutes," North coach Ruth Vostal said. “I was pleased with us being down a goal but coming back, and finding a way to score another one. It’s a good place to be now, to see if we can dig back. It’s nice to know we can do it.”

Metea Valley came out gunning, with Kentgen using her relentless speed to reach the end line on the left side and keeping the pressure on the North Stars' girls in back early in the contest.

In the game's fourth minute, Metea midfielder McKensie Sheesley dropped a ball to defender Rachel Stoffregen, whose through-ball found Kentgen's feet.

Kentgen dribbled up with a lone defender on her hip and finished from 10 yards out.
"We were just passing well and were switching the field constantly," Kentgen said. "(Stoffregen) played a great through-ball and I was on."

The Metea lead lasted less than five minutes, courtesy of Gage, playing in her first game in a week after suffering a gash on her head during tournament play in Iowa on April 26-27.

“I got twenty-four stitches in my eyebrow," Gage said. "I hit the ball and the girl clocked me in the head, and it opened up pretty good, and she got a really bad concussion. It’s so good to be back. I’ve been able to run so that really helped me, but positioning-wise it took me a couple minutes to get it right.”

At 8 minutes, North's Jorie Clawson sent a soaring free kick from midfield on the left side into Metea's penalty area, giving Gage a chance to make a pivotal play in her first game back.

"(Clawson's freekick) came down and hit me in the face pretty good," Gage said. "Then it bounced off someone. It was just a scrappy goal. I just got a foot on it past the keeper."

Metea keeper Megan Geldernick saved a shot chest-high a minute after Gage knotted the game and in a game of momentum swings the North Stars keep good pressure on to the 17th minute, when Metea countered and Kentgen earned a corner kick that went for naught.

Metea's Paige Velez put pressure on North's backline and Kentgen's ability to reach the end line on both sides and earn corners was prominent in both halves.

"She's just an animal," Metea Valley coach Pat Feulner said of his junior striker. "But pretty soon people figure out that Kentgen is our main weapon up top, and we have to have somebody else step up and score."

The Mustangs saw dangerous crosses sent in from Kentgen and Alyssa Fox from deep on the left side, and at 24 minutes North keeper Shelby Stitz left her line and elevated to come away with a ball in the air, with Kentgen rising to meet it.

North's Ashlyn Walter sent in a long one-hopper that Geldernick fielded cleanly at 26 minutes, and Metea's Rachel Warnock sent in a long free kick that Stitz gathered 30 minutes. Velez got deep on the right side but Stitz cut off her low cross at the near post at 37 minutes, and the 1-1 score stood to halftime.

The North Stars back line of Clawson, Megan O'Leary, Jenny Barr played without absent backline mate Kenzie Rose, with Lizzie Parrilli sliding into a defensive stopper's role on Tuesday.

While Kentgen remained dangerous throughout the second half, North held her in check.

“(Kentgen) is fast and they were looking for the counter so we had to make sure we weren’t getting caught up too much,” Vostal said. “But I thought Jenny (Barr) can match her speed and I thought she did a nice job in the second half.

"I thought the second half was better just in regards to maintaining possession and the flow of the game, but I think it just took us a little time, with a different back line, and communicating with some different people up front."

North opened the second half by earning a trio of corner kicks, thanks to the hustle of Darcy Stoecklin and Alyssa Brandt, before the game-winning goal arrived for the North Stars at 59 minutes.

Sophie Pohl busted behind the defense on the left side and had a shot on her foot, but her attempt flew to the far post, with Michieli charging on and burying it.

“I’m so glad Rachel got that goal,” Gage said. “She works her butt off and that was just a hustle goal on her part.”I liked our effort. In the second half we came out fighting. We wanted that extra goal and I'm glad we put it away."

Metea played with urgency in pursuit of a tying goal to the end of regulation, but it never came.

"We've got to finish our chances," Feulner said. "We got a goal three minutes into the game and then I thought we kind of relaxed. Then in the last ten minutes our energy goes up again and the urgency is there again. I know it's hard to play that way for eighty minutes but we've got players on the bench who can play, so we don't need to sit back and relax out there. Sometimes we just get too comfortable.

"We got into a rhythm and we were able to knock the ball around. So we're getting it but it's still a matter of finishing chances that we can get on the end of and score."

Metea Valley faces two more formidable regular-season tests in St. Charles East and Plainfield North, before opening postseason play with a regional semifinal against Plainfield Central.

The Mustangs (9-5-0) have played another rugged schedule in their third season as a varsity program, and they feel ready to go.

"From where we started we have all the confidence because we believe we could make it to state," Kentgen said. "Even though we've lost a few games, I believe we still have that confidence."

The North Stars (15-2-1) play a regional semifinal against the winner between DeKalb and Elgin, but first must play Waubonsie Valley in the Upstate Eight Conference’s inaugural title game.

“It’s a huge game and we’re ready to play it,” Gage said. “We’re confident, we’ve got great players and we know that Waubonsie is always a great side.”