Finishing woes doom North Stars vs. St. Charles East

By Seth Hancock

Soccer has always been a tough sport to put points on the board, and for the St. Charles North boys’ squad that’s certainly been the case over the last three games.

Facing their biggest rival and cross-town foe St. Charles East, the North Stars missed plenty of golden opportunities and dropped a 3-1 match to the host Saints to extend their only losing streak of the season to three games on Tuesday afternoon.

With a 2-1 deficit at halftime, the North Stars (11-4-2) showed some signs of life and spent most of the final 40 minutes near the Saints (8-5-1) keeper.

And for an eight minute stretch, the North Stars fired off shot after shot in a relentless attack that was to no avail.

“We can’t score right now,” said St. Charles North coach Eric Willson. “We made their keeper look fantastic with our shots right at him. We were in a 2-1 game. I thought the guys played with more intensity in the second half, but we’ve got to do a better job putting the ball away.”

With 26 minutes left in the game Noah Anthony took a free kick that Trent Coyle was able to get a head on, but the ball missed just wide to the left. Less than a minute later Mike Winhoffer sent a pass to Matt Rasmussen right in front of the Saints net, but the shot just sailed over by inches.

Winhoffer took a shot that also went just over as you could hear the ball skim the cross bar with 23 minutes remaining, and Anthony had a header two minutes later that also skimmed across the bar.

With 19:45 left on the clock, Anthony ripped a fantastic shot on target that East goalkeeper Eric Meesenburg had to make a diving stop on, and Hayden Hagemann ran in and was inches away from grabbing the rebound from the keeper’s hands which would have led to an easy tying goal.

Hagemann and Winhoffer each got shots on goal with about 18 minutes left in the game ending the stretch of quality North chances, and throughout that stretch the North Stars spent nearly the whole time in the East goalie box and right in front of the net.

“We’ve got to stay focused in the box,” Willson said. “We’re getting opportunities right in front of the net and we’re not finishing it. You’ve got to make the most of those chances, and we’re not doing that right now.”

In fact, the lone North Stars’ goal came from a shot nowhere close to the Saints net. Connor Lefelstein ripped a shot unassisted from about 40 yards out that went over the leaping hands of Meesenburg to give North a 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the game.

Jonny Bren gave the Saints a 2-1 lead with both of East’s first half goals. The first came with 15:08 left in the half off an Austin Jackman corner kick, and the second came unassisted with 12:21 left on the clock.

Ethan Jendrzejczyk scored the Saints final goal with 12:15 left in the game which essentially took the fire out of the North Stars.

“There’s a lot to address after this game,” Willson said. “The blue collar team completely outworked us. If there is one thing we can control on the field it is how hard we work, and the hustle isn’t there right now.”

Garrett Creasor minded the net for North in the first half and Jake Pezzutto in the second half.

The North Stars did have one really good chance with 4:15 left in the game as Coyle took a free kick and Drew Smith got a head on that Meesenburg was able to grab. Several North players contested that it should have been a goal as Meesenburg looked to have been holding the ball over the line.

The loss pretty much takes the North Stars out of contention for the Upstate Eight Conference River Division race as they drop to 2-2 with just two more division games remaining. The Saints remain the only undefeated UEC River Division team as they improve to 3-0.

“This is our biggest game of the season,” Bren said. “We’re really getting momentum moving here, and we’re playing well as a team. We’re jelling right now.”