Spartans post first shutout, off to 2-0 start in SCC

By Curt Herron

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After struggling to find the right combination for much of Thursday's match with Montini, things clicked for St. Francis about midway through the final half.

However, the Spartans found themselves a man down a short time later due to a red card and it looked like their 1-0 lead over the Broncos might be in jeopardy.

So how did St. Francis respond to this unforeseen adversity? It added two more scores during the final dozen minutes to remove all drama from the proceedings.

As a result of their 3-0 victory at Briar Patch Park in Wheaton, the Spartans improved to 2-0 in Suburban Christian Conference action.

That put them into an early first-place tie in the league standings along with a pair of the usual favorites, Wheaton Academy and Marmion.

The clean sheet also was the first shutout of the season for the Spartans, who went 2-1 during matches over the past three days.

Scoring has been a real concern for St. Francis (2-3, 2-0), which was blanked in its first two matches and also fell 1-0 to Lake Park on Wednesday.

But the Spartans are hoping that the some of the offense that they showed in Tuesday's 4-1 win over Aurora Central and Thursday's victory carries over.

Jake Miller scored off of an assist by Matt Bonner for Thursday's first St. Francis goal and Remi Mifsud added the next score and later assisted Sam Kim.

Bobby Rozner got the shutout in goal while Matt Shultz, Joe Denny, Nick Roehl, Timmy Pisarski, Jason Bhatia, Ryan Langton and Bonner played on defense.

While the Spartans failed to find the net in the opening half, it certainly wasn't due to a lack of chances against the Broncos, who are 0-2 in the SCC.

With Mifsud providing a steady dose of free and corner kicks as well as good passes to his teammates, St. Francis could have scored a few early goals.

So while Spartan coach Kristin Keigley was pleased to see her squad finish strong while a man down, she also realizes that they need to start off better.

"We seem to start behind, whether we give up a goal or start slow in the first half but then we kind of wake up in the second half," Keigley said. "So we have to start teaching them how to put two halves together. I thought we did a good job of defending well and covering everything properly when we were a man down.

"Freshman Nick Roehl is stepping up huge on defense and has been kind of a surprise since he's new to our program. Brett Jungles has been big for our midfield. One of our midfielders is sick, so he's done a good job of moving from outside midfielder. And Sam Kim has been doing well from playing in the midfield and moving into the offense.

"We lost nine seniors, including our goalkeeper, this past year and a large portion of that was on defense. So it's good to see that we're playing pretty strong on defense. It's been a nice, welcome surprise that we've been playing well in our flat-back defense. It's also been good to see how well they've been playing together so far."

Montini started the final half well by getting three good chances during the initial 10 minutes, but Rozner grabbed a pair and another went over the net.

Then it was the Spartans' turn to apply some pressure, beginning with a try by Jungles that was deflected before Mifsud's rebound effort was thwarted.

In the 58th minute, St. Francis finally connected when Bonner sent a free kick in front of the net and Miller gathered it in and put in a short shot.

Just past the half's midway point, after much discussion, the Spartans went down a man when a red card was assessed for a tackle by the last defender.

But the St. Francis reaction to this setback was not typical. While they hunkered down on defense to protect their lead, they also found some offense.

It began in the 68th minute when Mifsud drove downfield and got past defenders before connecting from close range to give the hosts an insurance goal.

Then shortly after Miller cleared a threatening attempt, Mifsud found Kim for a short score in the 75th minute to put the finishing touch on the win.

"We didn't play at 100 percent in the first half and we weren't happy about that," Kim said. "But we came out strong in the second half. Even though we lost a man in the middle of that half, we played even stronger and I think that's why we scored two more goals.

"Our overall record is only 2-3 but in conference we're 2-0 and we also got our first shutout, so that's what matters. We're a really close team and everyone knows each other very well and I think that's one of the best things about our team.

"Our communication is getting better, we're using more set plays and we have players who can play at different spots. Things have been going pretty well so far and I hope that it keeps getting better for us each game so we can finish like we did last year."

In the opening half, St. Francis greeted the Broncos with a flurry of good opportunities but none of them were able to find the back of the net.

After Mifsud was stopped on a short try, Rozner pulled in a liner and then Brian Cochrane saw a similar attempt halted by the Bronco keeper.

About a quarter of an hour in, a Mifsud free kick set up a corner kick by the same, and the eventual result of that was a liner from Pisarski.

Near the half's midpoint, Mifsud had a short attempt knocked down and then Cochrane's ensuing rebound effort was cleared away by a defender.

Around the half hour mark, Jungles was high on a header off of a Mifsud cross and then was stopped on a header following a cross from Ian Hart.

"We had a really long week after playing three days in a row," Jungles said. "We got our first win under our belts on Tuesday and that felt good and then last night's game was tough but we played hard against Lake Park. So it was good to come out here and get a win today.

"We were slow at first since obviously our legs were tired but we came out hard in the second half and got a good team win today. The last two games I've been playing center mid but I went up top near the end and came back to center mid, so I guess I'm the utility guy.

"We really mesh well as a team. A lot of us have been friends and have played together for more than just high school, so we work well together. Our defense is really strong this year so the biggest thing will be if we're able to put the ball into the back of the net."

The Spartans continued the pressure for the remainder of the half with Pisarski being denied on a long try and Hart seeing his liner halted.

Shortly before the break, Michael Downs was stopped on a short shot from the side and Miller's subsequent close attempt was also snuffed.

Though scoreless at half, the Spartans not only found the scoring touch in the final 40 minutes but also managed to post their first shutout.

"We're off to a 2-0 start in conference, which is good," Roehl said. "We're working together a lot more in order to help each other out. We just need to finish better.

"We're a pretty solid team and everyone sticks together and no one has any problems with anyone. I like how we're all in this together and are all focused on winning."

St. Francis plays its next match at Joliet Catholic Academy on Saturday and returns to SCC play on Thursday when it hosts Chicago Christian.