MSL rivals Conant, Schaumburg reach sectional title game

 

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By Darryl Mellema

Those who play Conant girls soccer Trivial Pursuit will no doubt know that Cougars coach Jason Franco played his high school soccer at St. Charles East High School’s Norris Stadium.

True trivial geeks might also know that Franco’s teams lost once at home in his time there.

Of significantly more importance, Conant’s girls got comfortable on the natural grass at Norris Stadium on Tuesday with a 2-1 victory over Lake Park in the Class 3A St. Charles East semifinal.

“We did what we needed to do in order to get the result,” Franco said. “It was one of those games.”

That win moves Conant (18-4) into Friday’s sectional title match against fellow Mid-Suburban League opponent and near-neighbor Schaumburg. Conant defeated Schaumburg in the teams’ regular-season meeting.

“We’re both very good teams and we’ll both have momentum,” Franco said. “It’ll be a shame that one of us will have to get knocked out. But yeah, there’s not many games left after that.”

That takes more effort than it might seem. Conant plays its home games, and most of its road matches, on artificial surfaces, where the ball moves faster and never bobbles.

“We practice on our back field,” Franco said. “Every time we have a game on a grass field, we get out and practice there, because it is different. Our back field’s not much better or worse than this, and you have to get used to it.”

Neither team seemed comfortable in the first half and it wasn’t until the second half that Conant started to move the ball fluidly.

“We knew that the ball would be hung up a lot, so we had to put a little more pace on the ball, which could be good for us,” Conant senior Hailey Andress said. “We also knew our touch wasn’t going to be as perfect as on the Turf because the ball’s going to bounce around a little. So we needed to play more simple, more direct.”

In fact, Conant survived a scare when Lake Park’s Nicole Moore hit the right post with a shot 5 minutes before halftime.

Both teams came out flying at the start of the second half and all three goals were scored in the opening 10 minutes after the restart.

“You don’t want it to stay 0-0,” Franco said. “I challenged the team to send a message that (Lake Park) shouldn’t be in this game. We should have been down 1-0 at halftime. After we carry the whole run of play, they come down one time and hit the post.”

Conant’s goals came first. Andress created the opener, sending a right-wing cross to Kaitlin Chiero in the center of the penalty area, 10 yards from goal. Chiero took a touch on the ball and sent it into the goal.

“One of the things (Franco) said at halftime was that we didn't have to have the perfect chipped ball but to have a line drive,” Andress said. “I heard him from the sideline telling me to hit it low and hard. I saw Chiero and I hoped it'd find the perfect place.”

Chiero’s goal came in the second minute of play of the second half. Six minutes later, Andress made the score 2-0 when she took a Sammi van de Linde left-wing cross on the right side of the penalty area and shot back across goal, scoring high to the left side netting.

“I was a little nervous taking it with my left foot, but (Franco) said that if you're open, take the shot,” Andress said. “I saw a gap and believed and hoped and it went in.”

The work Conant did to get the ball wide for its goals was also part of the team’s plan. Lake Park (14-5-3) squeezed its players in the center of the field, and when the ball came to the Cougars’ wide players, they were frequently unmarked.

“We always try to get the ball wide,” Franco said. “We always yell at our mids to get it wider.”

Lake Park immediately got back into the match, however. Megan Lindbert ran onto a through ball, split Conant’s central defense and scored just 2 minutes after Andress’ goal.

“We got caught that one time so it was nice to have the cushion we did,” Franco said. “We were still pressing to try to get that third goal, but it just didn’t come.”

Although Lake Park was still chasing the Conant on the scoreboard, the bulk of the chances in the final half-hour of play fell to the Cougars.

“We knew we couldn’t give up,” Andress said. “We knew they could score as quickly as we saw them. We had to keep pushing all the say through the end to secure our spot in the next round.”

In the semifinal nightcap at St. Charles East, St. Charles North squared off with Schaumburg in a game that regulation play couldn't decide.

It is always hardest on the seniors when a playoff run ends, and the North Stars have 10 seniors on this year’s roster, so a lot of careers ended when Schaumburg’s Teagan Eberle sent a free kick into the North Stars net with 2:29 to play in the second sudden death overtime, a goal that gave the Saxons a 3-2 victory.

Eberle’s goal meant that a number of North Stars got to wear their school colors for the last time: Kendall Karr, Sammy Gage, Lauren Jimenez, Michelle Johnson, KK Barr, Jessica Kruzan, Shannon Lee, Taylor Brown and Tess Fisher.

“I feel for the seniors,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “In overtime, you don't have a chance to fight back. The game just ends.”

Several of those seniors played well in what ended as their final high school match. Gage, for example, scored both her team’s goals following fierce goalmouth scrambles.

“(Gage) played great,” Vostal said. “(Karr) came up huge. It’s just hard when it ends so soon. In regular play, you’re down a goal and you have a chance to fight back, sort of like Schaumburg did. It’s hard when it just ends.”

St. Charles North (13-4-1) had to rally from an early deficit in the contest. Stephanie Pouse fed Jenna Eaker with a right-to-left pass in the 13th minute and Eaker scored the opening goal of the match.

Sammy Gage’s first goal came in the 32nd minute following an Alex Gage corner kick. That left the teams tied 1-1 at halftime.

“We didn't play our best game,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “Team defense was an issue for us. But I thought that even with that, we fought back and scored two good goals.”

That second North Stars goal was scored with only 12 minutes to play and again followed a goalmouth flurry.

“We talked with the forwards that maybe it wasn't going to be a pretty goal,” Vostal said. “We created some chances, but I thought we didn't get into our rhythm.”

Throughout the match, the North Stars were dangerous moving forward. With 10 minutes left in the match, Lauren Koehl hit the crossbar with a fierce shot after working herself free in the penalty area.

That meant the score was still 2-1 when Ali Schmalz hit a long-range shot with 2:57 to play to tie the match and force overtime.

The Saxons (18-2-2) had the bulk of the scoring chances in the overtime periods, but North Stars keeper Karr made a series of saves.