North Stars settle for tie vs. visiting Bartlett

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By Steve Nemeth

Just like the eternal pessimist-versus-optimist debate, whether the glass is half empty or half full depends entirely on how you look at it.

For St. Charles North, Thursday’s 1-1 tie was not the launching pad the North Stars were looking for heading into post-season play. But for Bartlett, the draw against a Top 10-ranked program was a reaffirmation of how the Hawks’ level of play has soared in recent weeks.

St. Charles North sports an 11-3-1 record and has to await the outcome of a regional prelim between Willowbrook and Glenbard West to know who its opposition will be for Tuesday’s (May 17) 4:30 pm semifinal that the North Stars will host.

Within the context of the St. Charles East Sectional, North is the No. 3 seed and is the highest seed for their regional.

On the opposite sideline, Bartlett negating a 1-0 deficit has coach Heather Thomas and Co. believing they’re peaking at the right time as demonstrated by having just one loss within their last seven outings for an 11-6-4 ledger.

The Hawks obviously believe they’re deserving of better than the No. 11 seed that has them playing No. 5 seed Elk Grove in the 6:30 pm semifinal of the same St. Charles North Regional.

“I guess I’d rather take this game now than in the post-season,” North Stars coach Ruth Vostal admitted. “We just didn’t have any fire or spark, we just played flat. Don’t know if the lay-off hurt us, a week ago we came out strong (at Wheaton Warrenville South) but only got 20 minutes in before the weather ended that match. We had some tough practices since, but that’s still different than having an actual game.”

“As a senior, a win would’ve been much nicer for the last home match rather than a tie,” admitted Sammy Gage. “We had one of our best starts at Wheaton, but for whatever reason, our tenacity was missing today. Usually someone does something in the first couple minutes to get us going, but it just didn’t happen.”

However, the North Stars came close as they dominated the initial half including several notable near-goals. In the 18th minute Kelly Manski’s header sailed just over the crossbar. Nine minutes prior to intermission, Tess Fisher’s header ricocheted off the crossbar and Bartlett scrambled to make the clear.

In the process of putting together an 8-1 advantage for overall attempts, a 4-1 edge in on-frame shots plus a 5-0 lead in corner kicks, North’s persistence paid off on a corner kick with just 1:41 left before halftime.

Alex Gage’s mastery on corners led to sister Sammy Gage heading it home from six yards out. For Alex, it was her team-high ninth assist of the year while Sammy increased her lead for both goals (12) and points (29). Five of Sammy’s goals have come off her little sister’s set-ups.

Although St. Charles North continued to have opportunities including another Alex Gage corner that was headed just a little too high by Kenzie Rose, Bartlett countered with an offense of its own for the second 40 minutes. Both teams had four shots on goal and the Hawks had six overall attempts in comparison to North’s seven for the second half.

“It seems like we’ve found ourselves down 1-0 a little too often. Four of our losses this year are 1-0 matches and even our previous match (Tuesday at Waubonsie Valley), it went from 1-0 to 2-0 when we were pushing for the equalizer,” Bartlett coach Heather Thomas recalled.

“So this was nice to see us come out in the second half and play with so much more composure. Alex (Cappello) may be one of the smallest players on the field, but she made one of the biggest plays of the season.”

That play came with 6:54 left on the clock as Cappello went to the far corner and cut back before putting a cross into the right spot for Nicole Gobbo to park it inside the left post from five yards out. It was Gobbo’s team-best 14th goal of the year and boosts her point leadership to 30.

“I saw Nicole breaking toward the near post and was able to curve it a little to help her stay ahead of a defender and work with it,” Cappello explained. “I was so happy when she finished it; I think my heart skipped a beat.”

“This proves that we can compete with them and teams like them,” Gobbo said. “Last year they beat us 3-0, we came out from the start playing hard and finished the match strong to show just how far we’ve come as a team.”

Thanks to the match-long pressure St. Charles North applied, Hawk goalie Natalia Grodzki chalked up seven saves and a whopping 17 defensive clears which encompassed either catching, punching or rushing out to claim potentially dangerous balls inside the penalty box.

“I try to do my part but I really thought our defense did a good job of not giving them room to operate,” Grodzki modestly noted. “At the beginning of the season, I think we lost a few matches to some teams we should not have lost to, but we’re finally getting it together and this is the right time of the year.”