Falcons end regular season with a win over West Aurora

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By Jonathan Jones

As Wheaton North honored its seniors during their final home game Thursday, they faced off against West Aurora before stepping into a regional match-up Tuesday against St. Charles East.

Wheaton North (9-9-2, 4-3 in DVC play) completed its regular season with a .500 record, defeating West Aurora 2-0.

Wheaton North senior forward captain Kate Wiegman and sophomore forward Linnae Giuliano netted their goals under the lights, and Wiegman added two saves in the victory, as she relieved sophomore starting keeper Jessica Keily late in the second half.

“We’ve been working on a lot of things recently,” said Wheaton North head coach Tim McEvilly. “As a coach, I know the girls have to be able to grow. They have to be ready to play in the state tournament. This win just gives the girls more confidence going into next week.”

Wheaton North’s first goal was set up by a high-flying ball sent from the foot of junior midfielder Sidney Sharkey into West Aurora’s territory.

After the ball bounced back and forth between Wheaton North midfielders and West Aurora defenders, Wiegman gave it a touch and penetrated the final third, out-running two West Aurora defenders to tally the first Wheaton North goal at the 31:26 mark.

“I realized that I just needed to settle (the ball),” Wiegman said of her goal. “I struck the ball and their player was sort of blocking the goalie’s vision. But this game was bittersweet. I have love for all the girls on the team.”

Wiegman was one of the seniors honored in Thursday’s celebrations. She plans on playing next season at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Towards the end of the first half, West Aurora applied pressure on Wheaton North’s defense but remained scoreless as the Falcons posted a 1-0 lead into halftime.

West Aurora showed intensity for the first quarter of the second half tallying five shots on goal, all by junior Jessica Saffell.

Wheaton North responded with 14 shots on goal in the second half as they dominated possession time at the 60-minute mark.

When a shot by Sharkey was deflected by West Aurora sophomore keeper Felicia Dattolo, Falcons senior Thea Athans retrieved the rebound and had her attempt deflected as well. Finally Wheaton North sophomore forward Giuliano punched in the second rebound for a 2-0 lead. Athans recorded the assist.

“It was a lot of work by my teammates,” Giuliano said of her goal. “Sidney (Sharkey) hit it and Thea (Athans) followed for me. We just have a great supporting team. My teammates started the sequence and I finished it.”

West Aurora (8-9-7, 0-5-2) has to attain a short memory, as they travel to Plainfield East in Friday’s final regular-season match up.

“”We came out and we knew we could play with (Wheaton North),” said West Aurora head coach Laura Wagley. “We’ve been trying new things to get confidence with the girls. We know our conference is tough, probably one of the best in the state. But the girls bounce back very well.

“We can be a very good team. We tend to play down to the competition and that pounds the confidence out of the girls. But we can hold our own. We’ve have a lot of competitive underclassman this year and it will be fun to see them play in the future.”

Wheaton North looks forward to hosting a regional tournament. Wheaton North and St. Charles East are not strangers. Listed as the eight and nine seeds (respectively), St. Charles East defeated Wheaton North last season in the first round of regionals, and won 3-2 in a regular-season game played this year.

Wheaton North looks to change the two-game losing streak against the Saints.

“We’ve stepped up in our game in every aspect,” Wiegman said. “We don’t want to lose to (St. Charles East) again. Coach (McEvilly) says we can beat anyone if we want it enough. We need to play with a lot of toughness and to the best of our ability to win (Tuesday).”