North Stars bounce back to top rival St. Charles East

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By Darryl Mellema
Photos courtesy of St. Charles North

In this season of excessive moistness, girls’ soccer teams have had to cancel matches all over the place, which is threatening to create a backlog of matches that still need to be played in the short period left before the IHSA tournament starts.

St. Charles North is not one of those teams. The North Stars have had matches canceled. But their schedule was already on the light side, so they have not suffered tremendously in terms of crunch weeks with four or five matches schedule and rescheduled.

Wednesday, St. Charles North took the field for the first time in 6 days and defeated crosstown rival St. Charles East 2-0.

In the North Stars' previous outing, they lost 2-1 to Geneva after leading 1-0 at halftime and St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said she was pleased with both the result and the effort against the Saints.

“I'm pleased because we bounced back after the loss to Geneva,” Vostal said. “I didn't think we played well at all. I didn't think it was a good showing. I was happy after the first 15 minutes. A lot of things we have been working on came through tonight.”

Lacking an indoor facility in which to train, and with all St. Charles North teams vying for practice space in the inclement weather has made training difficult for the North Stars. Still, they have managed to get some things done.

“We love to play games,” St. Charles North senior Sammy Gage said. “We aren't huge fans of practice, but it's important and we love to get things done. We have to go inside into the pod area of the school, which isn't the best. Our fitness has gotten very good.”

That practice time paid dividends against the Saints, and Vostal isn't clamoring for a massive increase in the number of matches her team has to play.

“In a great schedule, there'd be one or two more games sprinkled in,” Vostal said. “I don't want to play three or four games a week. This team needs to improve and we need to improve. So hopefully that happens.”

The North Stars (7-3, 3-1 Upstate Eight River) created an abundance of chances on a windy night at St. Charles East's Norris Stadium. The wind came sharply across the field, blowing toward the benches along the east sideline. Through the 80 minutes, the number of attacks up the west sideline was limited.

The conditions played their part in both goals. For the first, St. Charles North worked its buildup on the ground, ending when Sammy Gage sent a through ball on the ground toward Lauren Koehl, who hit a sharp shot into the goal.

“We've been working on finding and maintaining possession and having people moving off the ball,” Vostal said. “After we settled in, I thought we started to do that better.”

That goal came 32 minutes into the first half and culminated a series of strong efforts by the North Stars at the Saints goal. Twelve minutes into the match, Lisa Manski had a shot blocked by Morgan Ketterling. In the melee following that shot, Sammy Gage had a shot saved by Saints goalie Bailey Stengler for a corner kick.

Midway through the half, Lisa Manski sent a leading pass to sister Kelly Manski which unlocked the Saints defense but skidded out of play. Two minutes later, the Saints had to scramble away another quick-moving North Stars attack.

Then Koehl scored and the visitors led 1-0 at halftime.

“At halftime, I told them that I knew we missed those three goals, but I thought those were our best four scoring chances that I've seen all year, as a unit,” Vostal said.

And getting a Koehl goal was good for the North Stars, who have been looking both for offensive diversity as well as scoring abundance.

“It was good to get a goal from Koehl,” Vostal said. “It's been awhile since she had good looks for scoring and I think she needed that.”

Sammy Gage got a chance to be a goalscorer and to seal the match with 17:50 to play when she headed in a right wing corner kick from sister Alex Gage.

Through the game, the play of both Gage sisters was solid. Sammy was one of the key upperclassmen a year ago when the North Stars finished third in the IHSA Class 3A tournament.

“We talked about after our game with Geneva about having leaders step up,” Vostal said. “Some can be vocal and some can be scoring goals and some can just be having that mental and physical type of play. But we told Sammy that she has to have an impact on every play, if she's in the middle of the field or if she's a forward. It doesn't mean she has to score every on every play. And she was tonight.”

Alex Gage's role continues to increase. She played significant minutes a year ago as a freshman and is now an integral member of the team's starting back line.

“For me, I just go out and go out and I work as hard as I can no matter where I play or whether I start or don't play at all,” Alex Gage said. “I go out and encourage my team and give my all in every game.”

Sammy Gage met the ball near the edge of the six-yard box, having gotten between the Saints defenders, and powered the ball into the net.

“I know my sister is an amazing header,” Alex Gage said. “On corner kicks and set pieces, I'm supposed to look for Lisa Manski and Sam Gage in the middle. That's what I hit it to. I get it up there and she can finish it.”

From Sammy's point of view, the ball couldn't have been placed better.

“I just know where Allie's ball is going to be every time,” Sammy Gage said. “She is so good at them. I just make the run, I look up and the ball is going to be there, unless I don't run to the right spot.”

Sammy Gage-to-Gage's headed goal came with 17:50 to play. At that point, the North Stars had been leading for just over a half-hour. The opening goal involved Sammy Gage playing a leading pass on the ground to Lauren Koehl, who moved between defenders and shot from 8 yards into the net.

“Getting the ball on the ground and controlling it, we really needed to do that,” Sammy Gage said. “We've been working on that play for the last two or three weeks. To finally get it to work out was really good.”

Alex Gage takes nearly all the North Stars corner kicks and attacking free kicks. On windy nights such as Wednesday, she said she likes to take a few extra practice kicks to judge how to handle the conditions.

“I want to test the wind so I know how far I need to kick it into the wind or out of the wind,” Alex Gage said. “It's just a lot of testing, to make sure I get it down because it really messes with the ball when it goes up in the air. It goes left and it goes right and it's really crazy.”

Sammy Gage has played both as a forward and as a box-to-box midfielder this season. Against St. Charles East, she played mostly in the forward pairing.

“I definitely prefer to play up top,” Sammy Gage said. “I like goal scoring, who doesn't? I have a lot of respect for Lisa Manski, who's an amazing center mid. Center mids have to run so much. You have to be a great defender, outside mid, forward – everything. I like to run around and everything, but personally I like to play forward.”

Alex Gage is a defender for the North Stars who comes forward for free kicks and corner kicks. While her offensive contribution was important, the way the North Stars kept the Saints at-bay was equally critical. Although only a sophomore, Gage already has played 36 matches in a North Stars uniform.

“We've been really working on staying with our marks,” Alex Gage said. “That's really hard for us with new players on the team like Kenzie (Rose) and Jorie (Clawson.) They're working really hard and doing great, but it's been hard for us to mesh. But we're talking better and communicating better and picking up our marks.”

Rose and Clawson have made their own contributions defensively through the season. The fourth defender is solid senior KK Barr. On Wednesday, Rose had to step forward and make some crucial one-on-one tackles.

“I thought as a whole group, our backs did well,” Vostal said. “(Rose is) composed. She's one of those kids where, even though she's a sophomore, she's mature. You see it in a game like this where they keep coming at her.”

St. Charles North's playing pace picks up this weekend when they travel to Burlington, Iowa for the Tournament of Champions. Placed in Bracket A, the North Stars open play on Friday at noon against Madison (Wisc.) Memorial. On Saturday, the North Stars play either Iowa school West Des Moines Valley or Visitation Academy from St. Louis in an 11:30 match.