Chicagoland Soccer

Redwings' season ends in a shootout
By Gary Larsen

A sea of blue-and-white swallowed St. Francis’ soccer team whole at the north end of the field at Benedictine University on Tuesday, making it tricky to pick a player out of the mob for a post-game interview.

Once located, Spartans goalkeeper Jenna DiTusa described what it’s like to be on the first team in your program’s history to make it downstate.

"We knew this would be a big year for us but now that going downstate is finally real, it's a whole different scenario. It's surreal," DiTusa said. "We were so ready for this game. After beating Wheaton Academy (2-0 in a sectional final) we were on such a high, and we're just looking to continue that through the state playoffs."

After the Spartans (22-3) won a Tuesday shootout over Benet (18-5-3), they hoisted their first super-sectional title plaque above their heads as coach Jim Winslow talked about the win and what it meant for the team as a whole, and specifically for a trio of seniors in Sydney Fox, Amanda Gaggioli, and Kaitlin Ramsey.

He also won the battle to avoid getting choked up about his seniors, but just barely.

"The seniors I have are such good leaders," Winslow said. "This is very special for Sydney, and Katie, and Amanda, just because of all the time they've put into our program."

A grin pasted wide on her face, Fox put it about as well as it can be put in describing what it’s like to win a game that sends your team downstate. “It feels like nothing else,” she said. “I can’t really describe it.”

It was Fox who finalized the deal for St. Francis, burying the necessary shootout kick to get her side past a Benet team that rode into Tuesday’s game on an 11-game unbeaten streak.

“We’re on the negative side of review because we lost the game but I thought it was a very even game,” Benet coach Bob Gros said. “Somebody asked me how I felt about shootouts and while nobody likes them, we had an extra forty minutes to decide things on the field and we didn’t do that.

Both sides were getting tired, there was a lot of emotion involved, and you can’t ask players to play any harder than that. I thought it was two good teams out there, duking it out.”

The Spartan were 11-1 in their previous 12 games, with their lone loss coming on May 2 to rival Wheaton Academy, a game that Winslow pointed to as a pivotal match in getting his side to a super-sectional title game.

"I told the kids early in the season that at some point we were going to be in a fight, and how would we handle it?” Winslow said. “We found that fight in the first Wheaton Academy game. We lost (2-1) but we were down 1-0 and we came back in the game."

The Spartans fell behind 1-0 to Benet just before halftime, when Amanda Kaiser found Jessica Smetana on the right side near the post, and Smetana buried it. The Redwings nearly went up 2-0 at the end of the first half but a great scoring chance flew just wide.

“We had a brain cramp and if that goal goes in, it’s game over right then and there,” Winslow said.

Fox forced a diving save from Benet keeper Emma Hlavin early in the second half, as the Spartans put aside their first-half frustration and put the pedal to the floor after halftime.

"We can all sometimes get tired, hot, and grumpy so we had to talk to them briefly at halftime about keeping it positive, and spread it around," Winslow said. "You get a lot more bees with honey than you do with vinegar and for the most part they've been a very positive group."

Fox liked the reaction her side showed after the break.

"Once they get that one goal it's in our heads, but then we come back strong and we don't give up," Fox said. "It happened in the Wheaton Academy game (on May 2) and it happened again tonight, and it worked."

The game-tying goal was a beauty. From deep on the left side, the Spartans’ Kaitlin Bucaro rolled a feed across the penalty area at 65 minutes. Fox dummied the ball and Gaggioli buried it at the far post.

"That was a great goal and I thought we owned the second half," Winslow said. "I thought the game was pretty close to what I thought it would be. They're a little deeper than us, they're athletic, they have more bigger bodies, but I thought if we played well in back we'd handle it because I thought we could knock the ball around, and in the second half we showed that.

"Taylor (Bucaro) and Aly (Mastroianni) and (Taylor Van Thournout) were doing a much better job of attacking out of the back. I thought Aly Mastroianni was key today. She was outside and we moved her to the middle and the backline just solidified. As good as Meg (Wagner) was on Friday, Aly was that good today. Syd had a tough first half and a great second half, and when Taylor (Bucaro) is attacking like that for us, we're pretty good."

Four overtimes gave way to a shootout and in front of a roaring crowd filled with Benet and St. Francis fans, the Spartans posted a 3-2 edge in shots converted, with Fox burying the deciding goal that sent her side into a Class 2A state semifinal game against Saint Viator, on Friday at 11 a.m. at North Central College in Naperville.

"I felt the pressure but I tried not to let it get to me. My teammates calmed me down and I just went up there and kicked it," Fox said. "But we were confident going into the shootout. Our goalie is the best and we've practiced (PKs) every day."

Gros was similarly impressed with DiTusa, and not just because she’s solid between the pipes.

“I liked the way their sweeper-keeper (DiTusa) played,” Gros said. “She was a big factor in the game. She pounded the ball out and we spent too much time ball-watching.”

DiTusa has been on State Cup-winning teams and is happy to have a chance to chase the biggest prize in high school soccer.

"Either way, club or high school, it's exactly the same but you're playing for your school and you're playing for something bigger than the twenty players on your club team," DiTusa said. "You're playing for your school and your community, and it's a great feeling knowing that all the hard work has paid off and we're finally going to state."

20 minutes after the game, St. Francis junior Anna Vonderhaar could be seen limping away from the field, after another day’s work as the Spartans’ chief disruptor of opposing midfielders. Tuesday’s assignment for Vonderhaar was one of the best playmakers around in Benet senior Jamei Borges.

“I thought (Vonderhaar) did a great job of handling Jamei Borges today, and we just never seemed to be able to click at midfield,” Gros said. “We had a couple kids that maybe weren’t on their games. We played okay but I thought St. Francis played better in the second half. And it was just a very long and a very physical game.”

Team captains Borges, Rachel Lovely, and Madie Burke punctuated a solid group of seniors at Benet this year, which included Smetana, Catherine Caniglia, Katie Liber, Katie Michalik, Lexie Liber, Colleen Lewellyan, Carolyn Dirienzo, Addie Foran, Emily Brown, Molly Freehan, Diana Kinn, Frankie Roskam, and Carter Jankauskas.

“They showed their stuff this year,” Gros said. “They’ve been a great group of kids. I told them after the game that it’s been a privilege to coach them this season. Both on the field and off the field, they’ve been great. We preached some core values that they embraced and took the lead on, and we’ve been really fortunate to have those seniors in the program.”

Juniors Kaiser, Meaghan O’Hara, Lindsy Kendrick, Genna Chiaro, Jessica Ozog, and Amanda Smairat will return next year, along with sophomores Rachel Pavlinec, Michelle Morefield, and Christina Stopka. Keeper Hlavin was the lone freshman on this year’s varsity team at Benet.