Warriors' win sets up showdown with St. Francis
By Gary Larsen

 

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Wheaton Academy heads into today's game against St. Francis on the heels of a wild, 5-4 win over St. Edward on Tuesday. St. Francis travels to the Warriors' home field having won 9-0 over Immaculate Conception.

Neither has been beaten in Suburban Christian Conference play, lending monumental ramifications to Wednesday's showdown in West Chicago. St. Francis is also the top seed of this year’s 2A Elmwood Park sectional while Wheaton Academy is the No. 3 seed.

"We wanted to beat every conference team to give ourselves a chance in the last week," Wheaton Academy coach Dave Underwood said. "St. Francis is a very good, very well-rounded team. They'll bring an army out here because they always do and tomorrow will be what I love about coaching here.

“You're going to see a crowd, you're going to hear drums, and we're all looking forward to it. We understand that they have had a great, great season and they'll come in hungry and ready to play."

Wheaton Academy (9-7-1, 7-0 in SCC play) got a pair of goals apiece from Ally Witt and Crystal Thomas and one from Meredith Matson on Tuesday, against a team in St. Edward (10-6-1, 4-4) that simply refused to go away.

The Warriors took more shots, forced more saves, and had more dangerous chances on the night. They held leads of 4-1 and 5-2 but every time they seemed on the cusp of breaking St. Ed’s will, the Green Wave scored a goal that brought them right back.

And after only giving up a single goal on a corner kick through 16 games, Wheaton Academy allowed three goals set up by corner kicks against St. Edward.

"That was horrible. That was unacceptable," Matson said. "Ability has nothing to do with it. It's all mental. Whoever wants it more is going to win it."

"Credit to St. Edward,” Underwood said. “They've got a couple of nice players and they've had a decent season. But for crying out loud, we couldn't stop a corner kick. At some point I think it just got into our heads.”

The Warriors struck first at 8 minutes when Witt send in shot with some heat on it from distance, which hopped off the wet grass and eluded Green Wave keeper Paige Gannon. Three minutes later, Gannon tipped another Witt offering from long range over the bar, and at 17 minutes she tipped a Thomas shot over the bar.

St. Edward tied the game at 27 minutes on its first real shot on of the game, when Allison Kruk hammered a head shot to the back netting at the far post on a corner kick sent in by Kathleen Duffy.

Thomas cut off any possible residual momentum the Green Wave goal might have given them, scoring less than 30 seconds later to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead that held to halftime.

Thomas forced a Gannon save with a blast at the near post on the right side, one minute into the second half, and the Warriors led 3-1 at 44 minutes when Matson headed home an Alli Manske corner kick. It was the third time this year the rangy center back finished on a corner kick feed.

"That's why we have (Matson) up there, is to do that," Underwood said. "She did well."
With Molly Thorson temporarily out of action due to injury, Matson played a sweeper’s role all night with an injury of her own – a fractured bone in her foot.

"I kind of just deal with the pain," Matson said. "I fractured my fifth metatarsal and I'll need a pin put in it, but I want to finish the season.”

Thomas made it 4-1 at 46 minutes when she created a shot for herself at the 18, spinning and sending it home with her left foot. But despite being down three goals to a perennial conference power, the Green Wave answered with a Kelly Tripicchio goal just one minute later on an assist from Chelsea Gnan.

Warriors’ keeper Kristen Morency made a diving stop at the post at 50 minutes before Witt put her side up 5-2 when she ran down a through-ball and went in alone on Gannon.

Kruk and Tripicchio each finished on corner kick feeds by the game’s 76th minute to finish the day’s scoring. Gannon made a fine save at the post on a hard-hit shot from 12 yards out by the Warriors’ Anne Hillstrom, and the teams traded a pair of corner kicks each to the end of regulation.

Afterwards, the Warriors breathed a sigh of relief while the Green Wave celebrated a gutsy performance.

"But we got the win so I can't complain too much, and credit to them,” Underwood said. “Even when we had a two-goal lead I didn't feel good about it yet. When we were up 4-1 we thought we were in good shape, but they just kept coming back."