Thomas' late heroics send Warriors past St. Francis
By Gary Larsen

 

CLICK HERE FOR WARRIORS' TEAM PAGE

When you play as well as Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Kristen Morency played Wednesday, you get a quote like this thrown at you:

"She was phenomenal. Without (Morency) and her effort tonight, as good as she was, we're not even in this game," Warriors coach Dave Underwood said. "She was just rock-solid."

In the face of a St. Francis attack that barely allowed the senior keeper a moment’s rest, Morency made 12 saves in the biggest Suburban Catholic Conference game of the season as Wheaton Academy (10-7-1, 8-0 in SCC play) won 2-1 over St. Francis (15-3, 7-1) in a clash of unbeaten SCC rivals.

When she wasn’t making top-shelf saves, Morency was racing all over the penalty area after balls sent in by a Spartans team that kept the heat on throughout. Afterwards, the unassuming senior was asked if she has played a better game in net this season.

“I don’t think so,” Morency said. “Everyone has been telling me this was my best game. I just had to stay composed and confident. Those were the two ‘C’ words that coach talked about before the game.”

Morency’s 80 minutes of steadily outstanding play contrasted with teammate Crystal Thomas’ 30 seconds of brilliance. After being held to a single shot sent wide through 79 minutes, and being successfully hounded by St. Francis junior Anna Vonderhaar, Thomas grabbed the spotlight and brought down the curtain.

In a 1-1 game with less than a minute to play, Thomas took a ball up the touchline on the left side, was nearly knocked off her feet on a foul that wasn’t called, and then stutter-stepped her way across the field before firing a game-winning shot from 22 yards out, netting her 22nd goal of the season.

“I didn’t do much but I knew my chance would come,” Thomas said. “My teammates worked hard and grinded this game out, and that’s really why we won this game. We kept going, trying to play for the glory of the Lord."

Thomas then laughed. “I think there was some divine intervention tonight,” she said.

Underwood just shrugged when asked to comment on his Notre Dame-bound senior.

"Special players do special things and she has that ability," Underwood said. "We've been riding her ability to do just that type of thing, all season long. She's pretty incredible. And Vonderhaar played (Thomas) tougher than any girl has played her all season long. That girl is good. She is really legit."

Underwood congratulated St. Francis coach Jim Winslow for his team’s dominant attacking performance, but Winslow was largely speechless after watching his team fall short. In the 12-year history of girls’ soccer at St. Francis, the Spartans have never beaten the Warriors.

"We dominated the game. We made a mistake on the first goal and Crystal's a great player and made a great shot," Winslow said. "That being said, we hit crossbars, we hit posts, and (Morency) is tipping balls over. What do you tell the kids? They played their hearts out. They should be proud of how they played. The hard part is that they feel like they're knocking their heads against a heavy metal door."

The Spartans tested the integrity of the frame three times on Wednesday. Senior Sydney Fox – who worked her tail off all night in the attack – hit the crossbar in the first half and the post in the second.
"Syd played fantastic tonight," Winslow said.

"I'm so proud of my team,” Fox said. “It's unfortunate but I'm so proud. (Wheaton Academy) knows we came out and played today. We were moving the ball, we weren't playing to one player or doing one thing, we kept winning the fifty-fifty balls and we played simple and played as a team. We were ready for this game."

Fox hit the bar on a shot 10 minutes into the game and teammate Courtenay Hart did the same at 32 minutes. Fox dummied a ball in the box that Taylor Van Thournout fired on Morency, and Warriors defender Meredith Matson cleared a ball near the goalmouth with Morency off her line.

If possible, the Spartans would like to have the final minute of each half back. In addition to Thomas’ goal in the game’s final minute, Ally Witt gave Wheaton Academy a 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first half.

Morency chested a ball down outside the 18 and sent it to Thomas, who sent a through-ball ahead that Witt ran down and buried just before halftime. It was Witt’s 16th goal and Thomas’ 10th assist on the season.

"Soccer's a crazy game, and I'm not going to pretend," Underwood said. "They played a better brand of soccer than we did, they possessed better, and you could easily argue that they have a better team.

“But we've been doing this for the better part of the season. We know a lot of the teams we play are going to be more technically proficient than we are and be more well-rounded, so we've got to defend like crazy, work our tails off and hope for those opportune moments for our special players to step in. And that's exactly what happened tonight."

At halftime, Winslow had to address a team that dominated and trailed.

"The biggest thing I'll take away from this is to give our kids credit because they hung in," Winslow said. "They were hanging their heads at halftime because they played a great half of soccer and were down 1-0. But there was the challenge. We knew we were going to be in a fight, so how would we handle it? And they handled it well."

Sweeper Matson left the game due to injury in the second half, and Underwood applauded the effort that Abby Mercaldo gave in her place. “That's a freshman who started the year on jayvee," Underwood said. "She's just a gritty West Chicago kid that came in and stepped up tonight. It didn't fluster her one bit."

The Spartans continued to apply pressure in the second half en route to earning 16 corner kicks in the game, but it wasn’t until the 69th minute that they finally found a goal. A Taylor Bucaro corner kick found Vonderhaar, who buried it in a crowd at the goalmouth.

With time winding down and a raucous crowd preparing for an overtime period, Thomas ended the night.

"There were thirty seconds left and we weren't going into overtime," Thomas said. "I just knew that most of the game I wasn't getting passing and I was slowing down. I knew I had to do my move and keep going past them. I knew that I could beat them on the run because they were getting tired, too."

The entire crowd seemed to hold its collective breath as Thomas embarked on her 40-yard romp with a ball on her foot.

"When Crystal was coming across I was thinking that if she could shake (Vonderhaar), we might have a chance here," Underwood said. "She made that little stutter move and created that little separation to get that shot, I thought 'okay, we've got a chance' and she just buried it."

Fox saw the entire play develop.  "I was just like 'no, this is not happening'," Fox said. "I was doing everything in my mind to stop that ball, but it wasn't enough."

Wednesday’s game may stand as a preview of bigger things to come, as top-seeded St. Francis and No. 3 Wheaton Academy are both part of Elmwood Park’s Class 2A sectional this year.

“Oh, it’s on,” Fox said. “It’s bitter because the only two shots they had, they scored on, but it’s sweet because we dominated this whole game. I’m so proud of my team and we’ll see them again.”