North Stars defeat Cougars to capture sectional title

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By Darryl Mellema

Ahead 2-0 midway through the second half, St. Charles North was in a very good position in its Class 3A Schaumburg Sectional title match with Conant.

But then Paige Dusek took over in a blazing display of attacking soccer, and when the senior was finished, there was no doubt the North Stars would be moving on in the postseason.

Dusek assisted on one goal, then scored two herself to help complete the North Stars' 5-0 victory over the Cougars

"Vostal's been telling me for four years that I have the speed and the ability to outrun my opponents," Dusek said of her coach, Ruth Vostal.

The North Stars (21-1-1) head to Barrington on Tuesday for the Barrington Super-Sectional. In that match, they will face the host Fillies, who defeated Cary-Grove on Saturday.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the state semifinals at North Central College.

"We all have so much faith in each other," St. Charles North senior Sammy Gage said. "We know that we can do this and we can take ourselves to state if we work hard and work for each other."

More importantly, the North Stars get a chance to spend a few more days together. As North Stars coach Ruth Vostal joined her team to discuss things after the match, the first topic was when practices would take place through the Memorial Day weekend.

"We're already excited that we'll get to practice again and we have some team-bonding stuff that we're going to do after practice," Gage said. "We're so excited to have more time together."

St. Charles North was in the quarterfinals of the Class AA tournament in 2004, the year it finished second to New Trier.

The North Stars led 2-0 at halftime with both goals coming from Leah DeMoss.

"If you look at both of (DeMoss') goals, she's gone back to the midfield to win those balls and create," Vostal said. "At this point of the season, it doesn't matter who scores the goals or who clears the ball off the line.

"At some point in the half, if you looked, our forwards were behind our midfielders, and that intensity was creating things for us."

Friday's victory marked the first time since the postseason opener that the North Stars took the lead on their opponent. Memories of the struggles it took to beat Batavia and Geneva were fresh in the team's mind.

"I think in this game, we knew we didn't want to come out and go behind," Dusek said. "Teams are getting harder and it's going to be harder to come back. We know we can come back. But we didn't want to have that pressure on us."

For her part, Vostal downplayed the importance of her team taking the lead against the Cougars.

"We weren't going to make a bigger deal of it than it was because it was only one goal and (Conant) has come from behind in the tournament," Vostal said.

"But we've talked about (DeMoss) taking shots and taking chances. So they were listening to what we had practiced, which was great to see."

With that 2-0 lead, the North Stars weren't ready to consider the match to be a sure victory. The fact that Conant had rallied in its two previous matches and won both in triple overtime had something to do with that.

"We knew that 2-0 is an easy score to come back from," Gage said. “We just said 'hey, we are kind of a second half team. We had to think it was a 0-0 game and we had to take it to them the way we have in the last two games.”

One of the keys was Dusek, who started a scorching eight minutes starting 15 minutes into the half.

First she set up Alyssa Peterson for the team's third goal. Dusek rounded her defender on the right wing and crossed and Peterson hit the ball in from inside the 6-yard box.

Then Dusek scored her goals. She was sent free by Kelli Alderman and then by Alex Gage and she put away both breakaways.

"The first one, for (Peterson), I just got it across and she was there to tap it in," Dusek said. "It was just a simple goal. The other ones, I really could outrun them.

"I never thought I could before, but it makes it a lot better when you have that confidence. And when you're in on the keeper, you can't over think it. Just put the ball in the net."

Dusek's second goal, the North Stars' fifth tally, came with 18 minutes left and St. Charles North continued to try to play hard even with the commanding lead.

"As the score keeps getting larger, you might think that the other team will start backing down," Dusek said. "We knew they came back in both of their games and they won in overtime both times.

"So we knew they had the ability to come back. We knew they weren't going to give up. But I think we got better as the game went on."

Peterson scored one goal and added an assist and was a constant menace offensively.

"She's a player who will do anything you tell her," Vostal said. "She is the most coachable player there is. At halftime, we talked about our inside midfielders making sure they were getting forward.

"If you look at the one she scored, she started her run at the 50-yard line and you could see it developing the whole way."

With a large lead, St. Charles North was able to rest some starters and to give some extended time to players who don't play much.

It was also a chance for Alecia Natale to play. Natale is still recovering from a broken rib and wears a protective wrap to prevent a recurrence of the injury.

"She's a senior who's a four-year player who's been a starter who's got a broken rib and she's nervous about going out there," Vostal said.

"But she's been pumping up our girls the whole time and making the seniors realize that this is their senior year and they have to get out there and fight. It was great. Everyone got to participate."

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