North Stars fall to Warriors for initial loss of season

By Eddie Burns

Ruth Vostal had nothing to complain about in the first 20 minutes of her squad's match against Waubonsie Valley.

However, St. Charles North's final 60 minutes left something to be desired and it resulted in the North Stars' first loss of the season, a 2-1 setback to the Warriors in Aurora on Tuesday night.

North came out and was the clear aggressor in this matchup of Upstate Eight Conference foes.

The North Stars carried the play in the opening stages and it paid off in the 17th minute when they earned a corner kick.

Paige Dusek took the attempt and led Sammy Gage on a perfect kick. All Gage had to do was put a head on the ball to get it past Waubonsie goalie Allison Fox to give the North Stars a 1-0 lead.

That is where the highlights end for North (12-1-1, 7-1-1 UEC) as Waubonsie began to get the better of the play.

The Warriors (11-1-3, 6-0-1) managed to tie the match less than eight minutes before halftime when Rachele Armand sent a shot past North goalie Kristen Manksi. The match remained tied at halftime.

"(Waubonsie) fought," Vostal said. "I think we have great players and we have shown that we have heart. We came ready to play the first 20 minutes.

"We had the ball in their 18, we were playing well and crossing and then all of a sudden, we sat back and they picked up some momentum, got that goal (before halftime) and it just sort of snowballed."

Waubonsie's goal before intermission came with the Warriors going into the wind.

"It was a bummer because we had all of the advantages in the first half and we should have used the wind," North forward Leah DeMoss said. "It was very disappointing that we allowed that goal."

Vostal was not discouraged in Manski because she came up with nine big saves.

"I recognize that when you play a great team (like Waubonsie), they have a great offense and we may give up one," Vostal said. "I knew Kristen Manski was making great saves.

"You can't ask her to make 10 great saves because she was coming up big time and slowly they were able to break down our backline and get quality hits.

"I was confident, though I wasn't nervous going into the second half, we talked about picking up the intensity, but we didn't."

The North Stars managed one shot on Fox in the second half.

"At halftime, (Vostal) had to yell at us for the first time all season to remind us to fight for the ball," DeMoss said. “We came out strong for six minutes and then we just stopped.

"Nobody stepped out of their comfort zone. Nobody went in 100 percent on their tackles. Manski was playing great in goal and she came up big for us and it is really, really sad that we played like we did."

The Warriors eventually pulled ahead in the 57rd minute when Megan Green scored after a Vanessa DiBernardo restart.

Once Waubonsie had the lead, Vostal implemented some slight adjustments in her lineup, going with three forwards, but it did not produce results.

"That move made us a little more susceptible," Vostal said. "We changed a little because I figure if we're going to go for it because losing by one or two goals does not matter.

"I think we're going to have to be able to do that at different times throughout the rest of the season, so we tried some of that now."

DeMoss said the effort the North Stars gave did not match the effort they put forth against Neuqua Valley when they played to a 0-0 draw.

"I think this game we were so mentally out of it," DeMoss said. "Against Neuqua, we fought and fought with so much heart. This game we played tough and hard for spurts when we needed it the whole 80 minutes."

Waubonsie, which has three more league matches remaining, controls its own destiny regarding the UEC championship.

The North Stars return to action on Thursday when they host Wheaton Warrenville South in a 6:30 nonconference match.

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