Tigers struggle against talented St. Charles North squad

By Darryl Mellema

Wheaton Warrenville South doesn't lose many soccer matches and the Tigers are soundly beaten even less frequently than that.

But well before the end of Thursday's 4-0 defeat at St. Charles North, the realization had to be made that, on this night, the Tigers were only rarely in the contest.

"They're big and strong and unfortunately, we couldn't keep up with them," South senior Bridget Shrigley said. "They played nicely and quick. We just couldn't keep up."

This isn't an average Wheaton Warrenville South team, either.

The Tigers took the field against the North Stars just 48 hours after defeating Naperville North, a win which leaves them in position to gain at least a share of the DuPage Valley Conference title.

Further, the only blemishes on the team's record were a 2-0 loss to Fremd and a 2-1 defeat by Loyola – and ties with Naperville Central and Lyons Township.

This is perhaps not the best Wheaton Warrenville South team ever – but it's a pretty darned good one.

So what happened?

"We've been playing really well lately," Shrigley said. "We just came off a nice win over Naperville North.

"To come out here and come out against a team like St. Charles North that's big and tough – we just had trouble keeping up with them."

North’s aggressiveness kept the Tigers (13-3-2) on their heels much of the match.

While there were some shots on goal, a corner kick here or there and a couple of free kicks in dangerous places, there was never a sustained period of attacking pressure from the visitors.

"Through ball and that sort of attack wasn't working for us," Shrigley said.

The surface on which the teams played certainly favored North, which is used to its poor grass field.

Wheaton Warrenville South has played on artificial surfaces since April 6, when it traveled to Glenbard East.

"It's a different surface, and you can't blame what happened on that," Shrigley said. "But we tried to do the best we could. We just couldn't put it in the back of the net."

St. Charles North's goal parade began 18 minutes into the match when Leah DeMoss scored. Sammi Gage added two goals before Meryl Behm closed the scoring with 16 minutes to play.

By contrast, North goalie Kristen Manski was a relative bystander behind her defense.

"I thought we could have had a lot more shots but unfortunately, their defense stood tall and we just couldn't do it," Shrigley said.

North (13-1-1) entered Thursday's game on the back of a 2-1 loss to Waubonsie Valley, a match in which the North Stars claimed a 1-0 lead before losing.

They were a determined team clearly eager to erase memories of that match.

"They are a terrific side," South coach Guy Callipari said. "They come at you in numbers. They're well-organized. They have a sense of rhythm about their play and how they want to create openings."

One of the key areas of the match was in midfield, where North won tackles and then sprung forward running players such as Alyssa Peterson and especially Paige Dusek to drive into the heart of the Tigers' defense.

By contrast, that sort of pass-and-move play never materialized for the Tigers.

"We talked before the game about out off the ball movement and how important that was going to be on both sides of the ball, both offensively and defensively," Callipari said.

"I think where we got caught was in reacting to things a lot slower than anticipating and reading things. If you're not sharp mentally, you're going to be a step behind the pace at which this game was played."

South has very little time to ponder its loss to the North Stars. On Saturday, the Tigers travel to Wheaton Academy to play for the Wheaton Cup title.

On Tuesday, they host West Aurora with a chance to become at least co-champions in the DVC. Both the Tigers and Naperville Central are 5-0-1 in league play.

While the Tigers play the Blackhawks, Naperville Central hosts Glenbard North.

"We're going to move on from this," Shrigley said. "We're going to learn from this. This is just one game in our season that, unfortunately, didn't go our way."

Knowing the grind in which his team has played, Callipari substituted liberally, at one point putting all his bench players in at once.

"I think that took some of the rhythm out of their game a little bit," Callipari said. "The first side was starting to get organized and then a new side was coming in and getting acclimated.

"And then they were beaten twice in that time period. But we went in with the idea that everyone was going to play. We wanted to get out of here with a few lessons learned and healthy, and we did. We just didn't get the scoreline that we wanted."

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