Spartans tie 2-2 with Elgin at St. Charles East tourney

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By Gary Larsen

Class 2A St. Francis uses the annual tournament at St. Charles East to put itself through the wringer of 3A competition.

So after the Spartans (5-5-2) gave up a game-tying goal to Elgin with less than three minutes left in their game on Wednesday, St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley offered up the proper perspective.

“It’s disappointing, but we’ve done things this year against 3A schools that will make us tougher when face those 2A schools in the playoffs,” Keigley said. “Last year when we got to this tournament, we had a losing record. We’re .500 right now and we want the kids to think of every game here as an end result.”

Spartans senior Perry Poulos appreciates the chance to play against the likes of Plainfield Central, Elgin, and Glenbard North.

“It’s good experience because these guys are bigger and faster than the guys we play in conference, with the exception of Marmion,” Poulos said. “I think we’re handling it pretty well and the big picture is the playoffs. We want to play a tough schedule so when the time comes, we’ll be ready.”

The Spartans struck early against Elgin, when Remmy Mifsud reached the endline on the right side. The junior turned the corner, fired, and the shot was blocked back to him by a defender.

So he fired again.

Mifsud’s second strike struck paydirt just four minutes into the game, when the shot squeezed its way between Elgin’s keeper and near post.

Twelve minutes later Elgin found a tying goal when the Maroons’ Joel Chavez fired from close range and found space and fired inside the near post on the left side.

Elgin’s Josue Chavez and company provided a persistent threat to Suerte and his backline, but they held off the crafty and speedy Maroons to minimal danger.

“I thought Perry and (Matt) Bonner did a great job of getting back and going up,” Spartans keeper Ryan Suerte said. “And when we had Dave (Kaminky) come back on defense, I know that really helped us contain Elgin’s strikers.”

Bonner, Poulos, Kaminky, Andy Wood, and Anthony Farace worked hard throughout the contest to jump-start the attack while keeping the crafty Maroons from finding dangerous space.

“Our defense did a better job today, and all we ask from our kids is to improve from the previous game,” Keigley said. “If a win comes from it, great, but we just want to keep improving so that by the time the playoffs come along, you’ve taken those necessary strides.”

“The main thing was to keep them contained and keep them going to the outside,” Poulos said of Elgin’s attacking players. “They wanted to play it up the middle and over the top, so we wanted to force them to the outside. We did it right, ninety-nine percent of the time today.

“Unfortunately, that one percent ended up hurting us. But I feel very confident in our defense. (Suerte) has been back there since he was a freshman and I’ve been back there with Bonner since we were sophomores.”

After halftime, the teams traded trips into their final thirds through 50 minutes. Suerte tipped a shot over the crossbar at 55 minutes, sandwiched between a bevy of St. Francis corner kicks, but the tie wasn’t broken until the Spartans’ Drew Mascari scored at 61 minutes on a shot taken in the run of play.

“Drew’s pretty much our sole scorer and he’ll put the ball in the back of the net, so it’s never a surprise,” Suerte said.

With time ticking down, the Spartans David Kaminky made one of the best goal-line clears by a defender that high school soccer fans will see anywhere this season. With Suerte charging off his line at 75 minutes, an Elgin player chipped a shot seemingly destined to fall gently under the crossbar.

Kaminky raced to the goal line and used a bicycle kick to clear it away.

“That was amazing,” Suerte said. “Dave always practices bicycles. That was a game-saver, and it’s just unfortunate we didn’t get the win.”

Elgin snatched victory away from St. Francis at 77 minutes when Carlos Moreno sent a ball across the box that deflected in off a defender.