North Stars blank O'Fallon to wrap up Pepsi Showdown play

 

CLICK HERE FOR ST. CHARLES NORTH'S TEAM PAGE

 

By Dave Owen

Co-captain Alex Behm gave St. Charles North a bounce of momentum out of the Pepsi Showdown tournament.

With the North Stars in a scoreless duel against O’Fallon on Saturday in LaGrange, Connor Lefelstein was fouled to set up a 25-yard direct kick with 29:20 left.

Behm did the rest, skipping a low drive towards the net that took an unusual short-hop past the goalkeeper for the difference in North's 1-0 win.

“I try to hit it hard with a lot of spin, but I kind of mis-hit it,” Behm said of his second goal of the season.

“I just got a lucky bounce in front of the goal and it got right over him. I wasn’t intending to do that, but I got it in.

“Me and Connor take free kicks before practice and stuff. Coach (Eric Willson) told me to take that one, so I stepped up. It wasn’t the best hit, but it worked, though.

"That team (O’Fallon) is really good, one of the best we’ve played this season. And to have two starters out with injuries, two of our up-top guys Tyler Davis and Kyle Swanson, we still put it together and played our game."

Behm's goal and a rock solid defensive effort from the North Stars (8-3-1) capped a 4-1-1 record in the talented Pepsi Showdown field. An overtime loss to Morton was the lone setback.

“I don’t think there really is a place (in the Pepsi Showdown) after first or second, but we lost one game and did a nice job,” Willson said.

“I’m pretty happy. It’s a good tournament, and you have to be pretty pleased with a 4-1 record against some pretty good teams."

“For that one game (Morton) we lost it with a few minor mistakes and it was just overall unlucky,” North junior defender Justin Stanko said. “But I felt it was a good tournament for us.”

Stanko and the North defense were very good in the tournament finale, withstanding waves of O’Fallon pressure in the final minutes.

Among the highlights in a frenetic final 15 minutes, Stanko had two consecutive headers to clear the box after an O’Fallon free kick with 11:50 left.

“Coach Willson always tells me to have the mentality to beat the guy next to me (on headers), get up and win it no matter what it takes,” Stanko said.

“It always helps your team if you’re the first one to it, so you always want to win the first and second ball. That’s what I try to do on the back line.”

Stanko continued to dive into the mid-air fray despite a collision with 10:58 left in the first half that briefly knocked him from the game.

“We (Stanko and an O’Fallon player) both went up for the ball, I hit the back of his head and got my eye,” Stanko said. “It was rough.”

But Stanko returned four minutes after his injury and teamed with defenders Drew Smith, Justin Sanchez, Nick Karayannis and Hayden Hagemann to help preserve goalkeeper Garrett Creasor’s shutout performance.

“Our back line has very good communication and works together well,” Stanko said. “Me and Drew (Smith) like to hold a good line.

"We talk to our outside backs. We’re all in the same line, none of us get lost and it’s all basically communication back there. We’re all good friends and good defenders, too.”

Midfielders Drew Blakeley, Mike Winhoffer and Phillip LeGare also provided strong play, as did Matt Fricke, Matt Picinich and Jose Sedano off the bench.

Sedano had a nice steal and clear with 12:20 left, and Sanchez nicely cleared the zone twice on O'Fallon threats down the stretch.

Before Behm’s goal, Sanchez also had one of the shots of the game. With 18:35 left in the first half, the junior sent a 30-yard straight-on blast after an O’Fallon clearing attempt that required a leaping catch by the goalkeeper.

North netminder Creasor had his own big saves, including a diving catch to his left of a 20-yard shot midway through the first half. Creasor made saves of long bouncing shots with 5:45 and 5:07 left to play.

An O’Fallon corner kick with 2:40 to go ended on a missed scissor kick attempt in front and a Stanko clear of the box.

Then with 25 seconds left, Karayannis’ block of an attempt off an O’Fallon throw was followed by a 20-yard shot that well wide of the net.

“I was pleased with our defensive effort,” Willson said. “They (O"Fallon) are a big, physical, athletic team. We knew we were going to have to battle for 80 minutes against them.

"When you have a one-goal lead you’d like to see us possess it a little bit more, but they’re flying with a lot of numbers at us so I think for the most part we did a pretty good job to finish the game well.”

The North Stars finished the tournament well, and now look to carry the success over to conference play on Tuesday.

“We’re only getting stronger as a team and building up,” Stanko said. “ I feel like we’re going to have a great season.”

“The game we lost (to Morton) I don’t think we should have,” Behm said. “We didn’t play our best game. We easily could be in the final right now.

“But we played some good teams and were getting ready for conference. “I think we’re going to do good and hopefully go far in the playoffs. If we keep playing the way we have, we will."

Willson sees technical reasons for optimism as the season continues.

"Possession soccer, working on combinations - that’s when I think we’re at our best,” he said. “When we do that and defend like we did today, I think we’ll get good results.”