North Stars' second half gives them a regional crown

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By Dan Santaromita

After a one year absence, St. Charles North will return to sectionals.

The No. 2 North Stars topped No. 7 Geneva 3-0 in Elk Grove Saturday afternoon to claim another regional plaque. North (13-4-3) had won five regionals in a row before dropping last year’s final to Bartlett.

St. Charles now faces that same Bartlett team in the Hawks’ sectional Wednesday. Geneva finished the year 8-8-2.

“It feels good to certainly bring the plaque back to North,” North Stars coach Eric Willson said. “Something I think we’ve been thinking about for a year now so we’re happy. I thought the guys played real well today.”

The two teams played to a scoreless draw in September and through almost the entire first half it seemed goals would be hard to come by in this one as well. Neither Geneva’s Steven Soderstrom (8 saves) nor St. Charles North’s Garrett Creasor (5 saves) had to make any difficult saves in the first 40 minutes.

That is until Tyler Davis launched a shot high over Soderstrom less than two minutes before halftime. Davis’ rifled shot came with his right foot at the edge of the box and gave Soderstrom no chance.

“We just had to get one goal and they started pouring in so it was good that we got it,” Davis said.

That goal allowed the North Stars to play more calm and confidently. Junior Conor Lefelstein, who created problems for the Vikings’ defense down the left wing all game, said North played a better possession game than the previous encounter with the Vikings.

“Last game we just weren’t connecting,” Lefelstein said. “It was earlier in the season so our chemistry wasn’t as strong, but we’ve played so many more games after that so we’re all settling in together.

“Now that we’re this far in the season everyone is confident with the ball and no one is afraid to have it. Everyone trusts everybody passing to each other.”

Other than a couple Vikings’ attacks in the second half sparked by Sean McGrath set pieces and a Ryan Muzzarelli, St. Charles controlled the play with composed play on the ball.

That possession play, which was largely a credit to center mids Mike Winhoffer and Alex Behm, turned into a pair of rapid-fire goals to put the game away.

In the 66th minute big defender Justin Stanko headed in an Behm corner kick and a minute later Davis flicked in his second on a breakaway following a break down in the Vikings’ defense.

Naturally the three goal deficit deflated the Geneva cause.

“We played hard,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “We challenged a lot of balls, but North just had a lot of skill and they were able to connect and create a few opportunities. Their great players made great plays and that’s the difference in the game. They created the opportunities and they had some studs who really finished the plays well.”

Soderstrom had a strong effort in net despite the score line.

“Steven Soderstrom made some incredible saves the last time we played them, but just unfortunately there were too many going his way that he wasn’t able to keep it scoreless today,” Estabrook said.

Estabrook said the season was disappointing from a win-loss perspective, but was proud of his team’s fight and effort.

“We know that the guys who are coming back need to put some work in the offseason to improve in a lot of facets of the game and the boys who are graduating know that they played as hard as they could and that’s all you can ask of them.”

The North Stars are now two wins into a hopeful run of seven in the playoffs. After the win they took part in a team tradition that displays the number of postseason wins on a soccer ball.

“We color in a patch every time we win a game,” Davis said. “We try to get all seven. We just want to go game-by-game. We’re just looking to win seven and win state.”