Fernandes scores 3 in Wheaton Academy win

When Wheaton Academy found something that worked, the Warriors stuck with it - and him - Tuesday night.

Senior Stephen Fernandes scored a hat trick with his head as the Warriors got four goals off restarts in a 6-2 victory against rival St. Francis in Wheaton.

"I'm one of the taller guys on the team, so it's fairly normal, I guess," said Fernandes, who doubled his goal total on the season with Tuesday's output.

"Stephen's a phenomenal player in the air," Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. "He's a target for us a lot of times, and tonight he just showed exactly what he's doing. Very pleased with his effort and leadership."

Her team's weakness on headers bothered St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley.

"We couldn't win a 50-50 ball to save our life," Keigley said. "Headers? What are those? We don't play headers. It was very frustrating that headers were the big thing because they used the headers for a very quick transition and caught us waiting back for them and couldn't grasp any kind of control because they were winning the 50-50s."

The victory also showed that the Warriors (5-3, 2-0 Suburban Christian Conference) are beginning to overcome the loss for the season of 30-goal scorer Tim Daniels, injured in the season opener.

"It takes some time, and these guys have stepped up," Brooke said. "These guys love Tim, so it was a little bit of an emotional loss as well. But guys are stepping up. We're starting to possess the ball and get back to Wheaton Academy style, which we drifted from a little in the wake of his absence. We're pleased with that. Style is a big thing to us."

"We've had a lot of position changes. ... So it's nice to get more chances to pick up what we're losing," Fernandes added.

The Warriors grabbed a 3-0 lead after just 15 minutes on goals by Fernandes and Brian McLean as well as an own goal. Their second-half goals came in a bunch also, getting three between the 54th and 61st minutes, with Joshua Urban getting a goal and an assist.

St. Francis (4-4, 3-1) rebounded late in the game on goals by juniors Drew Mascari and Mitch McShane, and the Spartans nearly got a third in the final minute.

"It's very frustrating," Keigley said. "We know that we can beat them. We know that we can play with them. There were moments that we showed that we can play with them and be a threat against them. But we were working against ourselves today.

"We had a terrible practice yesterday. We were coming off a four-game winning streak and I think the boys were getting a little too comfortable, and then the nerves kicked in. It was just an absolute mess."