Jakuszewski, Wheaton Warrenville South strike first

A.J. Jakuszewski struck and then it was lightning's turn.

The stubborn spring weather was once again involved on Thursday night as heavy rains and lightning shortened the Wheaton Warrenville South at St. Francis nonconference girls soccer match, but not before Jakuszewski netted the game-winner.

Just minutes into the second half, Jakuszewski sent a pass to sophomore Anna Fank who returned the favor with a beautifully played pass to set up the game-winner in a 1-0 victory.

"She played me a great ball," Jakuszewski said. "I just had to compose it at that point. I realized that I needed to keep it going and just gave it a nice little touch as the goalie came out."

When the goalkeeper came out Jakuszewski realized what she needed to get done, especially in a scoreless battle.

"I know I don't have to hammer it at them at that point," she said. "I just played it down on the ground and knew with moving forward they can't dive, so I kept it down to ground and it worked."

Minutes later the steady downpour introduced the evening's first bout of lightning. Several minutes later, the officials - realizing the weather wouldn't be cooperating anytime soon - deemed the match complete.

"This has happened before, so it was critical that we got the job done there getting the first one," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "I think that let us settle in, and in these conditions you never know how the game in going to end up."

Wheaton Warrenville South (2-0-0) appeared to find its rhythm in the second half, albeit for just the allotted 10 minutes.

"We didn't play that well in the first half," Callipari said. "I thought we were too anxious and too direct and predictable. We talked about that during the half and I thought we played more relaxed and allowed things to develop more in the second half."

St. Francis (0-3-0) is still searching for its first win and already has more losses than it had a season ago. These sort of struggles were expected after winning a state title in 2012, getting to the sectional finals last year and then losing substantial talent to graduation.

"We did some decent things," Spartans coach Jim Winslow said. "From last week to this week it's been like night and day with this group, and the tough thing is that even with our seniors, they're young seniors who didn't play a lot with the kids that blocked them, for the lack of a better word."