St. Charles East rolls by St. Charles North
It was unseasonably cold at Norris Stadium for Saturday's crosstown rivalry game between St. Charles North and St. Charles East.
An on and off again drizzle also forced both squads to deal with a slick surface, but it did little to slow the Saints attack as they prevailed convincingly, 5-1, in Upstate Eight River play.
"On a day like this, the performance they put in, I was very proud of them," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "It was nice to bounce back from Thursday night (3-2 loss to Wheaton Academy). I think the lads took that pretty hard. It was nice to jump back on the winning ways, especially against the local rivals."
St. Charles East (13-2-0, 4-1) took a 1-0 led just a little more than five minutes into the action as senior Tyler Robbins scored the first of his two goals.
St. Charles North (8-5-3, 3-1-1) netted the equalizer with 23:41 remaining. Saints sophomore goalkeeper Steven Owens wandered too far in front of the net and Chris Watson took advantage, finding the net wide open.
"I thought it was pretty even in the first half," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "We got that goal and actually had a nice run of play in the first half. I thought we had an opportunity to climb our way back in the game, but we made too many mental mistakes."
The Saints scored what proved to be the game-winner with 12:12 left in the first half. It was a combination of hustle and beauty and will certainly go down as one of the nicer goals of the season.
Zach Newman secured possession near a corner, sending a cross to Taylor Ortiz who redirected the ball with a header to Robbins, who then quickly headed it in.
"That was nice," Jennison said. "That's all about creating opportunities and guys not giving up."
Still, the Saints only led 2-1 at halftime, yet they had momentum and would break the game open early in the second half.
Senior forward Collin Sheehan scored twice in a matter of 1:12, finding the net at 33:12 and then at 32:00 to make it 4-1.
"We tried to get pumped up during halftime and take it into the second half," Sheehan said. "I was just looking for a spot and to get it past the goalie."
Jack Petras joined in on the fun, scoring with 13:08 left to make it a 5-1 game.
It was the fifth straight win for the Saints over the North Stars. They have outscored them 18-2 during that time. The teams have met in the postseason the past two seasons and could do so again in the Class 3A Bartlett sectional semis if both teams win regional titles later this month.
Both teams will participate in Tri-Cities Night on Tuesday at St. Charles North. The Saints take on Geneva at 5 p.m. while the North Stars follow at 7 p.m. against Batavia.