St. Charles East, North tie 1-1, share River title

In a sense, Saturday's renewal of the St. Charles North-St. Charles East girls soccer rivalry presented mirror images of these two schools separated by only 4 miles and the Fox River.

Each team proved the age-old St. Charles girls soccer adage that hard work nets results, regardless of talent levels. Neither team felt it played its best match of the season, but both put in full 80-minute shifts without letup on the Norris Stadium turf.

Each team got a penalty kick and each team converted and each otherwise got stellar goaltending from their netminders. If St. Charles North had the edge through the first half, those tables turned in the second half when St. Charles East held the upper hand.

In the end, the phrase that 1-1 was "a fair result" rang true, though none of the players on either team were particularly happy with not gaining victory.

The tie leaves the teams tied atop the Upstate Eight Conference River Division, and momentarily left unsettled the matter of which team would advance to play in the UEC title match, which is set for Wednesday. Other tiebreakers were also level, and after consulting with St. Charles East Athletic Director Mike Sommerfield, who had the list of tiebreakers on-hand, a coin needed to be flipped.

St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal called the flip correctly, so her team advances to Wednesday's match against either Neuqua Valley or Waubonsie Valley. The North Stars (14-2-2, 6-0-1) and Saints (18-1-1, 6-0-1), however, are still divisional co-champions.

"We really wanted to win, but I think the effort we put forth was great from everybody," St. Charles East senior keeper Alison Chesterfield said.

After 10 minutes, St. Charles North settled into the match and Hanna Durocher shot directly at Alison Chesterfield. Five minutes later, Chesterfield was forced to make a double-save, first from Durocher from Hailey Rydberg, who was played in by Durocher, and then by Durocher herself.

"Pretty much all my training gets channeled in," Chesterfield. "You think 'cut down the angle, don't give her as much of the goal to shoot at.' But you don't really think much when you're there."

Through the middle of the half, St. Charles East's best effort came from a volleyed snap shot by Kaitlyn Dzuibinski from the top of the penalty area. That shot went directly to North Stars keeper Shelby Stitz.

With the North Stars still holding an edge in possession, a handball was called in the penalty area on a Saints defender and a penalty kick awarded. Durocher shot to the left and scored and the visitors led.

"The first 40 minutes, I felt we created some offensive chances, though I felt that, as a group, this wasn't a great offensive effort," Vostal said. "We had good individual effort, but it's tough to score against a good back line when you don't have all your numbers up."

The Saints attempted to respond in the 9 minutes remaining before halftime after Durocher's goal. North Stars defender Katy Kusswurm cleared off the goal line, Saints' Kelli Santo Paulo shot over the crossbar and a multi-player passing move that involved Shannon Gatehouse, Maggie Smith and Santo Paulo led to a Claire Rasmussen shot that was deflected directly to Stitz.

After halftime, the Saints increased their tempo further. In the opening move of the half, Rasmussen forced Stitz to make a save. Santo Paulo then hit a free kick over the crossbar, a Rasmussen free kick was blocked by the North Stars wall and Santo Paulo got free in the penalty area but her shot was easily collected by Stitz.

But the pressure was mounting, and when Chantel Carranza moved into the penalty area with 18 minutes left, she was tackled from behind and a penalty kick was awarded. Carranza took that kick and scored into the right portion of the goal.

"It was one of those today where if you'd have said the penalties would have decided it, I probably wouldn't have doubted it," St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. "With the amount of talent on the pitch, you knew it was going to be difficult from open play. You knew it was going to be a dead ball or a set piece."

The best chances to win the match in the closing minutes came from St. Charles North. First Wahlberg forced Chesterfield to make a save with 11 minutes left and a Morgan Rerko shot brought another Chesterfield save 4 minutes from the end of the match.

"I thought the second half, we were definitely the better team," Jennison said. "We created a few and we did give up a few chances at the back and (Chesterfield) in goal handled very well."

Stitz also came under pressure and was one of the players carrying an ice pack as she exited the field on Saturday.

"You have to do what you have to do in order to get the job done, and I'm glad I did what I had to do," Stitz said.

With Darcy Cunningham, Sophie Jendrzejczyk and Mallory Mollenhauer all injured, the Saints have had to shuffle their attacking options, one of which has allowed freshman Carranza more time to display her talents.

"We've got a couple of big-time players injured," Jennison said. "That's part of the game and you've got to hope the rest of your squad can handle that. As I've said before, (Carranza) plays way above her age. Our ability to get her the ball was a lot better in the second half."

A little further behind the forward line, Santo Paulo and Gatehouse worked to stop North Stars attacks and then launch Saints counterattacks.

"I love playing with (Gatehouse) in the middle," Santo Paulo said. "We play so well together. We know where each other is without talking with other. It's really cool to play with her."

The regular season comes to a close this week. St. Charles North has the busier week. Tuesday, the North Stars are scheduled to host Waubonsie Valley - which could become a scheduling issue if the two teams are also to play on Wednesday for the UEC title. Thursday, St. Charles North hosts Jacobs.

"We're obviously proud of where we've come from," Durocher said. "It's hard bringing new players into the team, but those of us who are upperclassmen know it is our job to bring them along with us. Every game, we talk about how we think we did and what we can improve on and we work in every game and practice on how we can improve."

St. Charles East only hosts South Elgin on Tuesday, then prepares for the Class 3A playoffs.

"We had that rough result (3-1 loss) against Barrington and we've had four games this week that have been pretty brutal on the girls," Jennison said. "We've had three wins and a tie against some pretty good teams. We're in a good spot going forward into Senior Night on Tuesday. Then we can work to get as close to a fully-fit roster heading into the playoffs."