St. Francis shuts out Glenbard North

Though it was only the first game of the season, the St. Francis girls soccer team already looked like a well-oiled machine on Friday.

Having reached the supersectional a year ago, the 2016 Spartans have the look of another dangerous squad after opening with a 5-0 shutout of Glenbard North in Wheaton.

The home team only allowed one shot on goal while scoring twice in the first half and three more times over the final 40 minutes.

"There is good talent," St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said. "It's a matter of figuring out what combinations work. We could be lethal up top, we can score some goals. Overall we did some nice things; the speed of play was good, we were getting people in front of the goal and they got opportunities to finish."

Bridget Doran scored the first goal of the campaign for St. Francis, volleying a deflected ball into the back of the net less than seven minutes after the opening whistle.

The Spartans kept the pressure on and Kendra Pasquale doubled the margin with a great individual play with 1:13 left in the half. She ran down a ball in the left corner, brought it back to the middle and then slipped a shot past the Panthers' goalkeeper.

"We came out strong," Pasquale said. "We've been working very hard in practice. We communicated well, everyone wanted it and we fought like heck. It was good."

A brilliant cross from Erin Peck to Hanna Rittenhouse made it 3-0 a little more than 10 minutes into the second half. Jill DiTusa and Margaret LaMania then added goals on 25-yard shots to round out the scoring.

A young Glenbard North team, which has eight freshmen on the roster, fell to 0-2.

"It's a work in progress, " Glenbard North coach David Stanfield said. "We are very young. We are working on some fundamentals and positioning is a big thing as well. It will take some time."