Girls soccer: St. Charles North outlasts Bartlett

The initial St. Charles North free kick in the opening half was as harmless as a butterfly.

But the second attempt was far more lethal.

In the North Stars' home opener Tuesday in St. Charles - against Bartlett in an Upstate Eight Conference girls soccer crossover - Gia Wahlberg had another free kick directly in front of the Hawks' goal.

The sophomore drilled a low right-to-left liner that Bartlett keeper Teagan Noesen made a fantastic save on with her right forearm.

But Noesen had no chance on the rebound as St. Charles North junior KB Kusswurm knocked in the empty-net goal from point-blank range to give the North Stars all the offense they would need.

Kusswurm had a brilliant cross to Madison Kaufmann in the second half; the collaboration resulted in the match-clincher for the North Stars in their 2-0 victory.

"We work a lot on shooting in practice, so I knew eventually one of the shots would go in," Kusswurm said of the North Stars' 24-6 advantage in shot attempts. "Gia is an amazing shooter; I just had to follow the shot, and I did and tapped it in."

It was a matter of the North Stars' players transferring to matches their typical practice routines.

"What we are applying in practice is really applying in games," Kaufmann said. "We are always working on crashing. That's how KB got her goal."

The North Stars (2-1) dominated possession time and scoring chances almost from the get-go.

"We were playing in our own end for the majority of the game," Bartlett coach Vince DiNuzzo said. "When you play on a (grass) football field - with a surface that is not level like it is here - you can't play from out of the back. We were trying to play too pretty."

But Bartlett withstood all of the North Stars' scoring attempts until Kusswrum capitalized in the 36th minute to give St. Charles North a 1-0 lead at the break.

The Hawks (1-2-2), after being on the wrong side of an 11-shot differential in the opening half, were much more aggressive to start the second half.

But their best-scoring chance came to naught as Kaitlin Brohan had her header off a Mariela Alba corner kick whistle over the crossbar.

"I hit it off my head a little too hard," the Bartlett senior midfielder said.

St. Charles North ended all speculation when Kaufmann arched in a perfect header over the outstretched arms of Noesen with 13:10 to play.

"KB was going to pass it back (to Claire Barresi), and that's when I saw my chance to curve in," Kaufmann said.

"Instead of being predictable, I just saw Kaufmann," Nusswurm said.

"I think we ran out of gas, though, in the second half," DiNuzzo said. "(The North Stars) are match-fit. They were running us into the ground."