Girls soccer: St. Charles N. wins sectional final over Geneva
St. Charles North's girls soccer team had more than enough chances to add an ever-important insurance goal in Friday's sectional final against rival Geneva.
But it turned out the North Stars wanted to become Class 3A Bartlett sectional champs at Millennium Field in Streamwood the hard way.
After Jordan Karom drew Hailey Rydberg's defender away and found an open Rydberg, who drilled a 35-yard strike upper 90 left side during the seventh minute, North's back line held strong but played with fire for 73 minutes to garner a slim 1-0 shutout win over the Vikings to lock down the program's first sectional plaque since 2013.
A defensive unit of Lauren Neslund, Lauren Willis, Alison Wessel and Claire Barresi certainly did not bend nor break when Geneva (15-7-1) pressured the North Stars (20-3-1) with 4 shots on goal in the second half. But it also helped that keeper Sami Sample made 3 saves, which helped advanced North to Tuesday's 7 p.m. supersectional against host New Trier, a team the Stars beat 1-0 on April 16.
"There was a time earlier this season where I might've been a little bit more nervous but they've learned from past mistakes and proven themselves to be fully capable in that scenario which made it more reassuring," North coach Brian Harks said. "I'm extremely proud of how the back line handled some really quality attackers from Geneva."
It certainly helped that North controlled the ball in the midfield and put pressure on the Vikes to relieve the backs at times. But often it just came down to communication.
"We just communicated with each other, tried working together as much as possible," senior Lauren Neslund said. "I knew (Geneva) was going to fight as hard as possible since nobody wants to get out. We had to work together."
North found itself on shaky ground at times, let alone wet turf. The rain came down in buckets in the 60th minute and with it came a floodgate of opportunity for Geneva.
The Vikes had a golden opportunity slip away after they were awarded an indirect kick off an obstruction in the 62nd minute but failed as the shot trickled wide of the left post at the last second from point blank range.
Jenna Dominguez saw her wide open 25-yard shot in the 72nd minute sail high above the crossbar.
Geneva had one more shot, Kyleigh Dominguez's free kick from 22 yards out with 6.5 seconds left on the clock, but that couldn't get to the net either.
"We had our opportunities, we just didn't finish today and they did,"said Vikings coach Megan Owens, whose team was outshot 11-4 on goal and 16-7 overall. "We fought hard all game and we had a tremendous season. I think everybody discounted us this year and we really made a run here at the end and we accomplished some great things this season."
North can accomplish more, and will look to do what it did to Geneva - beat a team twice - when the Stars face the Trevians on Tuesday in search of their first state appearance since 2012.
"We have to treat every game like it's a championship," Rydberg said of North's fourth supersectional in 7 seasons. "I think we just have to come out strong like we haven't beaten (New Trier) before and capitalize on our opportunities."