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Boys soccer: St. Charles East takes Northside College Showcase crown

After a disappointing showing last year at the prestigious Northside College Showcase boys soccer tournament at New Trier, St. Charles East rebounded this year and on Saturday the Saints claimed the championship of the tournament with a 2-0 win over Glenbrook North.

Gray Biddle and Nick Cayton led the way for the Saints (5-0-1) with a goal apiece and goalkeeper Steven Owens earned a clean sheet with 6 saves.

"In a game of this quality, it makes it very difficult for the other team to come back," said St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison of going up by a couple of goals. "To be fair to Glenbrook North, they're a quality outfit from start to finish. If it was 2-0 the other way, they would say the same thing. It was a good game and they should have a successful season. But I think when we show that we can work as a unit front and back we can be effective against anyone."

The Saints scored early in the fifth minute when Biddle broke free from a pass from Chris Edgerton and put the ball in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

"I guess, I was surprised that it was a good run," Biddle said. "The ball was played on and I slipped it through. I kind of got lucky on it. I was coming on the outside and their defense was pressuring me. I had to make a diagonal run in and I was calling for the ball and it was slipped through for me."

Cayton added the important second goal for St. Charles East that came on Zach Nelson's long service in the 35th minute for a 2-0 advantage.

The Saints' defense had a strong effort and wouldn't give up many scoring chances for the Spartans (5-1). They kept applying pressure on the GBN forwards as Jack Kempf was the leader in the back along with Riley Arnold, Zach Nelson and Kieran Willig-Friedrich.

"(Glenbrook North) had some great players," Kempf said. "They had some quick players and had some good ballhandling skills. They were not that easy to stop. I was trying to be the leader out there. I was making sure that everyone was in the right spots at the right time marking. Against a team like that, it was tough because they were so quick and all over the place."

For Glenbrook North, trying to stay with St. Charles East and making a rally back after the first two goals was an uphill climb.

"It was more about St. Charles East being able to close its case quickly," Glenbrook North coach Paul Vignocchi said. "(St. Charles East) had a lot of athletes. They just did a nice job on us."

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