Girls soccer: Daeschler's unlikely goal lifts St. Charles East past Conant
Sydney Daeschler isn't accustomed to the spotlight, but it sure shined bright on the St. Charles East junior on Saturday.
Daeschler averages about 20 minutes per game in a reserve role off the bench as a defender on the Saints' girls soccer team. She hadn't scored a single goal in her high school career - that is until the one she scored with 4:55 left in the first half of the Class 4A regional title game against host Conant.
The header by Daeschler, off a perfectly placed corner kick from Hannah Kolb, wound up being the only goal of the game in the Saints' 1-0 win.
"I'm honestly not sure why I was there," Daeschler said. "But something told me to step up and take a shot at it. I wanted to do something for the team. I've really wanted to score a goal. I was just shocked went it went in."
The Saints came stumbling into the playoffs with 3 losses and 3 ties in their final 6 regular season games, but have found new life in the postseason with a pair of wins.
The Saints (10-4-6) will now get another crack at Geneva in the all Tri-Cities Hoffman Estates sectional on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Geneva eliminated SCE 1-0 in last year's sectional finals. St. Charles North plays Batavia in Wednesday's semifinal at Hoffman.
"Again I couldn't be more proud of the girls," East coach Paul Jennison said. "The bottom line is they deserve a lot of credit for their hard work. They executed the game plan perfectly. You know we adjust some tactical formations, but in the end that is not what wins games. Players win games. All they did was start believing in themselves again and they did. We are happy to carry on with our journey."
East (10-4-6) had been knocking on the door with 7 shots on goal before Daeshler finally scored.
"We were just looking for a bit of magic and she gave it to us," Jennison said. "If you are going to do it and score your first goal there's not a better time than the regional title game."
East goal keeper Grace Griffin had 6 saves in recording the shutout.
"I can't say enough good things about the way she has played," Jennison said. "It's hard to believe sometimes she is just a sophomore because she plays like she is a lot older. At the beginning of the year some people worried we might have a question mark at goalkeeper, but that question mark has been answered."
Conant's best scoring opportunity came midway through the second half when Neido Ocampo's header right in front of the net was deflected away by Griffin.
Taylor Cyr had 8 saves for the Cougars, who finished the season 13-7-1.
"it was clear by halftime that skill-wise they had an advantage," Conant coach Matt Franco said. "So we tried to step up the pressure, but their back line did a good job of stopping us. They are a good team. We didn't know quite what to expect this year with just three seniors, but those three really carried us. I think we probably over achieved from what a lot of people expected from us."