Girls soccer: St. Charles North blanks Batavia to reach sectional final
Two weeks ago when St. Charles North and Batavia battled at the Tri-Cities Shootout, all it took for the North Stars to get the win was their ability to capitalize on a rebound.
In Tuesday's Class 3A Hoffman Estates girls soccer sectional semifinal between the two teams which No. 2 North took by another 1-0 score over No. 3 Batavia, another bad bounce hurt the Bulldogs - again.
The only difference this time besides who scored the May 9 goal and when was that Tuesday's rebound came with 6:32 left in the first half. Hailey Rydberg made a rush up the right side and launched a shot inside the box that was initially stopped, but the ball popped free for Gia Wahlberg to rebound, clean up and send unbeaten North to Friday's sectional final rematch against top-seeded Geneva, which defeated St. Charles East 1-0 in overtime Tuesday.
"I saw Hailey just make an extremely athletic play where she was able to attack end line and (Batavia's keeper) came out and made an initial great save," North coach Brian Harks said. "And when the ball popped free it was a matter being at the right place at the right time for Gia."
With just a 7-1 shot advantage, a slick field and not many opportunities, it surely was the right place at the right time for Walhberg. Rydberg's extinct along the line became magnified after the fact as well. She knew that there was a ton of space in front of her with the Batavia back line playing high and fired a shot anyway despite the angle to give the North Stars at least a chance no matter what.
"We knew it would be slippery so we know we'd have to take what we could," Rydberg said. "Gia was right there to put it in."
The win for North, which improved its record to 18-0-3, gives the Stars a shot at back-to-back sectional titles against the Vikings, who they beat for last year's title, 1-0 at Streamwood's Millennium Field. This year's matchup on Tri-Cities Night featured a 0-0 tie and there's expected to be a lot of defense for Friday's 6 p.m. final, just as Batavia experienced. The Bulldogs (14-4-2) were limited to just 1 shot on goal, which was off a free kick.
"We figured out their formation in practice and today they were definitely pushing up their two forwards pretty high," North Stars senior defender Adisson Ams said. "Me and my center back KB Kusswurm, we communicated well and always had one in back of each other so that if one got beat someone was always there to cover."
Each goalkeeper wasn't really challenged as Jenny Scara made 3 saves for Batavia while Sami Sample just had 2 for North. Playing just 2 weeks prior did play a vital role in this postseason installment but even Harks admits Batavia had the run of play, which Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco also alluded to after the game and for Batavia it came down to one 50-50 ball.
"I thought we were possessing the ball really well knocking some passes around and we just didn't win a 50," Gianfrancesco said. "But I thought the girls played really well. (North) amped it up second half and we matched them a little bit. We just had trouble breaking them down in the back and getting quality chances. We didn't get that (bounce) today and I thought we gave them a good match."