Girls soccer: St. Charles North has Geneva's number again
Midfielder Hailey Rydberg says it's the rivalry and familiarity between the St. Charles North and Geneva girls soccer teams that brings out the best in her.
That ability over the course of the last two postseasons appears to have started a trend in the fact that she has Geneva's number.
Rydberg scored the only goal in a win over the Vikings in last year's sectional final and was clutch two times during a 3-1 win for North Friday night to take home the Class 3A Hoffman Estates sectional championship.
The junior's penalty kick goal in the 32nd minute for a 1-0 lead set the tone and her corner kick assist on Cassidy Joyce's header roughly 2 minutes into the second half for a 2-goal cushion helped Geneva into a bout of déjà vu and North (19-0-3) into its second straight supersectional.
"We know so many of their players and coaches, it's always this mentality that we want to beat them," Rydberg said of the top-seeded Vikings, who finished their season 21-2-1. "They live so close, it's always been like that."
Undefeated North will now have to focus on another rematch against a familiar foe Tuesday in a Class 3A Bartlett supersectional at Streamwood's Millennium Field at 5 p.m. Next up is 3-time defending state champ New Trier, a rematch of last year's super which the Trevians took by slim 1-0 margin. But that doesn't appear to bother North.
"We're excited," Rydberg said. "We just want to keep going. We can do it, we've put in the work."
North certainly put in the work against Geneva, but early on nothing came on its first three chances, including one where Rydberg rode one over the crossbar. But Rydberg's PK, a simple flick inside the left post all derived off a trip in the box to junior forward Gia Walberg near the end line which put the Vikes behind the proverbial 8-ball at the half, a rarity for Geneva this season, a team with 17 shutouts.
"You get a PK for the other team, that's really hard to come back from, especially in a sectional championship game," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "They got a PK that changes the whole path of the game. But we had more opportunities in the first half, my girls fought hard, worked hard all game. I couldn't be more prouder of them."
After Joyce made it 2-0 on her header, Geneva cut into the lead when freshman Alicia White netted a goal just inside the left corner of the box with 26:24 left in the match.
It didn't take long for North to answer, as the North Stars received a goal from an unexpected source, Amanda Czerniak. She didn't know who served it up to Jordan Karom, whose touch pass just inside the box in line with the left post allowed Czerniak to blast her first goal of the season in the 65th minute for the added insurance.
"Jordan trapped it and played me and I just took a touch and shot it," Czerniak said. "That was a really good time to score so I was really happy with that. Once they scored it just made us want to work harder to get that third goal so we can keep pushing."
North owned an 11-6 advantage in shots and 7 on goal to Geneva's 4. The Vikes started in a 4-4-3 formation this time and North Stars coach Brian Harks liked his team's approach to that.
"I thought our girls identified it quickly, communicated it and stayed dialed into the task at hand," Harks said. "The mental approach these players have had - not in the postseason, but all season, is really impressive. They work so hard but they're also so focused and mentally they've got a really nice approach to the game."