Girls soccer: New Trier bounces St. Charles North again
Oh no, not again.
If it was bad enough the St. Charles North girls soccer team endured a 1-0 loss to two-time defending state champion New Trier in last year's supersectional, Tuesday's 1-0 Elite Eight loss to now three-time defending state champ New Trier in the rematch a year in the making at Millennium Field in Streamwood just had a whole new sting to it.
"It does," said North sophomore Claudia Najera. "We definitely felt we had this one."
"This year I thought we were so much more prepared," said North Stars' forward Hailey Rydberg. "Going into the game we were really confident and it showed on the field but we can't let them score early."
Contrary to what did the North Stars (19-1-3) in last year - a corner kick Sydney Parker headed home during the 54th minute - this year, a turnover near midfield in the fourth minute allowed Wisconsin-bound defender Sam Urban free reign. Urban dribbled up the middle of the field untouched and rifled a shot into the wind from 35-yards out inside the right post, which held up much longer this time as the game-winner.
"In games like this you can't start off 1-0 against a team as good as them and expect to come away with much," North Stars coach Brian Harks said. "I know if you're looking at it on paper the story is exactly the same this year for us as it was last year. But if you dig a little deeper this was a completely different team. I think we came out here and gave everything we had. Unfortunately the result was what it was."
The Trevians (23-2-1), earning their 19th shutout, will look to four-peat and take on Collinsville at North Central College in Naperville in one semifinal Friday at 5 p.m.
North, which suffered its only loss of the season, turned loose more shots Tuesday. North held a 13-8 shot advantage and a 5-3 edge in shots on goal. But Urban was the one who made the most of her opportunity.
"Big players step up in big times," said New Trier coach Jim Burnside. "(Urban) does not have a lot goals (this season). She kept that ball on frame, low, and it speaks to her kind grind-it-out character."
Immediately after, Harks yelled to his team: "How do we respond?" North, looking for its first trip to state since 2012, fired at will. Rydberg launched a missile in the 14th minute that somehow, Trevian goalie Katy Symanietz gobbled up. Eight minutes later Rydberg watched her shot from 20 yards just miss over the top. She had a breakaway in the box snuffed out by Symanietz, who made 6 saves, and missed on a shot with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
"We were definitely able to dribble at them," Rydberg said. "It was just a matter of putting them away. When it comes to games like these we have to find the back of the net somehow. We were so close there at the end, it's just putting it away."
Which they nearly did on multiple shots in the final 27 minutes. Rydberg looked for Najera on a cross that was stymied by Symanietz with 26:30 left. With 17:30 remaining, Rydberg launched a shot from 25 yards out that just missed the crossbar again. With nearly 4 minutes left, C.C. Wahlberg found her sister Gia in the box, who stopped, pivoted and launched a shot slightly wide of the left post, grabbing her head in disbelief.
North's last chance came in the final minute on Najera's 7-yard attempt with 41 seconds left, which looked good but didn't have enough on it.
"I thought I did but I just had to kick it harder," Najera said. "We knew it was now or never, we tried going for everything we could. I felt like we connected better in the second half and we definitely picked up the intensity."
"That, with that much time left I thought we were going to get it," Rydberg added. "We had so many shots but it was not our day, I guess."
North, which was shutout once - a scoreless tie against Geneva - had 3 shots on goals to New Trier's 1 in the second half and Burnside spoke volumes of the North Stars' relentless attack, especially at the end.
"They're great and they're dangerous," Burnside complemented. "There's nothing to be taken away from them. They're well-coached, organized, athletic, dangerous. And out defense kind of weathered the storm."