Boys soccer: Persenico's persistence pays off for St. Charles North against Conant
Jake Persenico struck a brilliant game-winning goal to cap a fine individual performance in giving St. Charles North's boys soccer team a 2-1 victory over Conant on Monday night in an entertaining tourney opener for both teams in the 29th annual Barrington Classic.
The Stars senior gave his club an early lead on this rainy night at Conant's Charlie Feutz Field in Hoffman Estates in the fourth minute.
After a handful of opportunities fell short for both clubs, Conant's Mateusz Pasula leveled the score with a 40-yard blast into the upper right corner just before the intermission.
"That was a really exciting game out there," said Stars coach Eric Willson, whose club returns to Conant on Tuesday to face Jacobs as pool play continues.
The Jacobs-Marmion Academy contest scheduled for 5 p.m. was cancelled when lightning strikes around the Conant campus continued for well over an hour.
"This game had a little bit of everything, and both Jason (Franco, Conant's head coach) and I said it had a bit of a playoff atmosphere," Willson said. "Both teams played hard, there was a lot of energy, and this is one of the reasons we came up here to play in a tournament like this."
The North Stars (3-0-0) were clearly the better side during the opening quarter-hour, thanks in part to its ability to target and find both Persenico and his running mate up top, Bernard Elegbede.
"No. 11 (Elegbede) was big, fast and strong, and he gave us a lot of trouble all night," said Francos. "Plus their backline was big as well, which gave them a big advantage because we weren't able to get much up and over them."
The Cougars (2-2-0) looked to get draw even at 28 minutes but were denied by a pair of terrific saves by Stars keeper Piercarlo Ricossa.
The senior stopped Pasula after Soto Ono put him through. Moments later, when a free kick from Tommy Biernat from near the mid-line found its way into the box, Ricossa had consecutive close-range attempts blocked by his teammates before personally turning away a wicked blast from Harris Dibek.
Ricossa's counterpart, senior Piotr Pyz, was superb in the second half, taking two sure goals out of the back of the net to keep Conant in it. The first came when he stopped Elegbede in the 50th minute. Shortly after, Pyz guessed correctly the direction Persenico was going to go with his PK.
"That was a great save by the Conant keeper," said the classy Stars forward, "but I couldn't let that bother me - there was more soccer to be played."
A well-executed quick re-start by Matt Beaulieu saw the Stars midfielder play a lovely ball to Persenico, which ended with his angled shot from the left somehow finding netting at 58 minutes.
There were plenty more thrills for the rain-soaked crowd to watch from both sides, including a 77th-minute long-range free kick from Biernat which went off the bar, and a 79th-minute strike from his teammate Eduardo Dorado that stung the fingertips of Ricossa before caroming off the underside of the bar.
"It was a fun game to be a part of," said Franco. "Of course, we would have liked to get the result, but nonetheless there was a lot of good stuff from both teams out there tonight.
"Piotr saved us twice with big saves, and we had our chances. But we didn't finish, and they did."
Conant will play Marmion Academy at 7 p.m. Tuesday in its next pool-play matchup.