Boys soccer: Lagioia's late goal lifts St. Charles North over Streamwood

Vito Lagioia headed in the game-winning goal with 10 minutes left, giving St. Charles North a 2-1 win over Streamwood Thursday in the semifinals of the PepsiCo Showdown at Millennium Field.

The North Stars (7-1-2), who are in the Chicago Top Soccer bracket of the tournament, will play either Morton or Waukegan for the championship Saturday at the McDonald's soccer complex in Oak Brook. Morton defeated the North Stars 2-1 in last year's final.

Lagioia, a junior forward, took a cross from fellow junior Matthew Beaulieu and headed it just past a diving goalie Daniel Dominguez.

"He (Beaulieu) just played a great ball," Lagioia said. "I knew my run, I had to keep myself onside and just a straight header with just a little help from the keeper tipping off his fingers. I'm tiny so I don't get many headers but when it does come I have to be prepared. We practice headers a lot and that translates to the game."

No doubt Eric Willson would have been happy with whoever found the net, but the North Stars coach took a little extra satisfaction seeing Lagioia come through.

"He's a kid who comes off the bench for us and lately probably hasn't got a ton of minutes," Willson said. "He's been ready when called upon. And tonight was one of those classic team sports moments. We're happy for him, we're happy for all the guys."

In the matchup of Upstate Eight Conference River Division foes, Streamwood (8-3) had its chances.

Oscar Chavez shot over the net in the early going, and Rafa Gil's attempt was saved by Piercarlo Ricossa moments later.

In one of the better chances of the first half, Dominguez saved a blast from Bernard Elegbede as the game stayed scoreless at halftime.

"We have to be a little more composed in and around the box," Sabres coach Matt Polovin said. "If we are a little more composed those balls are going in.

"Both teams were up for it. I knew North was going to give us a great test. It was really good back and forth. Their defense was up to the challenge today. We had a couple chances and kicked it right at the goalie or just missed or hit a crossbar."

Jake Persenico nearly scored for the North Stars in the first 20 seconds of the second half, and Elegbede followed with a shot that sailed just high.

"We had a couple really good chances to find the back of the net," Willson said. "We like to come out of a half with really high energy and we did and that's a good opportunity to maybe catch a team sleeping. I thought we did that, just didn't finish."

The North Stars opened the scoring with 34 minutes left when Beaulieu passed to Persenico on top at the 11-yard line. Persenico used his left foot to get the ball past Dominguez.

The Sabres answered with 26 minutes remaining. Bryan Mora took a free kick from the 17, and the ball deflected to Gil who fired from the top of the box. Freshman Jose Ibarra redirected Gil's shot into the left corner to make it 1-1.

That turned out to be all the North Stars allowed.

"We knew this was a good technical team, a good possession team," Willson said. "It was important for us to get behind the ball and make sure we defended as a unit and allow them to have some possession in their own half, at midfield. The back line was awesome tonight."

The teams will play again Tuesday in conference action.

"It was a battle," Beaulieu said. "Both teams are really good on and off the ball. At the end of the day we wanted it more and put away the chances."