Boys soccer: St. Charles East shuts out St. Charles North
Two soccer teams headed in opposite directions met in a neighborhood showdown Tuesday night.
One team may have turned its season around.
Winless in its last five games and still searching for its first conference victory, St. Charles East (3-7-4, 1-2-1) turned in a masterful performance during its stunning 3-0 whitewash of cross-town rival St. Charles North (9-2-3, 1-1-1) on the North Stars' home field.
"It was by far the biggest win of the season for us," said first-year Saints coach Vince Dinuzzo. "The kids came to play and it was fun to see.
"I've been saying it and they know it - they're capable of playing with anyone. We saw it earlier in the season but we've been struggling as of late. We needed this late in the season and we needed this right before (tournament) seeding."
Junior midfielder Truitt Battin got the Saints on the board midway through the opening half with a left-footed blast from 25 yards out.
"I think it was really important for us to get on the board first," said Battin. "It gave us good momentum for the rest of the game."
The Saints kept that momentum rolling as junior forward George Maridis chipped a ball over the North Stars keeper and across the line for a 2-0 lead just 4:23 into the second half.
Senior defender Drew Olsen capped the scoring on a picture-perfect header off a corner kick from Tyler Villanueva with 8:23 remaining.
"I thought the boys played 80 minutes tonight - that was the difference," said Dinuzzo. "They played until the final whistle."
Senior keeper Zach Kennedy stopped 9 shots for the Saints, including an acrobatic 1-hand punch on a turnaround boot by the North Stars' Jameson D'Amico with 27:45 left.
"My motto is as a goalkeeper, you have to make every save you should and two or three you shouldn't," said Kennedy.
"Going into this game, I don't think their record meant anything to us. This was a brand new game - practically like the first game of the season."
Fresh off of a dramatic 2-1 (penalty kicks) PepsiCo Showdown championship win over Waukegan last Sunday, the North Stars had their 9-game unbeaten streak snapped.
"All the credit goes to them," North Stars coach Eric Willson said of the Saints. "They certainly worked pretty darn hard tonight and earned the win.
"I don't think we did the things that we typically have been doing all season that has gotten us the success we've had."
Despite playing their fourth game in seven days, Willson wasn't offering any excuses.
"It's certainly a grind a season in high school and I have to get them ready to go for a game like this," said the coach. "At the end of the day, they just outworked us."
Fueled by midfielders Luke Schnitker, Rajin Bairns, Battin, and defenders Riley Arnold, Jeff Waynick and Olsen, the Saints hope to parlay the win into a bigger and better future.
"It's the perfect time to get a win and a shutout," said Kennedy. "I want to see how we train tomorrow (at practice)."
"That's some of the best soccer I've seen out of the boys since the season started," said Dinuzzo.