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Girls soccer: Weather challenges hit St. Edward especially hard

If there's any Fox Valley area girls soccer team that has significant issues with Mother Nature, look no further than St. Edward.

In what should have been their fourth game of the season Monday, the Green Wave beat IC Catholic 3-1 in their regular season opener.

To put it in perspective, their first scheduled game was originally slated for March 16 against Lisle. But because nearly half of coach Tim Brieger's team was late to get back from a religious retreat due to snow, that game was canceled. The March 17 game against Aurora Central was canceled due to an ice storm that day and bad field conditions and numbers wiped out a March 22 game against Westminster Christian. Couple in spring break and it brings you to Week 4 of the season, where even Tuesday's game against Westmont also got the shaft due to inclement weather.

"For St. Edward it's been the perfect storm and I don't know when I'm going to get my field ready because it's supposed to rain again next week," said Brieger, now in his 24th season coaching the Green Wave. "You hope to get lucky. You hope to get a game scheduled on that one nice day."

Each time Brieger scheduled to paint the lines at Greg True Field for the season, it's been canceled due to rain. Brieger even considered going out and doing the lines on Good Friday and last Saturday but Mother Nature said no. The question is, will the weather deny the Wave again? They're heading to the Urbana Invite this weekend but have been advised that the forecast temperatures on Friday and Saturday are slated for the upper 30s. At least the girls have a positive spirit despite just one game in 4 weeks.

"The girls are really good about it. When we have our sports meeting we have this letter at the end of the packet and I list all the various reasons why I have games canceled in my 24 years coaching," Brieger said. "And I tell the parents you have to be ready for everything. One year we weren't allowed to go to the Rosary tournament because of the Swine Flu. I've told the parents 'I've seen it all' and when you think it going to go normal it doesn't go normal."

Speaking of abnormal: How about St. Charles North's 7-5 win over Geneva Tuesday? Since the teams' 2016 sectional final game, there's been a total of 8 goals combined with a scoreless tie mixed in. North has gone 3-0-1 in that span but to see 12 goals, as North Stars coach Brian Harks said afterward, it was truly atypical.

"Obviously the final score was 7-5 and I would say 'atypical' result for a St. Charles North vs. Geneva game," Harks said Wednesday. "But that means it was a game we really had a nice opportunity to reflect as a team and talk about what we did well and the areas of improvement that's needed."

Every game according to Harks is an opportunity for the North Stars to learn and grow, and while they haven't thought about the PepsiCo Showdown beginning this weekend after a scheduled game against Larkin Thursday, they are defending champions of the I Grow Chicago bracket. North will begin its defense against 8-0 Stagg at 11 a.m. Saturday, more than likely improved in the areas needed after the Geneva win and ready for what Pepsi throws at you.

"This is essentially a single-elimination tournament so you keep playing toward the ultimate goal. No games end in a tie so you have to go to penalty kicks and you get an opportunity to be in an environment in the sentiment where they can learn and grow," said Harks. "I think that's what this tournament does. You're going to get a quality opponent, a tournament atmosphere, and must-win situations. That's what we're looking to take away from it."

Golden Eagles surging: In its first 4 games, Jacobs found itself alternating ties and losses. Since a 3-3 tie against South Elgin March 26, the Golden Eagles have gone 2-0, including a 7-0 win over Harlem and a big 1-0 win over Burlington Central Saturday at the Huntley Invite thanks to senior Cecilia Pankau's second half goal.

"During spring break before the Huntley tournament we had team bonding all week," said Golden Eagles coach Stephanie Schuck, who alluded to team dinners at Portillo's, its weekly pasta party and team building exercises during the week that helped enhance chemistry. "We came together as one unit all of a sudden. They started having more trust and understanding. I truly think part of the morale and boosting that really helped get these wins and to be successful."

Now at 2-2-2, Jacobs will have to wait until Saturday at Pepsi to continue its camaraderie on the field. "We look at Pepsi as a good opportunity to play teams we don't get to see normally in our conference that do excel in their own conferences that will challenge us to become better to be ready for what comes next," Schuck added.

Up and down Chargers: Dundee-Crown is 2-0 in FVC action and 4-3 overall. Of its 4 wins the Chargers have outscored their opponents 13-2 but in losses they've been outscored 7-0. To try and guess disparity between wins and losses is as good as trying to forecast this spring's weather.

"It's hit or miss and I still think it's too early to kind of tell with the weather factoring in and the girls adjusting to newer positions, we're still learning," Chargers coach Sebastian Falinski said. "Last year we finished conference 4-4 and our goal is to be above .500 so we set that goal this year to win more in conference so we're off to a good start."

One player to watch is sophomore Katelyn Skibinski, who scored 10 goals as a freshman last year. This year she's up to 9 already with 4 coming against Montini and 2 against Hampshire and her coach's challenge is to step up in big games which she did against Huntley, scoring a big first half goal en route to a 2-0 win Tuesday.

"She's a player that's only going to get better," Falinski said. "My challenge for her is to show up in big games like on Tuesday. She got a big goal in the first half against Huntley that we needed."

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