Girls soccer: North Shore Country Day ends St. Edward's run
The St. Edward girls soccer team's primary goal was to finish with a winning record after consecutive losing seasons.
The Green Wave blew past that benchmark. They won the Metro Suburban Conference's Red Division and a Class 1A regional title, the program's first postseason plaque since 2015.
The Green Wave might have added a sectional title to their list of accomplishments in Johnsburg Friday had a slew of injuries not slowed the ragtag band of determined sisters against North Shore Country Day in the second half of a 2-1 loss.
NCSD (14-3) dominated possession and scoring chances throughout and led 2-0 until St. Edward (16-6-1) halved the lead on a set play late in the second half.
With seven minutes remaining 24th-year St. Edward coach Tim Brieger sent eight attackers ahead to play a corner kick from junior midfielder Madalynn Duffy. One such player was defender Mackenzie Wilson. The senior sought open space and managed to get in front of a defender and the goalkeeper.
Duffy's corner came to Wilson just inside the near post. She somehow convinced the ball to trickle over the goal line as she simultaneously fell across it.
"I just followed the ball and the next thing I remember I was inside the goal," Wilson said of her second marker of the season. "All of us, with the time ticking down, we just pushed and pushed. We all wanted it so bad."
St. Edward was limited physically coming into the match. Senior midfielder Madison Knott probably would not have played on the sprained ankle she suffered in Tuesday's 5-0 semifinal win over Regina Dominican were it a regular-season game.
"Madison probably shouldn't have played," Brieger said. "I said to her at halftime 'You can be done, no shame.' She goes 'No, I'm playing.' "
The strategy was to let Knott play the ball forward to sophomore forwards Maddie Ellsworth and Rachel Martini "but we couldn't possess the ball," Knott said. "If we would have possessed the ball more, I feel it would have worked."
Knott was not alone in her resolve to play through pain. Defender Rachel Hicks developed a foot cramp in the second half and came off briefly. She told her coach "It hurts, but I have to go back on," Brieger said.
Freshman midfielder Mia Castro left briefly due to an ankle sprain with under 10 minutes remaining but her coach said she refused to be taped because the process would have taken too long.
Senior defender Taylor Gredzieleski finished her high school career playing center midfield "just to give us something," Brieger said.
North Shore Country Day took a 1-0 lead with 1:01 left in the first half. Sophomore Julia Fortier settled a corner kick from sophomore Edith Edwards-Mizel and squeezed it past the keeper to put the Raiders ahead.
NCSD made it 2-0 on a strong run by Edwards-Mizel with 26:05 left in regulation. She gained possession outside the left edge of the penalty area, tapped the ball ahead twice with her left foot to gain a step, cut inside the left goal post and fired a shot past through a sliding challenge from keeper Mariel Franco (5 saves).
St. Edward was unable to find the equalizer after Wilson's goal, but the 2018 team pointed the program back in a winning direction.
"This whole season we weren't sure how we were going to be until the end of the very last minute," Gredzieleski said. "We just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. We had it in us. Our strategy was to keep pounding the ball back down their throat and eventually we'd get the ball in. I think that's how we played this whole season - a ton of energy, a ton of pressure and a lot of heart."