Girls soccer: St. Charles North grinds out win over St. Charles East

Throughout the majority of the season, St. Charles North's girls soccer team has relied on its potent, high-scoring offense to win games.

On Tuesday night, the North Stars (20-0-1) turned to its defense to lead the way.

Supported by a strong back line featuring senior Dmi Petrusha, junior CeCe Wahlberg, sophomore Alyssa Kraft, freshman Makenna Collins and junior keeper Sara Maleski (3 saves), the top-seeded North Stars earned a berth in Saturday's Class 3A Geneva sectional finals with a hard-fought 1-0 semifinal victory over St. Charles East (13-6-6) at Burgess Field.

"We haven't played many," North Stars coach Brian Harks said of 1-0 decisions. "When you're going to come across a team as defensive oriented and disciplined as St. Charles East with a solid back line and an even better goalie behind them, you know it was going to be a nail biter.

"I was real proud of our girls that they found a way to win. At this point of the state playoffs, all you need to do is find a way to win and that's what we did."

The North Stars scored the game's only goal in the 12th minute as Claudia Najera sent a picture-perfect cross to Cassidy Joyce, whose first point-blank attempt was thwarted by Saints keeper Grace Griffin (14 saves) before she capitalized on the rebound.

Fourth-seeded St. Charles East had a few decent scoring opportunities of its own, primarily off 6 corner kicks.

Junior Ashley DiOrio's header of a corner kick from freshman Hannah Miller was turned away by Maleski midway through the second half.

With 7 minutes remaining, Maleski snatched Miller's 30-yard free kick blast.

"It's difficult to score but I thought we created some chances," said Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo. "We wanted to keep it close and then throw our numbers forward and go for it for the final 15 minutes. We went for it - we left it all out there."

With the narrow victory, the North Stars reached the 20-win plateau for the third time in four years.

"I just think it makes us more excited and more willing to play harder knowing that our season was on the line," Petrusha said of the 1-goal outcome. "In a 1-0 game, anything can happen.

"I think that a 1-0 game shows who we are as a team - that we don't crack under pressure. We had a lot of balls in the air come to us. It shows the skills of our goalkeeper, back line and center mids."

Since allowing 5 goals in a 7-5 victory over Geneva last month, the North Stars have given up 9 goals over their last 15 contests.

"We've definitely come into our own," said Petrusha. "It has been exciting to see the progress we've made and how well we've played together."

"Obviously, you would love a little more of a cushion but I'm proud of the way our players stayed disciplined, kept their composure and possessed the ball even down the stretch," added Harks, whose team will face 6th-seeded Conant for the sectional title.

Playing without injured midfielders Chantel Carranza, Kathryn Hill and Kayla Villa, the Saints kept battling thanks in part to the leadership provided by senior Rose Stackhouse.

"I'm real proud of our group of kids," said DiNuzzo. "One word to describe them would be resilient. They fought through some difficult things.

"We lost three key players and it's not an excuse - North deserved to win. They're a fantastic team but I was very proud of our girls' efforts."