St. Francis 3, Aurora Central Catholic 0
The sky above the soccer field at St. Francis didn't truly go dark until halftime, and that's when the new field lights really illuminated Wednesday's game.
The Spartans' attack lit up the place pretty well, too.
"They're a skilled team, they had a lot of possession, and No. 7 is special," said Aurora Central Catholic coach Nathan Drye after his squad defended hard throughout a 3-0 Spartans' win in a Suburban Catholic Conference game in Wheaton.
No. 7 would be the Spartans' Sarah Vargyas, who scored twice before halftime and punctuated a night of cohesive team play and sharp passing with a pair of exceptional individual runs at goal.
"The midfield played good, we worked it around, and I was just the one who was open for those shots," Vargyas said.
Her modesty aside, Vargyas twice dribbled through a crowd of defenders before breaking in alone on net and scoring from close range.
"That's why you need to have somebody like Sarah that can make things happen," said Spartans coach Tim Dailey. "We passed it around very well, but we can pass, pass, pass all night long and it doesn't mean anything until somebody puts one in."
St. Francis (4-1, 1-0) got a third goal in the second half when a Vargyas corner kick hit a crowd in front of the goal and squirted out to Katie Slavin, who stepped onto it hammered it home from 20 yards out.
Dailey also credited Nora Quirk and Jackie Leffelman for a pair of fine performances.
"Nora started because Kristen Ricondo is hurt, and she did an outstanding job," Dailey said. "She was all over the place tonight."
Dailey also applauded the effort put forth by the Chargers, who didn't give away anything easy for 80 minutes.
Aurora Central Catholic (2-4-2, 0-2) got an exceptional night's work from goalkeeper Izabel Garcia, who made 11 saves on the night. The Chargers' back line also fought tooth and nail against the pervasive Spartans' attack.
"I was very happy with the way our defense played," Drye said. "Our goalkeeper had a very good game, and our sweeper (Brittany Holzer) bailed us out quite a few times.
"I was happy with how our girls competed tonight."
The new lighting system installed at St. Francis is the first "green" lighting system in DuPage County, using reflector technology that cuts energy costs by 50 percent.
Spartans fans also showed up in good numbers for the first night game in girls soccer at the school.
"I love night games. They're so fun," said Spartans senior Crossley Simmons.
"It was fun. We got a good crowd, and that really helped us a lot," Vargyas said. "It was good to come out here to something new."