Waubonsie Valley 1, St. Charles North 0
"I think player to player, we can match up pretty well with them," St. Charles North girls soccer coach Ruth Vostal said of Waubonsie Valley. "But they had one incredible player in the middle tonight."
Anyone familiar with Illinois high school soccer knows exactly to whom Vostal was referring.
"Right when I got the ball, I looked up and saw that I had a lot of space," said Waubonsie central midfielder Bri Rodriguez. "I just tried to get myself on an angle and get myself a nice shot."
In Tuesday's battle between two teams unbeaten in Upstate Eight Conference play, Rodriguez took a pass from Jessie Morgan near the right sideline and took off on a 40-yard diagonal jaunt to the top of the penalty area.
Rodriguez took the shot and the top-ranked Warriors (13-0-1, 6-0) had all the scoring they needed in a 1-0 win over the No. 5 North Stars (10-4, 5-1) in Aurora.
The Warriors also weathered the loss of sophomore and leading scorer Vanessa DiBernardo, who left the game for good 25 minutes in with a leg injury.
Waubonsie Valley had the better of play through 40 minutes, possessing well and forcing 6 first-half saves from North Stars goalkeeper Vicki Traven. The Warriors sent another 8 shots wide before halftime.
"In the first half they maintained quite a bit of the possession, but after we made some changes offensively we were able to get it to our offensive people," Vostal said. "At this point in the year, a 1-0 loss doesn't bother me, if we can learn and tweak and make some adjustments."
The North Stars' Lauren Klopmeyer cleared a ball from the goalmouth in the 45th minute, and Traven stuffed a Jessica Price shot from close range shortly thereafter.
The North Stars forced their first save from Warriors goalkeeper Claire Hanold in the 54th minute, and Traven was on the spot again in the 56th minute in saving a blast from Ali Stahlke at the post.
Morgan intercepted a North Stars' pass along the sideline in the 68th minute and sent it ahead to Rodriguez, who swooped in and made the game's big play, a left-footed shot that flew inside the near post.
"Last year they got up on us 1-0 and we knew this was probably going to be for conference," Rodriguez said. "They came out hard and they're a good team."
The North Stars pressured hard down the stretch, but Hanold and company held up to earn their 12th shutout of the year.
"The key was just staying organized, not getting worried and staying in control under pressure," Hanold said. "Playing smarter in the back. Stay marked up and good clears out of the box."