St. Charles East 3, Batavia 2
Great goals, end-to-end action and a late game-winner -- there was just a little bit of everything at Norris Stadium on Wednesday when St. Charles East and Batavia met in nonconference girls soccer action.
The host Saints came away 3-2 winners in a game that saw momentum shift from team to team for practically the entire 80 minutes.
The winning goal came just 3 minutes from the end of the match, when Kerry Savage sent Ellen Bartindale free at the top of the left side of the penalty area. Bartindale moved forward and unleashed an unstoppable shot for her second goal of the game and her 11th goal of the season.
"That one felt great," Bartindale said. "It's always important in a rivalry game to come out strong. We did it as a team. After a rough weekend, we came together and brought it home."
The Saints (9-5) had to dig deep to win the contest against Batavia (6-6-1). While it took 36 minutes for the goals to start flowing, once they started, there was rarely a break in the action.
"Our word this year is 'relentless,'" Bartindale said. "Even when it wasn't on our side, we kept the talk up, kept the energy up and it helped get it back in our direction."
Even when the game was scoreless, the chances ebbed from team to team. Ashley Miller sent a free header over the crossbar for St. Charles East in the 23rd minute. In the 29th minute, Batavia's Dana Landem sent a fierce shot narrowly wide.
The goal that broke the scoreless tie was another screamer -- this one from Haleigh Erwin, an 18-yarder that roared in at the left post. The goal was Erwin's first of the season.
"I was so excited," Erwin said. "We're both good teams and we have a lot of good players. So it was a good game."
St. Charles East's response took just over 2 minutes to create. Emily Stahulak sent a leading pass to Bartindale, who helped the ball the rest of the way into the net.
Bartindale, who started the season playing forward, operated as a forward-minded midfielder in the Saints' 3-5-2 formation Wednesday.
The game remained tied for the final 96 seconds of the first half, the 10-minute halftime and the opening 96 seconds of the second half. This time Bartindale was the provider with a ball to the left from the center of the field. Caren Bieschke converted and the Saints had the lead.
Erwin equalized for Batavia with 25 minutes left when she weaved through the Saints defense before she scored her second goal of the match.
"We have good forwards and we've just been kind of struggling," Erwin said. "We sometimes play long balls and that's harder for them. But they work very hard. It's unfortunate we didn't get the win."