St. Charles ready for New Trier
For the second straight year, the St. Charles boys lacrosse team is back in the state semifinals. St. Charles will play at New Trier's Northfield stadium at 5:30 p.m. tonight.
New Trier is 11-2 and seeded third in the state playoffs. They defeated Lake Forest 8-4 on Saturday to advance to the semis, while St. Charles is 13-4 and seeded seventh. They beat the No. 2 seed, Glenbrook North on Saturday 8-7 to advance.
The biggest difference between this year's St. Charles Final Four team and last year's is the unselfishness of the players. None of the players are looking to be individual superstars; they are just looking to win.
"Saturday's win vs. GBN was one of the greatest and most exciting games that I have been a part of," St. Charles coach Andy Thompson said. "Our guys truly played a team game. This is why I love this sport so much…A few great individuals will not beat a complete team. This is a lesson that can be learned from lacrosse that the players will use throughout their lives."
New Trier is the three-time defending state champs and the same team that kept St. Charles from advancing to the state championship game a year ago to the day.
"Our guys are going into New Trier with a lot of confidence," Thompson said. "We are peaking at the right time and playing our best lacrosse right now. We also have not forgotten about last year and that it was New Trier that kept us from going to a state championship. There is no doubt that New Trier is going to be a very tough team to beat. They have a great tradition of quality teams, individual players and coaches. We respect them and are up for the challenge."
Looking at common opponents, New Trier defeated Glenbrook North in the regular season by the same 8-7 score that St. Charles won by on Saturday in the state quarterfinals..
The other semifinal game is between Lyons Township (21-0) and Loyola (16-5). Lyons is the heavy favorite in this matchup. If Lyons and St. Charles can each win their semifinal games, it would be only the second time in the last 20 years of the state tournament that neither New Trier nor Loyola played in the championship game.