St. Francis gets by on heart and guts

Is it heart you're looking for in a regional title game? Guts? Courage, even?

All were on display from both soccer teams in St. Francis' 3-0 Class 2A win over Glenbard South on Saturday.

The Spartans celebrated the program's first regional title since 2002, and there was no shortage of beaming faces on the St. Francis sideline after the win.

"We've been looking forward to this all season," the Spartans' Meagan Gitchell said. "We've got a good team and we've been working really hard."

Second-seeded St. Francis improved to 21-3 on goals from Gitchell, Jackie Leffelman and Sydney Fox. Gitchell and Fox had a goal and an assist each, and Andi Matichak also had an assist.

St. Francis plays No. 3 Nazareth in Wednesday's sectional semifinal at Wheaton Academy.

Eighty-degree heat on the artificial surface of West Chicago's field offered a brutal endurance test for both sides, and fans witnessed a pair of particularly gutsy efforts from St. Francis' Yasmeen Mahmud and Glenbard South's Dani Warner.

Warner was all over the field, while marking back Mahmud chased speedy Raiders forward Taylor Cochran around the pitch all day.

"It was horrible," Mahmud said of the heat. "I thought by the second half (Cochran) would just be whizzing right by me. I just tried to stay close and step in front as much as I could."

"Yasmeen was outstanding," Spartans coach Tim Dailey said. "I thought our four defenders and our goalkeeper did a great job today."

Mahmud, Leffelman, Diana Matusiak and Lauren Szalach forced long-range Raiders shots throughout, and goalkeeper Kim Gianos handled them well in earning the shutout.

The No. 7 Raiders came out hard and controlled play through 15 minutes before the Spartans began matching their speed and physical play.

Gitchell broke a scoreless tie just before halftime, heading in a Fox corner kick feed to the near post. The 1-0 lead held until the 72nd minute, when Leffelman buried a head shot at the far post on corner kick feed from Gitchell.

"It was nice to see us get those goals on two corner kicks, because that's not something we usually do," Dailey said. "I thought after we started to match their physical play, we played well."

For courage you didn't need to look any further than Raiders' senior Meghan Pipal, playing like a warrior on one healthy knee for 80 minutes. You can also learn a lot about the heart of the losing team in any regional final, and there wasn't a dry-eyed Raider on the field after the final buzzer.

The Raiders finished the season at 8-8-4 but went 8-3-4 after an 0-5 season start.

"They wanted to keep playing so badly," said Glenbard South coach Glen Eggert. "We have so many injuries, but these are just a bunch of neighborhood girls that gave it up for each other.

"They gave it everything they had today and I'm very proud of them."