St. Charles East wins after difficult day at school
Geneva's boys soccer team won a nailbiter, St. Charles East survived a late comeback and both teams earned the chance to play each other for a regional title on Saturday at Norris Stadium.
The only thing that has spread as quickly as the flu-like virus at St. Charles East was Saints junior Jesse Nagelberg's ability to find the back of the net.
With many of his teammates not feeling healthy, and with a few sidelined with prior injuries, Nagelberg scored just 71 seconds in during Tuesday's regional contest against Glenbard West at St. Charles East's Norris Stadium.
The Saints would never relinquish their early lead in defeating the Hilltoppers, 3-1. They will play Geneva, a 3-2 winner over Streamwood, for the regional title at 3 p.m. Saturday.
"That was absolutely fantastic," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "Charlie (Lyon) can kick the length and we talk about big pressure and working as a team and it was fantastic. I'm happy for them."
The teams would battle for possession for the remainder of the first half, with neither team having any luck scoring.
"We talk about mental mistakes and unfortunately we made one in the very first minute and that set the tone," Hilltoppers coach Maciek Kusmierz said. "Today just wasn't our day and the better team won."
St. Charles East (11-8-2) got an all-important second goal with 31:34 remaining in the contest. The play originated from Eric Russell who played the ball to Dylan Tucker. Jordan Stallman netted a header from Tucker.
"We play it deep and it was a perfect ball from Eric," Stallman said. "Dylan headed it right to my foot and all I had to do was poke it in."
With a 2-goal advantange the Saints felt a little less queasy about a potential comeback from the Hilltoppers.
"We were all pushing so hard for that second goal, especially in the second half," Saints defender John Schnell said. "When we got it we could relax more and play our game."
Glenbard West (10-10) made the match interesting when J.P. Minogue was able to bound a shot past Saints goalkeeper Charlie Lyon with 18:10 remaining but that was all the Hilltoppers could muster.
Bobby Shone then sealed the victory when he dribbled the ball in from midfield before blasting a successful shot with a little more than 1 minute remaining.
The Saints received a nice boost from Corey Mondul and freshman Kevin Kurtz. After getting their first varsity appearances on Saturday against Bartlett, the two played a valuable role in this victory.
"Today has been a pretty rough day for our school and I can't tell you how proud I am of them coming out and giving everything they've got," Jennison said. "They've really gone above and beyond what could be expected of them."