Energy missing for St. Charles North

Let's say this from the outset - losing to Sandburg, which is what happened to St. Charles North on Friday in the IHSA Class 3A semifinals - is in itself no disgrace.

The Eagles finished third in the state last year, have a lineup full of talented players and have only lost twice this year. Their 4-2 victory over the North Stars was their seventh straight.

But what left St. Charles North's players in a combination of frustration, sadness and anger was the manner in which the defeat took place.

"We just didn't have the same fight in the first half as we did in the second half," St. Charles North senior goalie Kristen Manski said. "In the second half, you could feel the energy. In the first half, we didn't have that radiating energy that we usually have. So that's disappointing. If we'd had that, it would have been a different game."

Sandburg (23-2-1) dominated the first 40 minutes, took a 3-0 lead and left the North Stars struggling to keep pace.

"They're a great team and they deserved every goal they got," St. Charles North junior midfielder Sammy Gage said. "We just felt like we should be there and that we deserved it after all the hard work we've put in this season. We needed to come out the whole game with as much heart as we heart as we ended the second half with. If we had done that, I think we would have won it."

St. Charles North (22-2-1) faces Glenbrook South at 5 p.m today in the consolation match. The Titans lost to Waubonsie Valley 2-0 in the second semifinal.

"It's just really a downer because we really wanted to go one or two this year," St. Charles North senior forward Leah DeMoss said. "But we're going to play for third."

The four goals allowed was double the most the North Stars had allowed in any match this season. The offense also struggled in a way in which it had not since St. Charles North's only other loss of the season, a 2-1 defeat by Waubonsie Valley on May 4.

"We haven't really had a loss like this," DeMoss said. "Yeah, Waubonsie Valley was bad, but it wasn't all or nothing. Even though we play tomorrow, our goal was to win at state, so this stinks."

Carson Moesle scored a first half hat trick, the first time in state finals history a player scored 3 goals in the opening 40 minutes. Moesle entered the match with 4 goals - a total she nearly doubled before halftime.

All three goals came from Nakita Jhanji corner kicks. The first two bounced through the penalty area and deflected some before reaching Moesle in the 15th minute of play. The second pair of goals, scored 1:53 apart late in the first half, went straight from Jhanji's foot to Moesle's head to the back of the net.

"The balls that they were driving across were low," Manski said. "Usually when they're higher, I can come out. But since they were all head level, I was afraid to come out and risk getting scored on. I guess it didn't matter anyway."

Three minutes after Sandburg's first goal, a lightning delay forced both teams off the field for a half-hour. When the teams returned, the Eagles' possession play resumed its pattern of sustained passing, stretching the North Stars, who were unable to establish their own style of play.

"I just saw stuff that we worked on in practice not being executed," DeMoss said. "We sat there an hour yesterday with the coaches saying 'it goes to (Moesle) every time. Get on her.' And every single time, it went to her and she scored."

At halftime, the North Stars gambled by pushing players forward. Gage moved into a center forward's role with Lauren Koehl and DeMoss playing just behind while Paige Dusek moved out wide to form a four-forward attack. And with midfielders like Alyssa Peterson, Alex Gage or Kelli Alderman moving forward, the North Stars finally had a numerical advantage in the Eagles penalty area.

The push nearly resulted in a goal when DeMoss hit the crossbar with 17 minutes to play. Unfortunately, that drive forward meant the North Stars were playing a 2-4-4 lineup, with only two defenders. Sandburg took advantage with 13 minutes to play when Erika Kotterer hit a long shot that deflected off a North Stars defender into the net.

Then the North Stars poured forward with even more venom. DeMoss ended the shutout when she came in on the left wing and scored with 8 minutes left.

"I remember our goals that we scored in the sectional games and people were jumping on each other," DeMoss said. "We scored these goals and our heads were down."

Sammy Gage scored the final goal of the match with 18 seconds to play.

"With 20 minutes left, we all looked at each other and we were like 'we have got to start moving right now.'" Gage said. "There were definitely a lot of emotions behind it. It was good to see that everyone was working hard for each other at the end. It's too bad we didn't do it the whole game."