St. Charles East finishes off St. Charles North
Jonny Bren scored twice in just under a three-minute span to rally St. Charles East to a 3-1 victory over St. Charles North in an Upstate Eight Conference match at Norris Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 in the 26th minute, Bren scored on a play that started on a corner kick that caromed off a defender. He followed it in with 15:08 remaining in the opening half to make it 1-all.
"A deflection came out and I saw it rolling and just ran to it," Bren said. "I was able to put up a good shot and it was great to tie it up and start the game over."
Bren put the Saints ahead for good in the 29th minute when he dribbled near the top of the penalty box, worked his way free and blasted the go-ahead goal from the 10-yard line.
"I saw a nice opening once I got past the defender," he said. "I was just able to poke it through."
St. Charles East (8-5-1, 3-0) carried the momentum into the second half when the Saints controlled the possession game for the first 15 minutes before the North Stars finally came to life.
The North Stars produced seven shot attempts in the next 11 minutes, but came up empty each time. Mike Winhoffer had 3 shots during the time frame while Jared Casey, Matt Rasmussen, Hayden Hagemann and Noah Anthony also weren't able to find the back of the net.
"We can't score right now, we're having a really tough time putting the ball in the net," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "We had plenty of opportunities, especially in the second half. We made their keeper look pretty fantastic by playing seven shots right to him."
Some of their troubles came from the play of Saints' goalkeepers Eric Meesenburg, who made a few nice saves.
"Meesenburg made some big saves, but at the same time that's his job," Saints coach Paul Jennison said. "If you can ride a storm like that and come out the other end, then good for you. I can't fault the guys for putting three in the net. We fought a very good team and I'm just very happy."
St. Charles North (11-4-2, 2-2) remained within striking distance until the Saints scored an insurance goal with less than 15 minutes remaining.
Defender Eric Russell displayed a strong leg, blasting a free kick from beyond midfield to set up Ethan Jendrzejczyk.
"In the game of soccer you can't ever lose focus when you're defending the box and we did," Willson said. "We had a hard-fought 2-1 game and we completely lost our man on that back side. And that's the ballgame, thanks for coming."
Finishing with a tough goal was extremely satisfying for Jennison and the Saints who have created plenty of opportunities to score this season but continue to have their share of problems finishing.
"We haven't finished shots all season. We've dominated games and haven't been able to close," Jennison said. "I think they worked very hard for each other today. I was proud of the whole effort and I'm glad for a game this size that everything came together."
The North Stars received their lone goal from Connor Lefelstein at 31:23 in the first half when he connected from about 30 yards out as he hooked a shot just inside the right post.