St. Charles North finally snaps Waubonsie’s streak

With so many chances for both teams, it was a little surprising that there was only goal in Wednesday’s St. Charles North-Waubonsie Valley match.

What wasn’t a surprise was the grittiness of the game’s only goal, scored by St. Charles North’s Lisa Manski in the 19th minute of the second half. Manski rose and headed in from 10 yards following a left wing cross by Alex Gage.

“Allie kicked it and I saw it and I just ran as fast as I could and put everything I had into it,” Manski said. “It was pretty much off my fact and it went into the back corner.”

It has been something like eight years since St. Charles North defeated Waubonsie Valley. That doesn’t mean every match has been one-sided. A year ago, the North Stars led 1-0 but lost 2-1.

“We wanted to win this game so badly,” Manski said. “Waubonsie is everything we work for the whole season.”

Viewed from high above the field, the match looked intense. But viewed from close to the pitch, the intensity was more akin to the playoffs than a key midseason conference match.

“We’ve had great teams and they’ve had great teams,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “Even though it’s different players, they know what it means to play Waubonsie and they’re always a great team.”

Both sides came close at other times to scoring. The earliest chances fell to St. Charles North (5-2) and freshman Sophie Pohl, who had a shot stopped 4 minutes into the match and had a second shot blocked away moments after.

Pohl’s third scoring chance came in the 13th minute when she got free of the defense, beat Waubonsie Valley’s goalie but then shot wide.

“We’ve been having a hard time finding the net when we’ve played good teams,” Vostal said. “I think we’re creating good chances, but we’re not necessarily finding the net.”

The bulk of the chances then fell to Waubonsie Valley (3-3). Jenna Romano’s sharp long-range effort was saved by Kendall Karr at the midpoint of the first half. Two minutes into the second half, Karr saved with her feet when Kendall Karr came in on a breakaway.

Megan Green then hit the left post and the crossbar with efforts that seemed goal-bound.

“We hit every post that’s available and they got a foot save,” Waubonsie Valley coach Julie Bergstrom said. “Things didn’t roll our way.”

The creative opportunities were certainly there for the Warriors even though the end result was something that left the visitors quiet and unhappy following the match.

“We moved the ball,” Bergstrom said. “We’ve just got to make something happen.”

Green said her team will learn from Wednesday’s game.

“I think we came out with a lot of heart in the second half,” Green said. “We just didn’t put it away like we should have. I think every single one of us put effort into it. But we were really unlucky.”

Facing that onslaught, St. Charles North’s defense fared well. Gage is a returning player in defense as is senior KK Barr. But sophomore defenders Jorie Clawson and Kenzie Rose are new to the defense as is goalie Karr, who is a senior. And that quintet had to scramble frequently to preserve their lead.

“We knew that they were going to come hard,” Barr said. “They pushed a lot of people forward. They took a defender and put her up. We had to constantly keep changing our marks. I think, for the most part, our defense was great at recovering.”