St. Charles N. ousts Glenbard W.
Teams find their offensive sparks in many places. It’s always hard to predict where a rallying cry might come from.
For St. Charles North, the galvanizing moment in Tuesday’s Class 3A regional semifinal with Glenbard West came early in the second half when Michelle Johnson went to the ground following a collision and stayed on the stadium grass before being helped from the field. The nature of the injury is unclear, though she took a knock to the knee and was not putting any weight on her left leg as she departed the field.
But after Johnson hit the turf, the North Stars found the high gear they had been missing recently. After leading 1-0 over Glenbard West at halftime and after getting an early goal in the second half, the North Stars motored to a 4-1 victory.
“(Johnson) is so tenacious and we all just kind of got ticked off,” St. Charles North senior Sammy Gage said. “Then we just had shots flying everywhere.”
Another of the North Stars seniors, KK Barr, confirmed that the team’s mood became stronger after Johnson was carried from the pitch.
“She is our team and watching her go down made some of us really mad,” Barr said. “We have a really strong team and we work really hard for each other. When you see one of us working hard, it’s contagious for the rest of us.”
The longer the match stayed 1-0, the greater the chance a small mistake might leave the No. 3-seeded North Stars (12-3-1) tied or worse in a game against No. 14-seed Glenbard West (6-9-4.)
“We knew that we really needed to pick up the intensity,” Gage said. “We knew that the longer that we kept that game 1-0, the longer that we gave them to come back into it.”
Shannon Lee eased those worries with a strike less than 2 minutes into the second half. The third goal came from Gage, another long-range powered shot.
Glenbard West avoided the shutout when Molly Abromitis scored with 13 minutes to play.
“We didn’t want to go in thinking we were going to lose and we didn’t,” Abromitis said. “We went in with our heads held high. We’ve been through a lot in the past few weeks with injuries and some unfortunate losses. We came out to play and it didn’t go our way.”
Lauren Koehl finished the scoring when she muscled through the defense and rode tackles before finding the net with 3:38 to play.
But it was those goals early in each half that proved decisive, and Lee’s long-range strike was the goal from which Glenbard West never found an answer.
“Obviously St. Charles is a quality opponent,” Glenbard West coach Maciek Kusmierz said. “We have a fairly young team at the back and the girls have to be exposed to that situation when you play against a tough team in the playoffs.”
Elk Grove 2, Bartlett 1: One of the hottest teams entering the playoffs, Bartlett got a near-perfect start when Nicole Gobbo scored just 3 minutes into Tuesday’s second semifinal at St. Charles North.
But the Hawks (11-7-4) were unable to hold Elk Grove at bay and the Grenadiers finished with a 2-1 victory.
While Bartlett had a few other chances, the bulk of the possession and shots came from Elk Grove, and with 11 minutes left in the half, Lindsey Vaccarino fed Kelly Naughton, who tied the match.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Naughton beat Bartlett’s defense as it pushed forward and Michelle Calmeyn ran onto the ball and scored.
Elk Grove (10-6-5) faces St. Charles North at 6 p.m. on Friday for the regional title.
St. Charles East 1, Wheaton North 0: The Saints earned a shot at No. 1 seed Conant by beating host Wheaton North in 2 overtimes Tuesday. No. 8 St. Charles East plays Conant, an 8-0 winner Tuesday, at 6 p.m. Friday.