St. Francis overcomes Glenbard South
It must have seemed to the St. Francis girls soccer players that they just couldn’t miss.
St. Francis scored a 5-0 victory against Glenbard South on Wednesday night in the Class 2A Riverside-Brookfield sectional semifinals.
“We played really well,” Spartans sophomore Anna Vonderhaar said. “We took our opportunities and took advantage of them.”
St. Francis (17-6-2) scored its first goal in the eighth minute when the Raiders (13-6-2) couldn’t clear a Sydney Fox cross. Andi Matichak toe-poked the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
“We came out not winning the ball, and you’re going to pay a price quickly when you do that,” Raiders coach Glen Eggert said. “The goal is not so much the whole as what led to the goal. We weren’t challenging the ball, we weren’t winning the duels. If you don’t challenge for the ball you’re going to end up on the wrong side of it.”
The score went to 2-0 in the 20th minute on Kaity Bucaro’s goal off an Andrea Ravlin assist.
“The first 15 minutes wasn’t too bad as far as the wind goes,” said St. Francis coach Jim Winslow, whose team attacked into the wind the first half, defended with it in the second. “And we took advantage of it because we got that one, and then that second one 12 minutes later.
“After that I kind of knew with a 2-0 lead we were in real good stead because now it’s just a matter of, anything that’s 35 yards in, you saw Taylor Bucaro, she’s dangerous on. Now you’ve got a 30 mph wind. I felt bad for the poor keeper because it’s misty, it’s windy, you can’t judge balls properly.”
In the second half Taylor Bucaro scored a pair of goals off 30-yard free kicks, and Matichak earned a brace with her 54th minute goal, a left-footed blast from just inside the right corner of the Raiders penalty area that curled inside the far post.
“I knew Glenbard South was a very good team, but I think we just played good, played how we normally do,” Taylor Bucaro said. “We played around them and we just got the job done.”
Goalkeeper Jenna Ditusa earned the shutout for St. Francis.
St. Francis will meet Nazareth at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the sectional final.