Wentzel calmly sends Conant to supersectional

From the outside, Conant freshman Drew Wentzel seemed the calmest player at Norris Stadium as she prepared to take a penalty kick awarded to her team with 1:06 left in the first overtime of a scoreless girls soccer Class 3A sectional title match between the Cougars and Schaumburg.

Not everything is as it seemed, however, though Wentzel certainly knew what she wanted to do.

“When I take PK’s, I zone everything out and I focus on the corner that I’m kicking to,” Wentzel said. “And I don’t face the goalie. That’s usually what zones people out. Once they look at the goalie, then they’re going to kick it right to the goalie. The thing is to take big breaths, take big steps and aim where you want to go.”

Wentzel followed those instructions perfectly on Friday night, then stepped up, put ball to the right and into the net and then turned to meet her onrushing teammates who wanted to celebrate after the Cougars (19-4) secured a 1-0 victory and advanced to Tuesday’s 6 p.m. Elk Grove supersectional against Loyola.

“We went to state two years ago and a lot of these girls were there,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “We got caught up by St. Charles North last year, and that was 5-0 so it was big to come back this year and play well in the tournament. And we have done that.”

Wentzel emerged as the team’s penalty kick taker after discussions this week in practice.

“My sister (Paige) and I have been the PK takers on our local teams,” Drew Wentzel said. “I guess when we practiced it, (Franco) felt I was the one most-ready to take on the pressure. I’ve been put in those positions and I’ve came through in those.”

Despite being a freshman, she is experienced at the craft, something she showed as she dispatched the kick. Wentzel showed no emotion until the ball hit the back of the net, at which point she turned, put both arms at 90 degree angles with her fists clenched and waited the crush of charging Cougars.

“It seems calm from everyone else’s point of view,” Wentzel said. “For me, my heart is pumping and I’ve got butterflies. I don’t know how people see that I’m calm because I feel that I’m going to break down. But I guess I just pull through every time.”

All that nervous tension burst as the ball hit the back of the Saxons net and Conant secured its second-ever supersectional spot.

“It’s just a wave of emotion,” Wentzel said. “I’m usually not that person to pull through for my team because I play defense. Yeah, I make a few saves once in a while. But to be that one person to pick up the team when we’re down and putting the goal in when we should have – it felt amazing.”

Schaumburg (18-3-2) saw its sterling postseason run come to an end, and the Saxons exhibited a number of emotions. Some crouched in silent reflection and stared at the field. Others cried. Others quietly walked off the field.

“We played as hard as we could and that’s a tough way to end the season,” Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat said.

The Saxons had reason to feel hard feelings over the way overtime played out. With three minutes left in that opening overtime, a breakaway foul was committed by a Schaumburg player, and a red card was issued, forcing the Saxons to play with 10 players the rest of the match.

Then the penalty kick call came following a through ball by Conant’s Christina Rosales to Sammi van de Linde. Even Franco admitted justice was harsh on the Saxons.

“That is hard,” Franco said. “I was starting to think it was going into a shootout. It was a deserved red. The ball popped out and my player got taken out and it’s the last defender. It was a little unlucky on the penalty. I would be upset if it my team too. It’s a hard way to end the game, by any means.”

Both team’s goalies – Conant’s Lindsay Fillingim and Schaumburg’s Tressa Palcheck – had moments of brilliance in the match. Palcheck was called into action for the largest saves, including a breakaway stop against Hailey Andress early in the first half and a point-blank save from Kaitlin Chiero one minute into the second half.

“She made some excellent saves and had an excellent game,” Franco said of Palcheck. “It’s too bad she had to try to stop a penalty kick to keep them in the game. But the whole (Schaumburg) team, for being beat up and injured, they played really hard.”