St. Charles N. blanks Geneva for title
After a brief 1-year hiatus, St. Charles North’s boys soccer team is back in the sectional round of the Class 3A state tournament.
A year ago, Bartlett ended the North Stars’ 5-year reign as regional champions.
On Saturday, the second-seeded North Stars (15-3-2) spoiled Geneva’s bid for its sixth consecutive regional title by handing the seventh-seeded Vikings (7-8-3) a 3-0 defeat in Elk Grove.
Last season’s regional loss served as a rallying cry for the North Stars.
“Last year, we thought it was ours and it was a big disappointment,” said St. Charles North senior Mike Winhoffer. “Half our battle was trying to overcome that and we came back here and we did.”
The Upstate Eight Conference River Division foes played to a scoreless tie back on Sept. 20, and it looked like Saturday’s game was headed in that direction as the game remained scoreless throughout the first 38 minutes.
Tyler Davis then changed the game’s complexion when he spun around and sent a right-footed blast past Geneva keeper Steve Soderstrom to give the North Stars a 1-0 lead with 1:20 remaining before halftime.
“I got the ball thrown in to me and I turned and saw a chance to shoot,” said Davis. “So I took a shot. It deflected off someone a little bit and got away from the goalie and went right over him.”
“It was a huge goal because it kind of had that feeling where it was similar to the first time we met, and it had the potential to stay 0-0 for a long period of time,” said North Stars coach Eric Willson. “I’m pretty sure it was a deflection. That’s why you just shoot because you never know what’s going to happen.”
St. Charles North added a pair of insurance goals within a 56-second span of the second half — the first coming on Justin Stanko’s header off of Alex Behm’s corner kick before Davis slipped past a defender to notch his second goal of the game.
“That kid was working hard all first half and he continued to do it in the second (half),” Willson said of Davis. “I think he earned our ‘Man of the Match’ status with two goals. He was fantastic.”
So was the North Stars’ defense, supported by Justin Sanchez, Drew Smith, Nick Karayannis, Hayden Hagemann, and Stanko in front of 6-6 keeper Garrett Creasor.
“I think a big reason for that (lack of offense) was that North pressured us well,” said Vikings coach Ryan Estabrook. “We could say that we played poorly or recognize that North’s intensity, organization and composure in the back made it difficult for us to generate (offense).”
Davis also made things difficult on the Vikings.
“We had done a great job in our previous meeting and throughout the first 38 minutes of this game of keeping Tyler Davis ‘human,’” said Estabrook. “But he got a little space on us and struck it well. That’s the kind of stuff that he does.
“I’m sure he’ll do that on Wednesday of next week and beyond that because he’s a pretty outstanding talent.”
The North Stars will take on 11th-seeded host Bartlett Wednesday night.
“It feels good to bring the (regional) plaque back to North,” said Willson. “It’s something that we’ve been thinking about for a year now.”