St. Francis’ magical run ends
The magical postseason run of the St. Francis boys soccer team came to a long, drawn-out end Tuesday night in the Class 2A DeKalb 1 supersectional.
Chicago Mather scored twice in the opening minutes, extended its lead to 4-0 at halftime and cruised to a 7-1 victory.
St. Francis (14-10-4) saw its season come to a close despite losing for the first time since Oct. 6. The Spartans had entered Tuesday’s match, 7-0-2 in its previous nine contests, and the only non-victories were ties to Class 3A Elgin and Larkin.
“It’s the farthest our program has ever been and we weren’t expected to make it this far, but the boys definitely wanted it,” St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley said. “They had the heart for it, they came together, things fell into place and it was all of them wanting it.”
The Spartans couldn’t match the quickness and passing ability of the Bears. While only creating a couple scoring chances of their own, the Spartans were constantly forced to defend their own goal and try to protect goalkeeper Ryan Suerte.
“I don’t want to make this about them because I have a whole other thing with them with cheating,” Keigley said. “I want to make it about my boys and what they did, and they were able to score, they played with heart and they played with intensity and I’m going to leave it with that.”
Qudus Lawal put the Bears ahead when he took possession in the ninth minute just inside the 20-yard line. With his back to the goal, Lawal made a quick turn to fire a shot past Suerte.
Before the Spartans knew what hit them, the Bears struck again when Kevin Ramirez connected on a free kick from the 12-yard line, clearing St. Francis’ wall as well as Suerte to make it 2-0.
Lawal’s fancy footwork came into play throughout the contest but was especially productive later in the first half when he assisted on a pair of goals, both to Chizom Ogbonna. On the first Juan Mendez sent a pass to Lawal who flicked a cross to Ogbonna with 15:11 remaining. The next one came with 8:34 left before halftime to turn it into a 4-0 rout.
Chicago Mather (19-3-1) continued to control the contest into the second half, despite the big lead and with the Spartans having the wind at their backs.
“I think part of it was we had a large number of seniors in our starting lineup and they always have in the back of their mind this could be their last game,” Keigley said. “They didn’t want to just let it end at halftime and wanted to continue to play as hard as they could.”
The Bears tacked on three more goals in the second half before the Spartans broke the shutout with 1:13 left on a header by junior Brett Jungles.
“He’s our far post specialist,” Keigley said. “If you need a ball in the air on the far post, he’ll usually be there for you. He’s a catcher so he’s fearless.”
While Tuesday signified the end for the Spartans this fall, it did nothing to tarnish a team that knocked off rival Wheaton Academy on the road to winning the first sectional title in school history.
“It’s big for the school and for the boys, and it’s big for myself and my assistant coach,” Keigley said. “It’s nice to have this milestone and the school behind us.”