St. Charles North blanks Elk Grove
Nick Graham's third-minute strike helped turn the momentum toward St. Charles North early in Wednesday night's opening-round match of the Elk Grove regional.
Garrett Morgando later doubled the advantage as the North Stars posted a 2-0 victory over the host Grens (4-12-2) in Class 3A regional semifinal.
The victory secured St. Charles North (11-5-4) a berth in the regional final on Saturday at 3 p.m. against No. 5 Rolling Meadows (10-7-3). Meadows defeated Addison Trail 3-0 in the second match at Elk Grove on Wednesday.
"It's always big to get that first goal to jump on top, especially after watching a lot of teams struggle in their playoff opener on the first day of regionals," said Graham, who was allowed to roam freely to Alex Amro's corner and thump his header in from in close for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
"You always talk about scoring first, and Nick gave us a big boost with his goal," said Stars coach Eric Willson. "But it wasn't easy after that. I feel that Elk Grove had a lot of the play during that first half until we got that second one midway through the second half.
"We've had a lot of success this season on corners and set pieces, thanks in part to having a player like Amro who can strike a pretty good ball for us. He hit a couple of really good serves which led to both goals for us."
Willson and his staff were wary of Grens junior Edgar Soto, who excels at controlling midfield. So for most of the match, Luke Denson was assigned to keeping the Grens' primary attacking piece from finding his pace and rhythm.
"We knew what he could, and at times he was able to push the attack and do some very nice creative work," Willson said. "But I thought Luke was our unsung hero with the way he marked their best player in order to keep him at bay."
Neither team got anything dangerous toward keepers Alberto Centeno (Elk Grove) or Kevin Sabres (St. Charles North), but two long free kicks from the midline by Ivan Corona forced Sabres to make saves, as the second attempt in the 29th minute spilled free near the spot.
"We didn't have a lot of chances but if we finish that 'sitter' from Ivan's free kick, maybe it's a little different of a game afterward," said Elk Grove coach Rob Shepard.
Jeronimo Benitez unloaded a left-footed blast to begin the second period for the Grens. But an alert Amro marshaled the loose ball out of the area to keep the hosts scoreless.
Minutes later, Amro's serve to the backpost found Graham, but the Grens were saved when his close-range cracker crashed off the bar.
It became 2-0 at 55 minutes when the Grens were unable to clear Amro's free kick into the box - and an opportunistic Morgando steered past a diving Centeno.
"That second one allowed a little breathing room for us, and after that, I felt like our defense really took over the rest of the way," Willson said.
Shepard said the Grens' Achilles' heel all season has been their inability to score.
"We were shut out in our final three games of the season, and again today," he said. "But our theme all season long with such a young, inexperienced team has been to grow up. And I really feel like this bunch has done very well doing so.
"We've got a lot of young players who I hope saw how tough it was for our seniors to lose their final game. Hopefully, they'll take the memory of that to help motivate their development and work going forward."