Girls soccer: St. Charles North shuts out Bartlett

Bartlett couldn't account for Hailey Rydberg. St. Charles North's junior forward collected a hat trick as the North Stars downed the Hawks, 4-0, in Upstate Eight crossover girls soccer action at Millennium Field in Streamwood Tuesday.

St. Charles North dominated the middle of the first half but couldn't find the back of the net until Claudia Najera found Rydberg streaking up the middle. She hit her with a perfect feed and Rydberg deked right and shot it left past Bartlett goalkeeper Nykia Wetterman.

That goal seemed to open things up for the North Stars. Rydberg scored twice more in the first 11 minutes of the second half to break the game open.

"Once we learned how they were playing and adapted, it just took one goal to get us going," said Rydberg. "From there, all the momentum kicked in and we started connecting, finding feet, and it's just a matter of putting it in the back of the net."

Three minutes after intermission, Rydberg took it up the middle and fired it in high from about 20 yards out. Eight minutes later, she got the hat trick on a shot that bounded into the net.

"We were playing a very good, defensive-minded Bartlett team that puts you under a lot of pressure, so they caused us to play a little bit rushed at the start," said SCN coach Brian Harks. "I think the more the girls started calming down and playing together, they were able to string together some passes and create some opportunities. Once they had those opportunities they stayed composed in front of the net. Hailey did an amazing job capitalizing."

Sarah Andrey finished the scoring with a long run up the right shot and a nice shot from that side.

"We didn't manage number 2 on their team (Rydberg) and she took advantage of us," said Bartlett coach Vince DiNuzzo. "We were too consumed by (Gia Wahlberg) and I thought we managed her well, but we forgot about (Hailey Rydberg) who just picked us apart."

Early in the season, it sometimes just takes awhile to put everything together.

"This is only our second opportunity to play on a full field, so we're still trying to figure things out, how to work off of each other, and how to use this beautiful, big field," Harks said. "We're coming from inside gymnasiums and just little patches of grass, so I think spacing is something that's going to take time. Being able to work off one another and then being able to connect on a big field is just something that 's going to take time."

Sami Sample pitched the shutout in goal for St. Charles North, but wasn't tested that often. She only had to make 3 saves as the defense in front of her stunted the Hawks' attack.

"I thought the second goal was the big change in the game," said DiNuzzo. "That second goal was going to give us a boost or it was going to kill us and it killed us. They played better than us today, clearly, but it was a good learning experience for us. It was good to learn from it, but we have a lot of things to fix."