St. Charles North beats WW South in season opener
Simply taking the pitch for the season opener Tuesday brought "the greatest feeling ever" for St. Charles North's Luke Persenico.
After months of uncertainty surrounding the status of several high school sports seasons, Tuesday represented something far different than contact days or tryouts - an actual soccer game.
The North Stars delivered on a 5-2 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in the DuKane Conference victory to kick off the season.
"Honestly, after not thinking we were going to have a senior season, it's so great to know that all your work paid off in the offseason, ready to get on the field and do your best" said Persenico, who scored two goals in his season debut. "I know our team - we have several players that have worked all year [to get here.]"
It took some time for the North Stars to settle in, as the Tigers took a 1-0 lead on a goal by junior Jason Weisheit about 10 minutes in. The North Stars answered with the equalizer from Sam Strader to make it 1-1 at the half.
Persenico turned it up a notch out of halftime.
After an initial shot on goal from Strader glanced off Tigers goalie Kieran Cassidy, Persenico charged in on the rebound to hammer it home with 33:23 left. Nearly three minutes later, an identical sequence followed and Persenico again found the back of the net.
"Our coaches always tell us to crash the net whenever," Persenico said. "So, I just saw those shots and those opportunities go into the net and I knew to crash the keeper [knowing] he hasn't been holding balls well. Just wanted to crash right away."
The Tigers (0-1, 0-1) responded with a quick answer, as Eric Vargas snuck a ball over to Issa Husseini in-stride to make it a one-goal match with 28:27 left. But the North Stars clamped down defensively and kept the pressure on.
"Definitely hard to get into the flow when we haven't played with each other enough," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "We just hadn't played enough time together to find any continuity or rhythm in our play. But, we wanted to come out and have a test, and they are certainty worthy of that test."
Persenico is one of the North Stars' most potent offensive threats, but he's hardly alone in that category. North Stars seniors Branden Collins and Jared Sinnaeve each found the back of the net to keep the Tigers at bay.
"Team chemistry is great. Our midfielders, they are great. We love building [the attack] out of the midfield," Persenico said.
"It's been awhile since we've been playing together, so you figure the first half might have a little bit of rust in it," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "I think we've got some significant growing to do on the defensive end from the very top of the field all the way to our back line. It's everybody involved."
The North Stars (1-0, 1-0) have 12 players new to the varsity level, so meshing in formations, communication on the field and more will be key aspects moving forward.
"The whole idea for us tonight was just to be relentless on our attack, and I thought the second half we really started to do the things that we do well, and we were driving toward the goal through our midfielders," Willson said. "Sam Strader was fantastic with what he was doing in the middle of the field. Jared, Branden, those guys in the middle - really are the engine for us. Once we can get them rolling and get Luke and everyone else involved, good things are going to happen."