Girls soccer: Griswold’s early goal leads St. Charles North past Geneva
Before her first varsity DuKane Conference game, Laine Griswold visualized a word.
It’s something that St. Charles North coach Brian Harks told the team before taking the field against Geneva, to visualize something that each player wanted to do in the game.
So what was the junior’s word of choice?
“I said finisher,” Griswold said. “Before every game I always tell myself that I’m going to score. And coach Harks always emphasizes that when we shoot, we don’t want to shoot it, we expect to find the back of the net.”
And come the 13th minute, Griswold had a chance to make her visualization into a reality.
The junior scored the lone goal of the contest with 12:11 off the clock, and the North Stars would hold the lead to the final buzzer to secure a 1-0 victory over the Vikings.
“She’s come in this year and she’s really strong, fast and showed a bit of composure in front of the net,” Harks said. “In a game like this, you don’t get many opportunities, so she made the most of it for sure.”
Griswold had her lone goal for the North Stars (3-2-1 overall, 1-0 DuKane) come off of a steal in Vikings’ territory. She then ran the ball 25 yards down the pitch and slotting it into the bottom-left corner for a score.
“I’m always trying to pressure their backs as much as I can to force them to make a mistake,” Griswold said. “And I was able to finish off of it. Just took a couple of small touches, posted my foot, and got it past the goalie.”
After the early goal, the focus ended up shifting to the defensive side of the ball and making sure that the Vikings couldn’t put in an equalizer. They did just that, with the North Stars allowing no shots on goal in the contest.
“Geneva had some really good chances, and have a really talented front line,” Harks said. “But every game, our back line, with three of them being new starters, continues to get more connection and composure, and moves as a unit.”
Harks also said that the play from senior goalkeeper Lauren Korioth was impressive. While she didn’t have any saves, the senior prevented a one-on-one opportunity in the 55th minute, making a sliding tackle out of the box to prevent it.
“Her field awareness and decision making on when to hold and when to step has been fantastic,” Harks said. “She continues to get better and continues to show that she’s a more dynamic goalkeeper this season.”
Despite being held scoreless for the first time in the young season, the Vikings (3-1-1, 1-1) put plenty of pressure on the North Stars’ defense throughout the contest.
“I loved the effort out there,” Vikings coach Megan Owens said. “It was a gritty, physical game, and they played with a lot of heart and passion. We’ve got the fight in is, and I learned that about us in this game. They had one really good opportunity and they capitalized on it.”
The Vikings had plenty of shots go just wide of the goal throughout the contest. Ella Howard had a header on a corner kick just go wide of the net in the first half, while Claire Reeves had two close calls in the second half.
“We had a couple sitters and didn’t find the back of the net, and that’s part of an important lesson,” Owens said. “We’re young this year, and so part of this is growth. But I loved how hard we fought, and that’s exciting, especially in a tough, close DuKane Conference game.”