St. Charles N. advances; East knocked out

Dan Figura and the phrase "goal scoring sensation" haven't been even remotely synonymous this fall. In fact, Figura went through his entire junior regular season without a goal.

But what a time to hit the back of the net for the first time ­- with 18 minutes left in a tied match in the opening round of the IHSA tournament. Figura's flick header helped the North Stars rise from the goo of their stadium field, recover from a 1-0 halftime deficit and knock Glenbard North from the tournament with a 2-1 victory.

"It was like disbelief at first," Figura said. "But when it went in - it was awesome."

Figura's goal helped the North Stars (11-8-2) advance to Saturday's regional title match against top-seeded Larkin.

And that won the match because the North Stars recovered from a first half in which Glenbard North not only took the lead but could have added to their advantage and possibly put the match out of reach.

The Panthers (11-5-4) took the lead in the 16th minute when Nestor Gorostieta knocked in a left-to-right ground hugging shot that just went in at the far post.

Gorostieta sent a rasping shot over the cross bar with 16 minutes to play in the half. And from a corner kick late in the half, a pair of Panthers, including Alex Graf, had efforts blocked.

"They played tough," Glenbard North coach Greg Chrisman said. "My guys came out and gave it their best."

St. Charles North made some adjustments in the second half. The defense needed to play tighter and the attack needed to show more bite. The North Stars displayed both through the second 40 minutes.

"They were beating us to the ball some in the first half," St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. "We had to make a little more commitment to get to those second balls. And we had to try to get hungrier in the box."

It only took 90 seconds for the North Stars to equalize when Bob Lundeen floated the ball from the left wing over the Panthers goalkeeper and into the right side netting. Then Lundeen nearly put his team ahead. By the time Figura scored, the chances were nearly all falling the North Stars way.

"We've had to fight all year," Willson said. "We certainly had to fight hard tonight. It was exciting. There's no doubt about that."

Lake Park d. St. Charles East: Tuesday's regional boys soccer semifinal between Upstate Eight Conference rivals Lake Park and St. Charles East required more than the regulation 80 minutes to decide.

The two teams nearly stayed tied throughout the entire first overtime period before Lake Park's Edwin Castro received an opportunity for a penalty kick, as he was tripped from behind inside the box. Castro lined up for the shot with 54 seconds remaining in overtime and struck the ball past the outstretched arm of Saints goalie Scott Dettro, giving the Lancers a 2-1 win in Roselle.

"It was a little nerve-racking, but it was good," Castro said. "At the end of the game, when we knew we were going to overtime, we just had to step up."

The Lancers (14-5-5) played Tuesday's game without co-captain Ken Miller - a loss which worried Lake Park coach Norm Hillner.

"With one of our top players not playing, we were just hoping to get by," Hillner said. "We were a little concerned with how we would deal with that, and we did fine."

Lake Park opened the game well, earning a 1-0 lead in just the fifth minute of the game. Senior forward Dan Messina bounced a throw-in off his chest before streaking the ball across the ground and past Dettro for the early Lancer lead.

The Saints (9-7-7) refused to play catch-up for long, though, answering in the 19th minute. Junior Corey Novotny sneaked a shot past Colin Norman's left side to knot the game at 1-1.

Lake Park had several second-half chances to put St. Charles East away before overtime, yet couldn't manage to capitalize. The Lancers missed a shot on a wide-open look, and had a goal taken stricken from the scoreboard after a delayed foul call toward midfield.

Saints coach Paul Jennison felt heartbroken over the season ending on a penalty kick but acknowledged that a season-long inability to finish off opponents is what really hurt his team in the end.

"We played against them once this year - and I told (the Saints), 'They've got some good players, and if you let them hang around, they're going to sniff one out,'" Jennison said. "We did let them hang around, and they got one."

­­­- Matthew McClarey