St. Charles N. controls play in tie with Wheaton Warrenville South

St. Charles North forward Paige Dusek is hoping her team learns a few things from Saturday's soccer game against visiting Wheaton Warrenville South.

The North Stars failed to score against the unbeaten Tigers and struggled at times to do much more than consistently blast the ball into visitor territory. Even so, the North Stars actually had the better of the play on the field and managed to keep their unbeaten string alive with a 0-0 tie.

"Wheaton Warrenville South is definitely a strong team and this was the first real tough game we had," said Dusek, who helped the North Stars (2-0-1) manage a few more opportunities than the Tigers (7-0-1). "It was a tough game. All you can do is learn from it and look to pick it up tomorrow."

Dusek had a shot on goal just 30 seconds into the contest and one minute later St. Charles North's Leah DeMoss caromed a shot off the crossbar. Wheaton Warrenville South, which was without freshman threat Lexi Peterson for the final 50 minutes of action, did not register a shot on goal into the final minute of the game.

But Kelsey Graham notched a shutout for the Tigers after stopping two shots in the first half and three more over the final 40 minutes of play.

"We're starting to wear a little bit," said Tigers coach Guy Callipari, whose offense missed Peterson after she turned an ankle in the first half and did not return on Saturday. "They're very organized and very tough (on defense) and they've got good athletes who can chase you down."

While the North Stars were stymieing Wheaton Warrenville South's defense, DeMoss created a few threats with nifty crosses, but all too often they didn't connect with teammates.

"I think the first 10 minutes we came out on fire and then we sort of stayed stagnant," North Stars coach Ruth Vostal said. "Toward the end we picked it up. We had some perfect crosses and perfect passes but we just didn't have people in the right place."

Despite having very little offense, the Tigers actually had a chance to win the game when Deena Tillawi got off a nice shot from just inside the box on the left side with 35 seconds left. It was Tillawi who had kept the North Stars from clearing the ball out, and then she recorded her team's first shot on goal. St. Charles North keeper Kristen Manski made her only save and the game ended in a scoreless draw.

"We're good with it because we all played tough and we competed," Tillawi said of the tie which snapped her team's 7-game win streak. "We're pretty banged up right now but we'll stick with it."