Neuqua clinches conference crown

Neuqua Valley's hopes for an Upstate Eight Conference title in girls soccer hinged on whether the Wildcats could knock off St. Charles East in their final game of the regular season.

Mission accomplished, in a 4-1 win.

"Winning conference is something we're really psyched about," said Neuqua senior Shelbi Johnson, after netting a hat trick on Senior Day in Naperville. "I think it's the first time we've ever won it outright. This game was for the seniors."

Neuqua Valley (16-3-1, 9-0-1) and St. Charles East (9-6-2, 7-2) were tied 1-1 at halftime before Johnson scored her second and third goals and Jessica Pinto scored late in the second half.

"I felt pretty good until about 70 minutes into the game," said Saints coach Pat Feulner. "We had the tempo right where we wanted it, we were finding passing lanes and playing well.

"We made a mistake in back, and that was the turning point of the game. That second goal was the game right there."

The game's first goal came 25 minutes in, when Neuqua's Megan Oyster took a ball to the end line and centered a pass that Johnson buried from 8 yards out. Saints goalkeeper Zoie Samaan tipped a hard shot by Oyster over the crossbar 5 minutes later.

"Megan does so many great things out there," Neuqua coach Joe Moreau said. "Maybe she doesn't have a thousand goals, but she creates a lot of things."

The Saints tied the score less than a minute before halftime, when Feulner's squad put together a string of nice passes that led to a Lauren Rohrmeier finish from 10 yards out.

"I think we combined four passes in to get Lauren that score," Feulner said. "We can do that, but we just don't do it continually. It's a young team, and they haven't figured that out yet."

Just after missing on a good scoring chance, Johnson effectively scored the game-winner from point-blank range in the 70th minute of play.

"The second one was a lot for my pride, because I just sent a shot over when I was right in front," Johnson said. "It rolled right on my foot and I just tapped it in."

Johnson added a penalty kick before Pinto capped a nice day's work with a goal.

"(Pinto) won some balls in the air, went in hard on tackles, and she played with a sense of urgency today," he said.

Neuqua seniors Johnson, Rachel Suther, Alexa Gaul, Kelsey Mulcahy and Kirsten Haneberg all witnessed their final home game.

"It's a tight-knit group this year," Moreau said. "And it's because of those seniors."

The Saints play Waubonsie Valley on Thursday before heading to the Elk Grove regional, where Feulner hopes to see good things from his young squad.

"We had a ball go right through the box before they came down and scored today," Feulner said. "In games like it's one or two plays you can go back to that are the turning points in the game."

"We just have to learn to keep our heads in the game for 80 minutes and not make that play that's going to cost us."