St. Charles North 2, Wheaton Academy 0

Had Wheaton North's soccer field hovered 10 feet off the ground for the first half, then each team would have found a way to play the ball on the Rexilius Field artificial surface.

As it was, the odds that the ball was going to get dirty moving on that perfectly flat field were next to nil -- which was the score both teams had after 40 minutes of play.

St. Charles North came back to Earth quicker than Wheaton Academy in the second half, and the result was a 2-0 sectional semifinal victory. The win gives the North Stars (16-5) a shot at the sectional hosts on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The first half was hard on the eyes, though.

"They were heading the ball six and seven times back and forth," St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. "I was saying to them that we are a better team when we get the ball on the ground. I think everybody is. We had to regroup and get back into our style of play."

Despite the disjointed first half play, each team had solid chances to take the lead. St. Charles North's came 10 minutes into the match when Caitlin Winkelman hit a free kick that was saved by Emily Mulder.

Wheaton Academy (15-7-2) had an even better scoring chance 4 minutes later when Jenn Lee fed Alexa Sharkey, who pulled her shot just wide left.

Leah DeMoss came close to giving the North Stars the lead after 18 minutes, but hit the right post.

DeMoss got the ball in the penalty area 4 minutes into the second half, and this time she did not miss. The sophomore scored her 12th goal of the season and gave her team a 1-0 lead.

"I was hoping it went in," DeMoss said. "It would have been awesome to score in a sectional game. I shot it with everything I had and it went in."

Space was difficult to find in a packed penalty area. But after they scored, the North Stars visibly relaxed and began to find some spaces. Paige Dusek, especially, got loose on the right wing with some consistency.

"I just saw open space and wanted to go for it," Dusek said. "Then I found the open player, go give other people the opportunities to score."

As time progressed, the North Stars moved the ball more on the ground and made the Warriors chase them. Through the first 35 minutes, Wheaton Academy's chances were extremely limited.

"I think we possessed the ball more at our feet the second half," DeMoss said. "That's more our game than playing it up in the air. It was definitely a change in the second half."

Annette Gwozdz filled a number of roles for the North Stars. She opened the match as a marking back, but then moved into the back of the North Stars 4-man midfield.

"It started some spark," Gwozdz said. "Whenever (DeMoss) or someone had a shot, we had the momentum because we were already up. We just kept going forward, forward."

After DeMoss scored, Gwozdz slid into the center of three inline defenders, acting like a dead-bolt in front of sweeper Hayley Nothnagel.

"(Lauren Stoecklen) and I love man-to-man marking," Gwozdz said. "We like to take them on. They had a little bit, but our defense was pretty tight."

St. Charles North applied the finishing touch in the final 30 seconds when Alyssa Peterson hit a strong shot following a run up the left wing.

The ball was eventually knocked in by a Wheaton Academy player, but Peterson was given credit for the goal.

Wheaton North 1, WW South 0:ŒWheaton Warrenville South only suffered two losses all season, and the Tigers have their cross-town rivals to thank for both of them.

Wheaton North won 1-0 over the Tigers in a Class AA sectional semifinal on Tuesday, getting a goal from Jaime Orewiler in the first half and advancing to Thursday's sectional title game against St. Charles North.

The Falcons ended the regular season with a loss and two ties, and they made a statement in their first major postseason test Tuesday.

"I think at the end of our season, people started to doubt us," said Falcons goalkeeper Hannah Perry. "We knew we needed to step it up, and we were confident. We still believed we could beat them.

"To beat your cross-town rival in a sectional game -- it feels awesome."

Perry made 8 saves on the day, including a pair of diving saves and a tip save over the crossbar in the second half.

Wheaton North (18-2-2) came out hard and struck in the 15th minute when Orewiler took a free kick from 25 yards out.

The senior's shot bent inside the near post for her 18th goal of the year, and the day's scoring was over.

"They had the right side covered, and I just saw an opening in the left corner," Orewiler said. "I just tried to keep it low, because I have a tendency to get under it too much."

For the game the Tigers (19-2-1) earned an 8-4 edge in shots on frame and fought well throughout the second half in search of an equalizing goal.

"We got into a rhythm. In the first half we were really thrown off by their aggressive spirit," said Tigers coach Guy Callipari. "It was do-or-die in the second half, and we showed well."

"We had to hang on for the final 40 minutes," McEvilly said. "They had that (urgency) because they were down a goal, but that's their natural play, too."

Falcons defenders Meredith Chase, Erin Strom and Kristin Perrine helped Perry earn Tuesday's shutout, which ended the season for a Tigers' team that exceeded all preseason expectations this year.

"This team, this year, was so special, said Tigers senior Sarah Langlas. "I've been on so many teams in so many sports, but I've never been on a team like this one."

Callipari will say goodbye to another solid core of seniors led by Langlas, Leah Johnson, Taylor Nieling and Amy Quintana.

"More than most, they had to come the longest way," Callipari said. "And they did it with dignity and class."

"Expectations to start the season were so low, but we never worried about it," Langlas said. "We just did our thing, played together and we had a great season."

-- Gary Larsen