Wheaton Warrenville South 2, St. Charles East 0.
For the best part of a decade, Wheaton Warrenville South's girls soccer season has finished its season in the state sectionals or beyond.
Last year, in fact, a run of 8 straight sectional final appearances ended with a regional title loss to St. Charles East.
WW South (19-1-1) returns to the sectionals this year, and they earned that right with a 2-0 Friday victory over the Saints at Norris Stadium.
"We came out here and knew we could do it," WW South senior Allie Bellmer said. "It was just a matter of coming out here and putting it all together. Everyone on this team was so unbelievably excited about this. It is so unbelievably amazing."
Bellmer's offensive contributions to the victory were massive. She hit the blistering shot 8 minutes into the second half that turned into the Tigers first goal
St. Charles East goalie Zoie Samaan parried the shot, but the rebound fell kindly in the 6-yard box for Nicole LaPetina, who scored.
"My team is unbelievable at that -- Nicole's always there," Bellmer said.
Bellmer scored the second goal 3 minutes from the end of the game. With St. Charles East pushing forward in search of an equalizer, a long ball created a 1-on-1 situation for Bellmer with Samaan. Bellmer finished the chance to seal the victory and a spot in Tuesday's Wheaton North Sectional semifinals.
"I just went with it," Bellmer said. "Everyone was just 'go!' So I went with it. It was a good ball over, a perfect ball over."
The Tigers defense stood tall late in the contest. Twice after Bellmer's goal, St. Charles East had chances to reduce the deficit and set up a potentially-wild finish.
First Bridget Shrigley headed the ball off the goal line and then goalie Katlyn Barnes saved an Ellen Bartindale free kick.
The Saints (11-8-1) advanced to the supersectional in 2007 but were unable to find postseason magic this year.
"(WW South) is a great team," St. Charles East senior Bartindale said. "If it can make it easier, it's losing to a team that is really good and not a fluky thing."
WW South's midfield kept the Saints from getting outside them and sending crosses from the corner all evening. And the defense dealt almost entirely with what balls got through the defense. The combination made life difficult for St. Charles East's forwards.
"It was really hard," Bartindale said. "But we worked as a team and everyone gave their all. You can't ask for more."
From off-season injuries to forward Kara Nitti through early-season injuries to Cynthia Dominguez and Katie King to the late-season loss of Hannah Ketterling to mononucleosis, the Saints dealt with a series of blows to their roster.
"Our team is really deep," Bartindale said. "We missed (Ketterling.) But if we lose anybody, we have somebody there to fill in. Obviously we missed the players who were gone. But what was great about this team was that we had people to fill in. It was a good season but it's hard when it's over."