St. Charles East, Geneva both eyeing Saints' invite

Like a fleet of shiny new sports cars, area soccer teams can't seem to get out of their garage this season.

Then again, neither can any of the other sports teams. Weeks into the IHSA's ridiculously moved-up spring sports calendar, girls soccer teams are struggling to get outside to practice. And the number of completed contests could be counted with a very limited number of fingers.

This non-competitive prelude will hopefully come to an end this week when the St. Charles East Invitational takes place.

In addition to the host Saints, Geneva, Naperville Central and Schaumburg meet in what has always been a strong early-season tournament. Competition starts Wednesday and concludes Saturday.

At the same time, this tournament was blighted by poor weather a year ago and only a partial schedule was completed. The prospect of some dry weather may mean this year's tournament will take place from start to finish.

But this is spring, 2008, and whether all scheduled contests are completed is anyone's guess.

"We've been outside all of four-and-a-half days," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "It's hard to get a read on my team at this point. The girls are going to have a lot of energy this weekend. We will certainly learn a lot about ourselves and a lot about playing at this level."

Geneva entered this week with one varsity contest under its belt, the same as St. Charles East. Picking a favorite in the invitational is practically impossible. One thing is certain, however, and that is that four teams will come and play three competitive games in the round-robin tournament.

"If one of these teams has a down year, it means they're right around .500," Estabrook said. "And if they have a good year, they're winning close to 20 games or more. Every year, this is about as quality a group of four teams as you're going to see for an early-season tournament."

The weather has moved teams to gyms all over the area. Geneva has tried to avoid playing soccer on a wooden floor as much as possible.

"This is as challenging a year as I've seen in 10 years of high school soccer coaching," Estabrook said. "I wouldn't want to be indoors at this point anyway. We've spent a long time running and building a base of conditioning. We've also talked about some tactics."

One thing that is guaranteed is that Norris Stadium will play as well as any natural grass field. Saints coach Pat Feulner worked on the field over the weekend and has been on the school's field again this week, attempting to make it as ready for soccer as the weather allows.

"This weekend will be the first real challenges for our team," Feulner said. "It's not only the competitiveness of the games, but it's the fact that we're playing three games in three days. You know the turf is going to be soft.

"We'll hope that it holds up for the weekend of play and that we don't tear it up too much."

Other than its singular contest, St. Charles East has been outside twice all season. The Saints have been able to practice at the Strikers club indoor facility in Geneva, where they can at least work on an artificial turf field.

"I'm sure that everybody's been in the same boat," Feulner said, who owns the Strikers club building. "At least we've had somewhere to go knock the ball around other than a gym or a field house."

Not having games, you'd think that competitiveness would suffer. But as far as St. Charles East is concerned, that's not even remotely an issue.

"I had to stop practice the other night because I thought somebody was going to get hurt," Feulner said. "They all want to be on the field. It's a competitive situation in practice. I've said a number of times that I think this could be the deepest team we've had since I came here."

The Saints advanced to the supersectional a year ago, where they lost to Upstate Eight Conference foe Waubonsie Valley. The Warriors won the state championship.

The Saints this year have roughly half their team returning. Finding leadership on the squad has been more of a process of bringing leadership from some athletes rather than instilling the qualities in those who do not possess them.

"I've moved Ellen (Bartindale) up top to forward," Feulner said. "She has put a spark up top and they're one of the best groups I've had there.

"In the back, Ashley Miller has taken (Mo Smunt's) role. She played with Mo for two years and played club with her since she was a kid. She knows how to organize from the back."

Geneva's situation is somewhat different in that the Vikings graduated a mass of players. Finding a starting lineup has been one chore for Estabrook. Finding team leaders has been another task, though that part of the equation has already sorted itself out through the endless practices that have taken place.

"Bri (Santacaterina) and Elise (Farrelly) both play on very high-level teams," Estabrook said. "They're good players on extraordinary teams. Now they are the leaders and the go-to players on our team and they've already shown me that they have strong leadership capabilities. Some people play well with the captain's armband and some get weighed down by it."

When a team hasn't played any matches, it's impossible to judge what kind of form it is in. And unlike later in the season when scouting and matchups become important, the teams at St. Charles East this week are just trying to figure out what direction their early season is going to take.

"We're trying to establish a style of play at this point of the season," Estabrook said. "As we get deeper into the season, we'll make adjustments and do a little scouting. But right now, we're trying to establish what we want to do."

What everyone wants to do now is play. And if the weather is even the least bit cooperative, that opportunity will present itself this weekend.