St. Charles N. can't capitalize against Celtics

The scoreboard wasn't working on Thursday afternoon in New Lenox.

It really didn't matter for the St. Charles North boys soccer team.

There was a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar, another that caromed off the right goal post and several that missed their mark or landed in the hands of Providence Catholic goalkeeper Alex Pickett.

It just wasn't a good day for the North Stars as Providence Catholic captured a 3-1 victory in a Pepsi Showdown match.

"We were outworked for the entire game in my opinion," St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. "We defended poorly and we got beat to just about every 50/50 ball. It was certainly one of the most disappointing efforts I've seen from them this season."

Providence Catholic (5-3) needed only a few minutes to take the lead when Jeff Hayes scored. The Celtics extended their lead to 2-0 on a Connor O'Brien goal with nearly 30 minutes remaining in the first half.

"There have been a few occasions where we've come out and given up a goal in the first five minutes," Willson said. "I certainly take the heat on this loss. We just have to go back to the drawing board and see if we can figure some things out."

St. Charles North (5-3) had many opportunities to recover in the match, but nothing seemed to go its way. While the North Stars controlled the ball at times and had more shots than the Celtics, it was the Celtics who made the most of the few chances they had to score.

"They had more opportunities than we did but we were able to capitalize on ours and they were just a little bit off," Providence Catholic coach Don Potempa said. "If we catch them on a different day, it may have been a different outcome, but today my boys came out strong from minute one to minute 80."

The North Stars kept within striking distance in the second half until Jonathan Galick's header off a corner kick made it 3-0.

"That's probably the eighth or ninth set play we've given up this season," Willson said. "That's something we're still trying to figure out."

Trent Coyle gave the North Stars a little something to celebrate when he scored in the game's final minute to break the shutout. They'll look for a real reason to celebrate when they try to get back to their winning ways against Lyons Township on Saturday.