Girls soccer: Wheaton Warrenville South picks up pace in second half, upsets St. Charles East
After battling St. Charles East to a 0-0 draw at halftime of Friday’s Class 3A sectional title game at Norris Stadium, Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari decided to shake up his midfield in effort to generate goals.
The Saints effectively shut down the Tigers’ efforts to attack from wings in the first half. During the last 40 minutes, Wheaton Warrenville South concentrated on advancing the ball from the center of the pitch.
The effort paid off in 59th minute when from 20 yards out, Dayami Arias corralled a midfield shot that had bounced off a St. Charles East defender and returned it to the left side of the net. Kelsey Clousing added an insurance goal with 9:03 left to play to secure the Tigers’ 2-0 win and earn the squad its second sectional title in a row.
Wheaton Warrenville South (17-1-5), seeded second in the St. Charles East sectional, advances to Tuesday’ Class 3A St. Charles North supersectional and will square off with Naperville Central (20-0-1), top seed in its own sectional, for a berth in next weekend’s state tournament.
“We were not very good in our flank play. East did an amazing job defensively of eliminating any room and space out there, so we thought, what about right down the heart?” Calipari said. “So, we flipped our central triangle around and instead of playing a 1-2 we went with a 2-1 and we wanted Dayami as the ten (attacking midfielder). She needed to have a central presence. That made all the difference in the world. We were able to control the game through the middle and there was much more space and time.”
“It just deflected off a defender and so I thought I had the opportunity to shoot it,” Arias, a Roosevelt commit, said about her game-winning goal. “I took a touch and I shot it and went past the goalie's hands and went in.”
Clousing scored on a Tigers throw in. After corralling the ball on the left wing, the junior turned and sent home a shot just inside the near post.
Wheaton Warrenville South’s defense continued to be airtight. The Tigers have given up only one goal in their last 11 games.
“To their credit, they did a lot of really good things defensively to limit our chances. They always had six behind the ball and didn't allow us much in transition,” said St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo. “Some of that was due to our decision making, but a lot of that's due to the numbers they had behind the ball and their ability to anticipate passes.”
St. Charles East, the top seed in its sectional and DuKane Conference champions, finished the season with a 20-1-5 record.