Girls soccer: St. Francis celebrates 2A state berth

Without a doubt, St. Francis sophomore goalkeeper Pyper Schweiner seemed to be enjoying every minute of the postgame celebration after the Spartans scored a 1-0, extra-time, supersectional championship victory over Elmwood Park.

And why not? She had just posted a 100-minute clean sheet on the pitch at Hinsdale South to help her team record the tense win.

She’ll surely, for the rest of her life, recall these moments, the jubilant huddle of she and her teammates after the final horn sounded; the congratulations of her friends and family as pictures were being taken afterward; and the adulation from the Spartans fans who crowded the pitch to be part of the festivities.

After all, Schweiner and her teammates were headed to state.

“This means just everything,” said the sophomore, who is in her first season on varsity. “This team has had my back every single game this year. I’m so glad to do it with this group.”

Junior Ashley Klein scored the game-winning goal for St. Francis in the 91st minute. Her side now advances to the Class AA semifinals, where they’ll take on Morton Friday at 2:30 p.m. at North Central College.

Tuesday’s contest was an unusual matchup of lower seeds, as the Spartans came in as a four seed, while the Tigers were seeded sixth.

That didn’t matter, according to St. Francis coach Jim Winslow.

“Going into it, based on what I know,” he said, “I thought (seeds) one through six, there wasn’t a huge separation between them. It’s just who’s playing well at the end, do you get timely goal scoring which we have, and can you keep the ball out of your net.

“So we missed a couple easy ones today, but they (Elmwood Park) didn’t give us too many easy ones because they had so many people in the box. Credit to them, they worked their tails off and I call it gumming it up. They’re just gumming up the gears enough and if we had scored early, if a ball we hit off the crossbar goes in, then they’ve got to come out.

“If they can sit, they just sit in (the box) and extend the game.”

St. Francis had the majority of the chances in the contest, but they were denied not only by the Elmwood Park keeper, but also by the goal frame. They banged five shots off the post (including a penalty kick attempt from midfielder Caroline Kiesler), and also a couple of the crossbar.

The Spartans also earned 14 corner kicks, but none came to fruition.

“We would have liked to have converted on some of those,” Schweiner said of the numerous Spartan opportunities. “But then Ashley got hers, and that’s all that matters.”

In the first minute of the second overtime period, Klein took possession of a throw-in near the end line and battled past two Elmwood Park defenders, scoring from just two yards away.

“I was a little relieved,” said Klein about her emotions of giving her team the lead after so many missed chances. “I just really wanted to score.”

Elmwood Park pressed the issue in the final two minutes looking for the equalizer, but outstanding play on the back line by the Spartans kept the Tigers off the scoreboard.

As the seconds ticked down, a pitch-length boot down the field from St. Francis senior Macie Schwiener ended the final threat by the Tigers.

And Pyper Schweiner’s outlook on the state tournament? “We’re just going to play our hearts out.”