St. Charles North beats Glenbard West 4-0 in semifinal
ST. CHARLES - Alex Curtis needed every inch of his wingspan to preserve his clean sheet.
Curtis, St. Charles North's senior goalie, dazzled for a sprawling save in traffic that careened off his outstretched hand wide of the net in the final seconds of the first half of St. Charles North's eventual 4-0 victory over Glenbard West in Tuesday's Class 3A St. Charles North Regional semifinal.
The moment is perhaps a snapshot to Curtis' confidence in his own athletic ability, and was one of his six saves on the evening. It's also also a testament to being a safety valve for a strong North Stars back line.
"It wasn't as if [Glenbard West] didn't have chances. They certainly did and Alex came up big when we needed him to," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "Our back line continues to be incredibly strong."
"I think Alex would be the first one to tell you that. Now, when there's 11 shutouts on his record, he thinks that's a part of the back line; That's a part of the midfield [and a] part of our front three. That's how our team defends, so that's pretty awesome."
Curtis and the North Stars advance to face Addison Trail in Friday's regional final at 6 p.m. at St. Charles North. Addison Trail, a 13 seed, upset No. 4 seeded West Chicago 1-0 in the first semifinal.
"[My back line has] helped me out a ton," Curtis said. "We're all just really close and I think that just plays the most important role. I play club with some of them, so we just have that connection."
The North Stars (9-5-4) took a 2-0 lead at half off of impressive-looking goals from Devan Girish and Arnel Dizdarevic. Girish first corralled the ball in traffic and smoked it past Hilltoppers goalie Alan Holowinski for the 1-0 advantage. Dizdarevic then followed up with a crafty, arcing goal off the top right corner that rainbowed in from about 25 yards out.
Charlie Mazurek and Trevor Mirra padded the lead with respective goals in the second half to secure a comfortable victory for a North Stars team that had been slightly struggling a bit to find the back of the net for the past month.
St. Charles North did have a 2-0 victory over Batavia to close the regular season, but had been shutout the previous six games. Two of those games were 0-0 ties and the four remaining games all were 1-0 losses.
"We definitely had our struggles towards the end to find the back of the net; that was no secret," Willson said. "But I think the important piece there is: Even with that [all] being said, we knew we could play with anybody. We knew that games were super close, one goal games or 0-0 draws. It was just a matter of continuing to believe what we're doing is going to work."
"Maybe make a few adjustments with some of the ways that we're building offensively," Willson continued. "But know that we've got the players that can do it. And if you believe that, and continue to work on training, good things happen. Tonight the floodgates for us."
The postseason effectively serves as a bit of a reset button mentality-wise.
"I think it was just that this could be the last time that some of the guys are playing, so we really really just wanted to fight for each other," Curtis said. "We're all really close in here so we want to keep playing and keep having fun."
Glenbard West (12-10) graduates nine seniors.
"This is my third year with the program, so I started off as the sophomore coach. These seniors that I have now, I've had for those three years," Glenbard West coach Phil Wicyk said. "They're a huge contribution to this team. The way they stuck together as a unit going through the whole program, did a really good job. We're going to miss a whole bunch of their leadership. All three of our captains are seniors; got a lot of shoes to fill."
"We're returning a whole bunch of players, so hopefully next year, we learn from mistakes and we don't have to feel this," Wicyk continued. "Hopefully, we're out here on Friday [next time]."