Girls soccer: Depleted St. Edward falls to Chicago Christian

Tim Brieger is looking on the bright side.

The St. Edward girls soccer coach had 5 starters on the sidelines for Tuesday's match against Chicago Christian, but that was a step in the right direction.

"We're missing five starters but we're healthier because last game we were missing seven starters," he said.

The makeshift Green Wave lineup dominated for much of the game, but the visiting Knights got a fortunate bounce late in the game and pulled off the 1-0 victory in Metro Suburban Conference action at Greg True Field in Elgin.

With all the injuries, the Wave started 4 juniors. Everybody else was underclassmen. Those young players are starting to come together. St. Edward generated 14 shots to 4 for the visitors. The Wave had several other prime scoring chances as well, but couldn't bury one.

Then, with about 14 minutes left, the Knights' Cassidy Vande Kamp got the ball at close range in front of the net. Her shot appeared to deflect off a couple of Wave players and caromed off the upright before crossing the goal line.

"That was one of our better offensive outputs," said Brieger, who coached his 500th girls game at St. Edward. "We've got young girls stepping up very well. At the same point, we've got girls like Ava (Matsas) and (Madalynn) Duffy who are just playing so well together. We've had so many girls out we're starting to click finally because they're getting used to playing together. Katie Ellsworth and Madison Knott on top were phenomenal. We're playing with three defenders because that's all the bodies I have left."

The Wave outshot the visitors 8-2 in the first half but just couldn't find the range. Knott had 3 breakaways but each time Knights' keeper Karlee Kuyvenhoven took the ball off her foot before she could get a shot off. Another shot just missed the net.

It was that kind of day for the Wave (4-5-1, 1-2). But it's all good.

"That's all I need," Brieger said. "I just need us to do a little better each game. so it's kind of like, you've got to look at the positive. You've got to look at the positive, otherwise I'll cry."