Late goals lift Waubonsie Valley past St. Charles North

A scoreless soccer match will change dramatically when one team finally finds the back of the net in the second half.

But when the same team adds a second goal 55 seconds later, it’s usually, “Game over, man. Game over.”

Waubonsie Valley’s MacKenzie Fuller broke Thursday’s scoreless match against St. Charles North with just 11:30 remaining in the contest, and Tori Christensen added an insurance goal 55 seconds later off a Fuller deflection in the Warriors’ 2-0 victory.

Fuller met up with a cross from Kristen Brots to score the only goal the Warriors needed.

“She sent it in and there was a scrum in the box,” Fuller said. “All I had to do was toe-poke it in.”

After playing nearly 70 minutes of scoreless soccer, the North Stars never had a chance to score the equalizer as Christensen scored with 10:35 on the clock.

“After the first goal I could feel like we were pushing them,” Fuller said. “We were having more opportunities and they didn’t know how to respond.”

St. Charles North (12-5-2) had its share of scoring opportunities prior to the Warriors pulling away but ultimately could not deliver.

“It was a good game back and forth and I thought we created good chances, but we just didn’t find the back of the net,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “There weren’t major defensive breakdowns. I’ll have to look at the tape to see what happened there, but it can go either way. I’m not disappointed.”

Waubonsie Valley (15-4-3) will now head into the Waubonsie Valley regional with a great deal of momentum. The Warriors have won seven straight and outscored their opponents 26-2 during the stretch.

“We’re a young team, but we’ve played the top teams in the state all season,” Fuller said. “It’s given us confidence, but we’ve also learned from our mistakes and moved on.”

The North Stars have a final nonconference match on Saturday before hosting a regional next week.