Schaumburg upends St. Charles North

It’s not that Schaumburg entered overtime tied 2-2 with St. Charles North as fresh as a daisy in Tuesday’s Class 3A St. Charles East sectional semifinal. The teams had fought too hard over 80 minutes with each other for that to be the case.

But the Saxons did find the highest gear possible, and came hard at the North Stars, and scoring chances ensued.

Teagan Eberle had a shot saved. Kelsey Steenstrup had a shot saved. Then the North Stars goalie Kendall Karr saved shots from Becky Sneddon and Eberle. And finally, Ben headed straight at goal but Karr saved.

All that pressure turned into the game-winning goal when Eberle drove a 25-yard free kick high and into the North Stars goal with 2:29 left in the second overtime.

Eberle’s goal gave the Saxons a 3-2 victory and moved them into Friday’s title match with Conant.

“I don’t know how my shot went in, honestly,” Eberle said. “I decided that instead of crossing it, I decided to take it and go for it and it went in.”

Eberle said she and her teammates did feel rejuvenated as overtime began.

“The energy just went up and up,” Eberle said.

The Saxons (18-2-2) emerged victorious from a match that swung wildly between the two teams. Schaumburg took the lead in the 13th minute of play when Stephanie Pouse fed Jenna Eaker with a defense-splitting pass and Eaker scored.

St. Charles North (13-4-1) equalized in the 33rd minute following a massive scramble from an Alex Gage corner kick. Gage’s sister Sammy knocked the ball in from close range.

The North Stars took the lead with 12 minutes to play on a similar goalmouth scramble with Sammy Gage again getting credit for the goal.

That lead lasted until Ali Schmalz lined up a long shot with 2:57 left and scored.

Schaumburg has already had some success at St. Charles East this spring, having won that school’s girls soccer invitational, competing against the home school, Geneva and Naperville Central.

“For us, this is like a home field,” Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat said. “A St. Charles team is always going to be one of the top teams, whether it’s East or it’s St. Charles North. You have to come to St. Charles and beat a great team, and St. Charles North is a great team. We just had a little bit more desire tonight to try to find a way to win tonight. I’m really proud of the girls right now.”

St. Charles North had to deal with the finality of an overtime goal having been scored against them. While Schaumburg raced to celebrate with each other, the North Stars stood in a variety of stunned, silent poses in their penalty area.

“We didn’t play our best game,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “Team defense was an issue for us. But I thought that even with that, we fought back and scored two good goals.”

The scrambling nature of St. Charles North’s goals was exactly what Vostal said her team needed.

“We talked with the forwards that maybe it wasn’t going to be a pretty goal,” Vostal said. “We created some chances, but I thought we didn’t get into our rhythm.”

The North Stars graduate 10 seniors from this year’s roster.

“I feel for the seniors,” Vostal said. “In overtime, you don’t have a chance to fight back. The game just ends.”