St. Charles N. blanks St. Charles E.
The St. Charles North boys soccer team was supposed to host St. Charles East on Sept. 27.
Bad weather and poor field conditions led to the postponement of the match to Saturday, when Mother Nature was in a much better mood, as were the North Stars as their seniors were recognized before they went on to beat the Saints, 2-0.
“I felt it was good,” St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. “It’s not the prettiest soccer, but we knew that going into it. I was just pleased we were able to keep a zero on the scoreboard on their side.”
St. Charles North (9-4-3, 1-2-3 Upstate Eight Conference River Division) turned to one of its seniors to jump ahead 1-0 in the 16th minute. Tyler Davis hammered a worm burner past Saints backup keeper Nick Novotny at the 16:30 mark of the opening half.
The teams had their share of fair scoring chances throughout the first half, but typical of this rivalry game, it was filled more with scrappy play then finesse-based scoring opportunities.
“I can’t fault the attitude, they gave it all their heart,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “Not much quality from either team. The difference was they hit the target twice and their keeper made a couple of saves and that was the big difference.”
St. Charles East (5-10-1, 1-4-0) never scored the equalizer, and soon found itself down 2-0 less than six minutes into the second half when Davis struck again.
“I’m not sure how many (Davis) has scored but he’s been unbelievable up top for us,” North Stars senior defender Drew Smith said. “We’re never relaxed but that second one really helped.”
The Saints prevailed in this annual matchup a season ago, with a 3-1 victory. On Saturday, it was the North Stars that left controlling bragging rights.
“It’s good to get that tradition of winning this game back on this side,” Willson said. “The guys were really happy about that and doing it on senior day and on your own field was a special thing. I’m happy for them.”
Garrett Creasor posted the shutout in goal for the North Stars, who have now shut out eight opponents this fall.