Girls soccer: St. Charles East shuts out Schaumburg

Relinquishing a home game is never easy for any high school sports team.

However, St. Charles East's girls soccer squad certainly made the most of its field switch Wednesday night.

Junior midfielder Megan O'Neal notched a pair of goals within a 7-minute period early in the opening half, and sophomore teammate Alessia D'Argento added a first-half tally during the Saints' 3-0 triumph over Schaumburg (1-5) in the opening round of the St. Charles East Invitational.

Due to inclement conditions, the game was played on Geneva's turf field at Burgess Field.

"It's really important to us that we start off strong and set the tone of the game," said O'Neal, whose first goal came off a pinpoint pass from sophomore forward Chantel Carranza. "We want to be the first team to score."

For the seventh consecutive match, the Saints (7-0) were the only team to score. So far this season, they have outscored their opponents by a staggering 33-0 margin.

"It's still early and we're still learning but I think we're doing pretty well," said O'Neal. "At this point, we're just going to keep growing from here.

"We have a whole season ahead of us. We're not going to get too ahead of ourselves and our success so far."

Saints coach Paul Jennison would agree.

"It's nice to be 7-0 but past experience will tell you that it doesn't really matter where you're at 'til the end (of the season)," said Jennison. "We're not trying to be the best today - we're trying to get better than we were the day before."

Being in the right place at the right time was an important aspect to O'Neal's second goal.

A Schaumburg giveaway in the defensive third of the field enabled junior teammate Hannah Kolb to rush the net on a semi-breakaway.

After Saxons keeper Emily Reddy made the initial save on Kolb's shot, O'Neal tapped in the rebound at the far corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.

St. Charles East controlled the first half, peppering Reddy with 9 first-half shots.

"In the first half, we were able to move the ball quickly off our limited touches," said Jennison. "In the second half, Schaumburg made some good adjustments and was able to hold us down a little bit. Fortunately for us, maybe at 3-0 the damage was already done."

Senior keeper Alison Chesterfield recorded 6 saves for the Saints, who welcomed the opportunity to play on the artificial turf.

"The turf helps us out a lot," said O'Neal. "Our touches are better. It's a big field so we're able to use the width with our people outside."

"It's always nice to be home but you have to understand that the elements are out of our control," said Jennison. "We really appreciate Geneva being able to host us tonight."

Reddy made 6 saves for the Saxons, who lost midfielder Emmalyn Aguilar to a possible concussion early in the second half.

"Injuries are starting to pile up on us," said Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat. "We did take 20 kids on the team this year though so we have plenty of bodies. We just have to have kids fill in tomorrow and play a good game for the team.

"St. Charles (East) dominated the first half - they're a great team," added Charvat. "But if we were composed in the first half and didn't give the ball up, they're not as dangerous of a team. I thought we gave them some things and didn't make them work as hard as they needed to score the three goals."