Girls soccer: St. Charles North blanks Lake Park
With a display and skill, St. Charles North got off to a flying start in the girls soccer postseason and cruised into the regional final after its impressive 8-0 win over Lake Park Tuesday at the Class 3A Conant regional.
The top-seeded North Stars (17-3-1) put four into the back of the net in the first quarter hour, then another three more after the break to book coach Brian Harks' club in Friday's final with Glenbard West (10-8-1), which earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over regional host Conant in the second match of the day.
"Our focus has been very clear in our training sessions leading up to today's game, and with each practice we've trained a little bit harder so everyone was locked in and ready to go for this game," said senior Morgan Rerko, one of three who wear the captains armband for Harks.
"I agree with (Rerko) that focus is the right word to use with our team right now. Everyone knows our goal and objective, and today, the girls came out with that type of mindset and immediately went to work on what we needed to do in order to win and advance," added Harks.
The North Stars' attack would spring to life with a sparkling opening 15 minutes that saw four different players strike to signal their intent to the No. 15 seed Lancers (5-15-2) and its wonderful senior defender, Jacey Kent.
"It's been a struggle all season for us, but to be fair, we were such a young, and inexperienced team with just three seniors on our roster so it's been a year of learning and growth, and as a captain, and one of the seniors, it's been important to lead by example to help this team, which has a bright future in front of them," said Kent, who will play next fall at Carthage College.
North had far too much pace for Lake Park, which opened with an aggressive offsides trap with the hope of keeping its opponent under control - but at five minutes, Jordan Karom would break free of the last man and finish a rebound which would spill free after Lancers keeper Sarah Yochem turned away Karom's initial shot.
Sixty seconds later, KB Kusswurm, on the turn, drove her one-timer in from close range, before Gia Wahlberg scored the first of her three of the match.
At 15 minutes, Ellie Wahlberg added to the Lancers' woes and the rout was on.
Sophomore Hailey Rydberg, who along with Gia Wahlberg lead the Stars in overall scoring, drove her angled shot from the right side into the far inside netting at 43 minutes, and six minutes later, after two more Stars goals, Harks would bring most of his starters off for good.
"It was a good win for us, we were able to get everyone dressed minutes tonight, and our overall game was sharp to get us ready for Friday," said Harks.