Girls soccer: Wheaton North stops Schaumburg on penalty kicks
On what could have been the final play for the Wheaton North girls soccer team Wednesday, sophomore goalkeeper Zoe Welsh exemplified its roller-coaster season.
Welsh had to stop a Schaumburg penalty kick to extend the final tiebreaker in the Class 3A Addison Trail regional semifinal after two 10-minute overtime periods.
"I thought she was going to be going one way - and then I ended up going the other way," Welsh said.
"I don't know. I saw her switch that last second. I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to my right.' "
Welsh made the save. Then she stopped the Saxons' next attempt to clinch the Falcons' victory by prevailing 5-4 on sudden-victory penalty kicks. Regulation and overtime ended 1-1.
The Falcons (9-8-4), the No. 7 seed in the Bartlett sectional, play No. 2 St. Charles East (17-3-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday for the regional title.
Welsh's first save left the first round of five penalty kicks tied 4-4, resulting in sudden-victory attempts to decide the winner. After Wheaton North senior Hannah Atkinson converted to begin the sixth round, Welsh moved to her right - again - for another save and a surprising ending to a great defensive struggle with the No. 10 Saxons (7-10-2).
"I was still thinking we were still going (more rounds). I didn't realize it was sudden death so I was catching my breath and then they all come and grab me," Welsh said. "I'm still in shock we won, just because I didn't realize that the penalty kicks were over. Now I'm starting to feel like wow, the game's over."
Wheaton North's first four successful penalty kicks came from Margaret Hupp, Hannah Swider, Stacie Galo and Morghin Klein. Melissa Nava, Kayla Kowal, Abbey Paolicchi and Dana Kiszkowski converted for the Saxons. The Falcons, who shot first, had their fourth attempt hit the crossbar, allowing Kiszkowski to put Schaumburg ahead 4-3 before Klein converted.
"It's terrible that Schaumburg has to lose that way," Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. "That game was a game. It was just a midfield battle for 100 minutes. To be honest, I think each keeper made one legitimate save. There was a lot of defensive pressure throughout the field. There were people on both sides leaving it all out there. It made it difficult to find space."
Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat agreed. It was a tough ending made even harder given the Saxons were playing their best soccer. They ended the regular season 4-0-1 after starting 1-7-1.
"Our team really turned the season around. We worked through some injuries and issues and I'm really proud of the way our girls finished up," Charvat said.
"No teams want to go to penalty kicks. They made more than us and that was how the game was decided. I think it was an even game, a high intensity game and both teams played their hearts out."
It was the second huge comeback in the game by the Falcons and much like their overall season. After an 0-3 start, they went 8-2-1 but then ended the regular season 0-3-3 with two 1-0 defeats.
"We have scored the exact number of goals that we've given up this year," McEvilly said. "That's what we are. We're a team that can play with anybody. We struggle to score so we have to be committed to each other and that's what they are so that helps out."
Schaumburg led 12-8 in shots and 8-4 in corner kicks. After a scoreless regulation, the Saxons took the lead with 7:48 left in the first overtime on a 24-yard blast by Gina D'Orazio after the Falcons tried to clear a corner kick by Samantha Minneci. About two minutes later the Saxons nearly scored again off a corner, but Emma Aguilar's header was thwarted by defender Lauren Haley on the left post.
The Falcons then received a penalty kick with 1:01 left in the first overtime with the call coming a few seconds after a handball on a cross into the box. Galo converted.
Atkinson's game-winning penalty kick was the first she ever took in a game for the Falcons.
"It was all about taking my time. If I rush myself, I usually miss, but I walked to take it and that allowed me to just calm down and nail my corner," Atkinson said.
"Honestly, I don't even know words to describe the feeling. Every time someone made one, I think the momentum just built and at the end, when we were all dog-piling Zoe, it was pretty great."