Girls lacrosse: Glenbrook North stymies St. Viator
If you were previewing Tuesday's St. Viator-Glenbrook North girls lacrosse match, you'd look at what both squads brought to the table in their sectional quarterfinal.
In one corner was a St. Viator team that ran the table for the second straight year in winning the East Suburban Catholic Conference crown, boasting a 13 goals per game average.
While in the other corner were the sectional host Spartans who came into the contest having earned a 3-4 mark in the ultracompetitive Central Suburban League.
But as the saying goes, that's why they play the games.
Sixth-seeded Glenbrook North rallied on four occasions, with a final surge putting the Spartans ahead for good as they held off the No. 3 Lions 9-8 in Northbrook.
Glenbrook North (10-6) returns to defend its home turf at 7 p.m. Wednesday against rival Glenbrook South in the second sectional semifinal at William Lutz Stadium.
The Titans (15-8) pitched a 21-0 shutout at No. 10 Highland Park in Glenview on Monday night.
"Our schedule in the CSL is tough," said Spartans coach Tom Rosenbaum. "It's a table-setter that gets you ready when you face a team the caliber of St. Viator."
Glenbrook North set the table for its victory in large part to the performance of a quartet of underclassmen.
Grabbing the game's tempo from the opening faceoff, freshman Mia Fusco scored the first of her 3 goals at the 21:50 mark of the opening half to put the Spartans up 1-0.
They proceeded to withstand deficits of both 2-1 and 4-2 before scoring back-to-back goals to even the score at 4 when senior captain Naomi Lutz (5:25) and junior Phaelan Kennedy (1:50) connected before halftime.
The second of St. Viator senior Georgia Christy's 3 goals got the lead back (5-4) just two in a half minutes into the second half.
But the Spartans responded again with Fusco scoring her second goal with 21:50 remaining in the half, followed by sophomore Molly Alcorn's goal just 63 seconds later to give North a 6-5 edge.
The Lions (15-3) grabbed the lead back one final time with Christy's final score (19:32), followed by fellow senior Maueve O'Malley's goal at 14:22 to give Viator a 7-6 advantage.
GBN gained the lead for good on its final surge that commenced just 55 seconds later on a foul shot by Juliette Rowan that knotted the contest up at 7-7.
The sophomore then added her second score with 4:48 to play to give the Spartans an 8-7 lead.
Fusco got the hat trick 58 seconds later and that proved to be huge as it gave North a 2-goal cushion (9-7) it would need in the closing minutes to stave off a furious Viator rally.
Viator freshman Cici Roney cut the deficit to 9-8 with 2:53 remaining in regulation.
Led by sophomore goaltender Katie Stein (18 saves), the hosts withstood four more attempts by the Lions to even things up including their last chance with 19 seconds to play.
"Katie was outstanding for us tonight," Rosenbaum added. "It was indicative of our entire team's effort. We had people that stepped up that made this possible."
Meanwhile on the other side of the field, it was a tough outcome to take.
"There's not much I can say," said St. Viator coach Suzanne Rich. "Bottom line, they (North) outplayed us."
Christy, who will be attending Kansas in the fall and will play club lacrosse, was more reflective as she along with 10 other seniors played their last game in the school's red and blue colors.
"This was a very special group that had been together for the last three years," she said.
Christy, who along with senior Rebecca Wolf, junior Kaylee Liberty and freshmen Elizabeth Rymarcsak and Serafina DeMunno were named all-ESCC honorees earlier Tuesday, also took the moment to pay homage to her coach.
"I remember the first year, when we didn't have a coach," Christy said. "Then coach Rich came and began the program's turnaround which we ended with consecutive (ESCC) titles. We (the seniors) are so proud to have a been a part of that."