Girls soccer: St. Francis gets breakthrough goal

St. Francis was knocking on the door but didn't break through until late in the second half against Lemont during Friday's Class 2A girls soccer semifinal at North Central in Naperville.

Caroline Zimmer took a through ball from Hannah Rittenhouse and scored from about 20 yards out with 12:11 remaining and Jill Ditusa added an insurance goal about four minutes later to lift the Spartans to the 2-0 victory.

The Spartans (17-4-3) earned a berth in Saturday's Class 2A championship game against St. Viator.

"We did a good job," Spartans coach Jim Winslow said. "If I had one comment, it's that we could've made this game easier in the sense that we missed some shots that we normally don't miss, but that's going to happen."

Lemont (24-2) struggled in really challenging the Spartans. Mairead Ruane, its two-time all-state forward who came into the game with 53 goals and 35 assists the past two seasons, didn't fire off a single shot and was limited to taking her team's lone two corner kicks.

The Indians only took two shots and just one on frame, but still hung in the game because the Spartans didn't finish any of its opportunities until Zimmer connected.

"I saw Hannah running and there was an open spot between their center back and their holding mid so I kept sprinting for it," Zimmer said. "I just took one on, got some space and just shot it. It was unreal."

Recognizing that they had missed some good chances earlier, Rittenhouse explained that they just kept fighting to create the next opportunity.

"We didn't finish some of those opportunities but everyone still continued to fight," she said. "I saw Caroline right there so I knew once I passed it that it was good."

Zimmer had a shot carom off the crossbar in the 1-0 win over Benet in the supersectional, so she certainly was deserving of netting the game-winner.

"She's playing really well and was due," Winslow said. "She made a great run and hit the crossbar against Benet and today, give her credit, she worked hard and buried one so it's all good."

Ditusa sealed the victory with her 40-yard free kick that hit a chunk of the bottom of the crossbar but still found a spot in the net with only 8:21 left in the game.

"It's really exciting to score a goal in the semifinal - that's insane," she said. "We knew we were knocking at their door and we knew if we kept the intensity high and just kept running at them and finding through balls we'd find the first goal and the rest would fall into place."

The Spartans outshot the Indians 9-2 and will look to attack St. Viator goalkeeper Anna Johnston, a New Hampshire commit, when they pursue the state title.

It'll be quite the challenge.St. Viator has 17 shutouts, has allowed just 14 goals and has won 10 straight. The Spartans believe they're ready for it.

"We're extremely confident going in," Rittenhouse said. "If we work together and keep building that positive vibe within the team, I think we'll do really well."