Girls soccer: St. Charles East snaps rare 2-game losing streak
A two-game losing streak doesn't seem overly concerning for most teams but St. Charles East's girls soccer team isn't one of them.
The Saints headed into Saturday afternoon's neighborhood rivalry clash against Geneva with something to prove following back-to-back, 2-1 losses to St. Charles North and St. Ignatius.
"After Tuesday (St. Ignatius), we had a bad taste in our mouths," said Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo. "We were short a number of players (earlier in the week) but that's how it goes. When you're at this point in high school soccer, you have injuries, you have knocks. Hopefully, we came out of this (game) unscathed."
The Saints (10-3, 1-0) ended their mini losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Vikings (5-2-1, 1-1) in their DuKane Conference debut at Norris Stadium.
"We were coming off of two losses and we really wanted to get the win in our first conference game," said junior forward Elle McCaslin, who scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 23rd minute of the first half.
"Everyone played their hearts out."
Four minutes earlier, St. Charles East grabbed a 1-0 lead as sophomore midfielder Hannah Miller received a cross from McCaslin and put away her own rebound moments after Geneva defender Annie Brolly stopped Miller's initial attempt in front of the net.
McCaslin, who suffered a torn ACL last June, displayed her speed and strength throughout the match.
"It doesn't look like it at first but when she gets going, it's scary," said DiNuzzo. "Her ability to penetrate that goal line and kick balls across and create for others is unbelievable."
The Mississippi State commit is pleased to be back.
"I just have to remember what my goal is and to keep working toward that," said McCaslin.
Senior forward Jenna Dominguez narrowed the gap to 2-1 with 10:33 left in the opening half when she connected off a long feed from Sydney Gratz for the Vikings' lone goal.
"Jenna Dominguez is a great player," said DiNuzzo. "She's so dynamic on the ball and she's a finisher. I don't think we allowed her many chances but the one she got she finished."
Dominguez almost had another chance in the last 4 minutes until junior defender Alondra Carranza deflected the ball away to save the day for the Saints.
"That was a game-changing moment for us," said DiNuzzo. "I don't we've allowed many goals when she's back there. She has been stellar for us."
Saints senior keeper Grace Griffin recorded 7 saves.
"We needed this (win) going into the Naperville tournament and with (sectional) seeding coming up," said DiNuzzo. "We know they're (the Vikings) in our sectional.
"We kind of placed that must-win over this game."
Junior keeper Katie Montgomery collected 14 saves for the Vikings.
"Katie had a great game for us," said Geneva coach Megan Owens.
"I'm happy that we answered back and we kept fighting. It's the little things that we have to work on. I'm happy with my team's effort and I'm extremely pleased with the sportsmanship that they exhibited on the field today."