Girls soccer: Batavia hands St. Charles North 1st loss
It only took a couple of free kicks to get Batavia going.
Bella Zink and Anna Holcombe scored in the final 20 minutes as Batavia pulled out a 2-1 win against St. Charles North on its Senior Night at Bulldog Stadium.
St. Charles North (14-1-1, 4-1), ranked No. 1 in the Daily Herald Top 20, had its 58-game regular season unbeaten streak come to an end. The win gives No. 8 Batavia (14-3-1, 5-0) control of the DuKane Conference race with two games to go.
Both scoring plays started with free kicks. With Batavia trailing 1-0, Holcombe took a free kick from about 40 yards out. As her shot bounced toward the net, Zink redirected it past a leaping Sara Maleski to tie the game.
Ten minutes later, a sequence that started with a free kick ended with Holcombe wide open to the right of the net, and she sent a shot off the far goal post and in.
"Grace Salyers won the ball back, she played it to Abby (Zipse) and Abby played it to the back post," Holcombe said. "I made the run and I saw the open goal, and I just shot it into the corner."
For nearly 60 minutes, the Bulldogs' offense was nearly as cold as the weather, firing just 3 shots at Maleski. But a foul near midfield was all it took to swing the momentum.
"They're a very physical team," said Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco. "We were just happy to stay with them. But they kept going and kept fighting and that was great, and then got on the end of a couple of them."
The North Stars had taken the lead on a header by Samantha Rydberg in the 28th minute off CeCe Wahlberg's corner kick, and for a long time it looked like it might just hold up.
"Batavia had some free-kick opportunities, they took advantage of them and found the back of the net and we didn't," St. Charles North coach Brian Harks said. "I'm proud of the way our girls fought, but you just have to tip your cap to the way Batavia was able to finish opportunities tonight."
The game grew chippy in the second half and both teams had some free-kick chances, but the North Stars just couldn't take advantage, with Batavia keeper Aubrey Hahn pitching the second-half shutout.