Girls soccer: New Trier ends Stevenson's historic season

Stevenson's girls soccer team had never played in a supersectional and was looking to make more team history Tuesday night.

The Patriots and New Trier faced each other for the third time. New Trier won the rubber match with a 2-0 win in the Class 3A Fremd supersectional.

The Trevians (21-2-5) will make their sixth straight state appearance when they play Barrington in Friday's 7 p.m. state semifinal at North Central College in Naperville.

Stevenson ends it season at 22-2-2. Both of the Patriots' losses were to New Trier.

New Trier defeated Stevenson 2-1 in the Deep Dish Classic, before the Patriots turned the tables with a 2-0 shutout at New Trier.

"In that loss to New Trier, we stepped up," Stevenson coach PepeJon Chavez said. "Then to come back and beat a New Trier in their house, what an accomplishment that is. We never generated a rhythm (this match). We couldn't find ourselves. We might have had two eight-minute spells of what Stevenson soccer has been for the last 25 games. Today, we just couldn't sustain that with a couple of hiccups and couldn't find a way to bounce back. New Trier's sustained pressure forced us back deeper than we wanted to be. We just didn't have the ability to build."

Tuesday's result didn't take away what Stevenson accomplished this season.

"I don't look at it as one game," Chavez said. "I look at it as a community that has been successful with love and doing things the right way."

The game was scoreless until Villanova-bound Emma Weaver took control of a loose ball outside the box, slid behind the Patriots defense and slotted a low shot inside the post in the 59th minute.

Weaver then set up the second goal with a cross from outside the box. Alex Wirth tapped it in.

"Stevenson is an athletic team," New Trier coach Jim Burnside said. "They are a great team that shouldn't hang their head at all. If we play them 10 times, they win five and we win five. There isn't always a master plan. A lot of times a master plan is to play hard. We needed to take advantage of opportunities, and I think we did that today."

Stevenson's Florida Southern-bound keeper Jenny Staten made 8 stops. She allowed only 8 goals all season in 26 matches for a 0.31 goals-against average. She gave up four of her goals against New Trier.

"The team has been like a family," Staten said. "It's a pleasure to play with them and it's been my best season. We gave it our all, even though we didn't get the result we wanted."

New Trier keeper Meghan Dwyer earned the clean sheet by making 6 saves with a strong group in front of her. Notre Dame-bound Kalyssa Van Zanten had 26 goals this season and had her chances for the Patriots, but the Trevians made it difficult for her to get good looks at the goal.

"There were nerves, but it's hard to beat a team twice," Van Zanten said. "I think we did our best in order to show them what we got. It was hard because they packed things up and were very condensed in the middle. They really defended us very well."