Girls soccer: Oswego East knocks off St. Charles North

For a long while Saturday, it looked like the Oswego East girls soccer team had all the insurance it needed against a powerful St. Charles North squad.

Sophomore midfielder Anya Gulbrandsen's two first-half goals might very well have stood, thanks to a stout Wolves' defensive back line.

But then an unfortunate own goal in the 72nd minute put the North Stars within one.

That's when Oswego East junior midfielder and Iowa recruit Erika Smiley gave Oswego East (10-1) all the insurance it would need, with an open-net goal in the 79th minute to put the North Stars away for good 3-1 in a group-play game of the Naperville Invitational at Naperville Central.

"Honestly, I knew I had to dig deep and keep going," Smiley said. "Our defenders were doing amazing and our goalkeeper was doing amazing. I just kept going and got the goal."

Did that own goal generate any nerves?

"Our team is so strong, I had no nerves," Smiley said. "I knew we were going to get back at it. The same thing happened against Benet. We were up 2-0 and they scored."

The Wolves beat Benet 2-1 on Thursday.

Gulbrandsen, who scored in the 16th and 36th minute, the second on a header into the right corner of the net, gave plenty of props to her defense, including defenders Erin Fleisher, a senior, and junior Veronica Hamilton, and especially junior goalkeeper Sam McPhee.

"Especially Sam and how she's played this year, and the saves she's made, I wasn't too nervous because it takes a really good team to get past those five players," said Gulbrandsen, who has 13 goals this season.

Added Smiley: "Our goalkeeper, we trust her with our hearts."

But don't forget the offense. The Wolves came out blazing early on and managed to keep the pace up, recording 16 shots, 11 on goal. Gulbrandsen got the scoring underway in the 16th minute, taking a cross pass on the right side and firing a shot that was blocked by North Stars' sophomore goalkeeper Kara Claussner high in the air. When the ball came down, Gulbrandsen simply nudged it in.

That's the kind of day it was for St. Charles North (10-2), which managed just seven shots, six on goal.

"Oswego East came out fired up, they had energy, they worked really hard off the ball, they were winning 50-50s, and they had some fantastic finishes," St. Charles North coach Brian Harks. "They played really well.

"For us right now, how do we respond to this? I think our girls are going to take a lot of positives away from this loss."

Not that the North Stars didn't have opportunities. In the 39th minute, senior Sophia Hein had the team's closest goal attempt, a shot from the right side that just cleared the crossbar.

That goal falls, and perhaps the outcome would have been different. But the Oswego East defense stood tall, much to the pleasure of coach Juan Leal.

"Oh my gosh, they were phenomenal today," Leal said. "Our back line hasn't been getting enough credit because our offense is so powerful, so it's nice to showcase what they can do."