St. Charles wins OT thriller over Wheaton North

St. Charles North senior Brandon Bautista (front) is chased by his teammates after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime to beat the host Falcons 3-2 in a Wheaton North Class 3A Sectional semifinal match on Tuesday.
Shauna bittle | Staff Photographer

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Perhaps ninth-seeded St. Charles North was playing a little bit possum at the seeding meeting for the Wheaton North Class 3A Sectional earlier this month.

That sure seemed to be a possibility after the North Stars knocked off their third straight lower-seeded opponent on Tuesday to win the first semifinal match of the evening at Wheaton North against the host Falcons.

The North Stars, who previously beat No. 8 Glenbard North and No. 1 Larkin, scored the game-winner nearly four minutes into the first overtime to turn back No. 4 Wheaton North 3-2.

With the win, the North Stars advance to Saturday's sectional title match against No. 2 Geneva. The Vikings defeated the North Stars 4-0 earlier this season.

"We talked before the game and we felt like North has been a little forgotten this season with the way our season was up and down like a roller coaster," North Stars coach Eric Willson said. "We felt like a lot of teams have forgotten about us and we felt there was no better place than the playoffs to remind teams of who we are and what we do and I think that's what we've done."

North senior forward Brandon Bautista netted the final goal of the evening following a high-arching pass into the middle of the box by sophomore Zach Matuszak. After the pass cleared Wheaton North's last line of defense, Bautista beat the goalkeeper to the ball and headed a shot following a bounce into the back of the net.

Needless to say, a wild celebration ensued.

"I just told myself I could get there," Bautista said. "I just went in there after the ball believing I was going to get there first and that was it. We wanted this game and we had to believe in each other to get it done and that's how it was from the get-go."

St. Charles North (13-8-2) would not have been in position to advance had it not been for a couple of things -- senior Dan Staniek and a fortunate call at the end of regulation that appeared to favor the North Stars.

With the match tied at 2, Wheaton North was pushing hard for a goal in the final seconds and appeared to have it when a soaring kick that was headed for the goal bounced off the hands of St. Charles North goalkeeper Zach Hosler for the apparent game-winner as the buzzer sounded.

However, the goal was immediately waved off by the head referee, who deemed the ball had not crossed the plane of the goal before the clock had expired.

"We said this was a heavyweight fight and it was about how many punches you could take and how many times you were willing to get up," Willson said. "We were taking punches from Wheaton North and we certainly decided to get up and finish off the game."

Staniek plowed his way to a pair of goals in regulation. Staniek's first tally gave North a 1-0 lead 30th minute, ending a long period of inactivity for both teams to begin the match.

"It took us time to get used to the (turf) field," Staniek said. "We had to start slowing down the game and move the ball around, get it to the outside and cross it over. That's what we do."

Wheaton North tied the match at 1 in the 46th minute. However, St. Charles North regained the lead nearly 20 minutes later when Staniek scored on another back post header following a cross from senior Luis Ramirez.

"(Staniek) will run through a brick wall for his teammates," Willson said. "And we kind of needed someone to run through a brick wall and get an ugly goal for us. He will do anything he can for the team."

Wheaton North tied the match at 2 in the 76th minute, setting up the dramatic ending.

"Before the overtime the boys all sat down and we all promised each other it wasn't time to end it," Staniek said. "We knew we had to keep going and everyone gave it their all."