North Stars upset in sectional semifinal

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

WEST CHICAGO -- In the state playoffs, the further a team advances the more painful a defeat becomes.

For St. Charles North, that defeat came on Tuesday night as the North Stars fell 1-0 to host Wheaton Academy in a Class 2A sectional semifinal.

Wheaton Academy will next play Geneva in Thursday's sectional final. Geneva defeated top-seeded Wheaton-Warrenville South 2-1 in the night's opening match.

Trailing 1-0 coming out of the half, the second-seeded North Stars (17-5-2) tried to rally, setting themselves up to do so with numerous opportunities on free kicks and corners. However, they were unable to convert, as the lengthy Warriors' defenders marked North tightly and won most of the balls out of the air.

"Wheaton Academy defended fantastically tonight, but when you get that many free kicks and you don't execute, you've got to hang your head," said North coach Eric Willson. "We weren't able to find feet throughout the whole game and weren't able to possess the ball.

"When we got down a goal we started to play long-ball and that played right into the hands of the tallest team in the state."

Sixth-seeded Wheaton Academy scored in the 18th minute on a header from Lucas Young off a free kick just outside of the box. In the first half, North's best chance of knotting up the game came on a shot from Vladamir Schlageter in the 36th minute which was saved by Warriors' goalie Ryan Seager. Schlageter's shot was one of only three on target by the North Stars on the night.

The latter part of the second half was dominated by set pieces from both sides, with North's co-captain Mike Picinich taking the bulk of them. Despite this abundance of chances to tie the game, the strong defense of Wheaton Academy and the lack of finishing by the North Stars left them with the tough loss.

"It was frustrating. We didn't really play our game and we kind of panicked at the end," said Picinich. "We didn't go as far as thought we could go, but it was a good year with a great group of guys."

With about six minutes left, North avoided going down 2-0 when Brandon Bautista ran down a breakaway by the Warriors' Andrew Knighten, disrupting his shot and keeping North in the game.

The North Stars played tough until the end and had a glimmer of hope in the final seconds when North's Bautista scooped up a loose ball and headed into the box, but the Warriors' sharp defense quickly cleared the ball, ending the North Stars' final chance.

North's goalie, Zach Holser had six saves.