St. Charles East bests
Waubonsie on OT strikes
Cunningham heroics lift Saints to Naperville Invitational semifinals
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – The sun was shining in her eyes as the last few seconds of overtime bled off the clock, but that didn’t stop Darcy Cunningham from seeing St. Charles East through to the semifinals of the Naperville Invitational.
The St. Charles East senior forward scored what she described as the most dramatic goal of her career on a diving header with 3.4 seconds left in the first overtime, and the undefeated Saints went on to beat Waubonsie Valley 3-1 in double overtime in quarterfinal action Thursday at Naperville North.
St. Charles East (15-0) will play Barrington (13-0-3), which beat Naperville Central 3-1, at 5 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium. New Trier (16-0) faces Naperville North (10-1) in the other semifinal.
“Nothing compares to (scoring with) three seconds left in overtime,” Cunningham said. “That was great for us because we got the momentum back going into the second overtime.”
Indeed, the Saints scored again just 68 seconds into the second overtime and the defending tournament champion Warriors (9-2-3) never threatened after that.
The momentum switch began with a seemingly insignificant counterattack after Waubonsie Valley had dominated most of the first 10-minute extra period.
Kelli Santo Paulo’s lead pass found freshman Chantel Carranza racing into the left side of the penalty area. Carranza quickly sent a high ball to the unmarked Cunningham, whose nod was true.
“Kelli played a great ball into Chantel, and I always trust Chantel,” Cunningham said. “We always make eye contact, and she puts it right where I need it.
“So I just saw her and I knew it was going to go over the last defender, and it was the easiest I’ve had this season. I couldn’t see the ball, but it was well-placed.”
St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said the goal is representative of what his squad can do.
“If you’re going to do it, it may as well be dramatic,” Jennison said. “It was great for her to put that away, but that’s five seconds to go and you find yourself attacking the back post.
“That’s what champions do. They attack even when people have maybe given up, and we’ve been talking all year about stepping up and making sure you’re the one who gets the headlines. You’re the one who wins it for the team. Don’t wait for someone else, and she did it, so that was a massive bonus for us today.”
Cunningham, who finished with two goals and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, was the trigger on the Saints’ final goal, which came at the 8:52 mark of the second overtime.
Cunningham’s high-arcing corner kick from the left side came down in a crowd of players. Sophomore Kyla Augustine settled it with her foot, and the ball bounced to Santo Paulo. Her 8-yard shot through traffic beat Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Emma Rigby, who was screened on the play.
“There was a lot of traffic,” Rigby said. “There were a lot of girls in the box, and it’s hard to see, and it was kind of the luck of where it is.”
Santo Paulo explained, “Kyla knocked it down for me and then I had all the space and just finishing it. No one was on me so I could turn on it.”
The Saints were on their heels at times throughout the seesaw affair but were able to turn it on when needed.
“It’s a great feeling,” Santo Paulo said. “Our team is playing really well together.
I think we’re just going to keep getting better from here. Our chemistry is great right now.”
But at the beginning it appeared Waubonsie Valley had all the ingredients needed for victory. The Warriors scored on their first shot when Paige Filipek headed home Grace Anderson’s corner kick at the 31:38 mark of the first half.
It was Filipek’s 20th goal of the season, 11 of which have come in the past five matches, and just the fourth surrendered by the Saints. Filipek nearly scored again nine minutes later, but her 18-yard blast from the left side of the box just missed the right post.
The Warriors had only one shot the rest of the half, as the Saints started asserting themselves.
“I think we came in and gave them a little too much respect,” Cunningham said. “We laid off a little bit. We know they’re a great team, and so I think we were a little bit nervous coming into it. But then we found our stride once we got the first goal, and after that we never looked back.”
Cunningham scored that goal when she blasted a 17-yard shot past Rigby with 6:44 to go in the first half. She finally dented the net after the Waubonsie Valley star had denied her 13 minutes earlier with a fully extended lunge to parry a 29-yard free kick around the right post.
Cunningham nearly put the Saints in front with two shots in the final three minutes of the half. She made a long run up the right wing before shooting wide left and then a minute later hitting the outside of the right post with a 12-yard shot.
“We played about half an hour in the first half, and I thought we looked excellent,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “I really thought we had the majority of play. We controlled it. I thought we looked great.
“Going into halftime we felt very comfortable about the second half, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, we didn’t have the same link-up in the second half. We didn’t hit feet as much as we wanted, and they were definitely able to put a few more passes together with (Filipek) up top.”
The Warriors brought a more attacking posture in the second half, moving Filipek forward and targeting her with precision passes from Kemerling, Cici Gazder and Sarah Griffith.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, with each side launching five shots and each goalie coming up with a major stop.
Rigby made a diving save on Cunningham with 7:55 to go, but before that it was St. Charles East keeper Alison Chesterfield who was under more pressure. The junior dove full out to her right to knock Kemerling’s 30-yard bullet around the post.
“I think we started off kind of slow,” Filipek said. “They were moving the ball really well. The second half I think we came out a lot stronger, and we were playing more our game and getting more passes together.”
But the Warriors still came up empty, with Filipek and Kemerling combining to miss four other shots by a yard or two.
“I don’t think we gave much away in terms of shots on target, but we definitely gave away a lot of possession and a lot of yardage in the back,” Jennison said. “But the spirit in this team is something different. I told them going into overtime, 'Whatever it is that we’ve got, let’s keep it going because to find a way to weather that storm and put that one back in was great.'
“Obviously at 2-1 you could just feel the atmosphere all of a sudden rise in our favor. The girls had no doubt that they were going to go on and win it, but to put the third one away was fantastic too.”
And yet the Saints were lucky not to find themselves trailing in overtime. They were outshot 5-2 in the first 10 minutes.
The Warriors had a great chance to take the lead with an exciting flurry midway through the period. Filipek found Griffith unguarded outside the left post, but the sophomore’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced in front, where first Sam Stricker and then Sarah Laws took whacks at it, only to see them blocked by defenders.
“We just needed to finish our chances,” Filipek said. “We had plenty of chances in that first overtime. We just needed to get them in, and I think if we did get them in it would have been much different.
“It was definitely a tough loss. We wanted to come out strong and definitely get to tomorrow, but we’ve just got to take the next game and go from there.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK: Alison Chesterfield
D: Julia Peterson
D: Sara Buetow
D: Shannon Gatehouse
D: Hayley Popiel
D: Maggie Smith
M: Kelli Santo Paulo
F: Darcy Cunningham
F: Claire Rasmussen
F: Sophie Jendrzejczyk
F: Chantel Carranza
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Emma Rigby
D: Grace Anderson
D: Tori Christiansen
D: Emily Dickens
D: Maddie Pokora
M: Cici Gazder
M: Morgan Kemerling
M: Sarah Griffith
M: Paige Filipek
F: Sarah Laws
F: Maggie Roe
MVP of the Match: Darcy Cunningham, F, St. Charles East
Waubonsie on OT strikes
Cunningham heroics lift Saints to Naperville Invitational semifinals
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – The sun was shining in her eyes as the last few seconds of overtime bled off the clock, but that didn’t stop Darcy Cunningham from seeing St. Charles East through to the semifinals of the Naperville Invitational.
The St. Charles East senior forward scored what she described as the most dramatic goal of her career on a diving header with 3.4 seconds left in the first overtime, and the undefeated Saints went on to beat Waubonsie Valley 3-1 in double overtime in quarterfinal action Thursday at Naperville North.
St. Charles East (15-0) will play Barrington (13-0-3), which beat Naperville Central 3-1, at 5 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium. New Trier (16-0) faces Naperville North (10-1) in the other semifinal.
“Nothing compares to (scoring with) three seconds left in overtime,” Cunningham said. “That was great for us because we got the momentum back going into the second overtime.”
Indeed, the Saints scored again just 68 seconds into the second overtime and the defending tournament champion Warriors (9-2-3) never threatened after that.
The momentum switch began with a seemingly insignificant counterattack after Waubonsie Valley had dominated most of the first 10-minute extra period.
Kelli Santo Paulo’s lead pass found freshman Chantel Carranza racing into the left side of the penalty area. Carranza quickly sent a high ball to the unmarked Cunningham, whose nod was true.
“Kelli played a great ball into Chantel, and I always trust Chantel,” Cunningham said. “We always make eye contact, and she puts it right where I need it.
“So I just saw her and I knew it was going to go over the last defender, and it was the easiest I’ve had this season. I couldn’t see the ball, but it was well-placed.”
St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said the goal is representative of what his squad can do.
“If you’re going to do it, it may as well be dramatic,” Jennison said. “It was great for her to put that away, but that’s five seconds to go and you find yourself attacking the back post.
“That’s what champions do. They attack even when people have maybe given up, and we’ve been talking all year about stepping up and making sure you’re the one who gets the headlines. You’re the one who wins it for the team. Don’t wait for someone else, and she did it, so that was a massive bonus for us today.”
Cunningham, who finished with two goals and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, was the trigger on the Saints’ final goal, which came at the 8:52 mark of the second overtime.
Cunningham’s high-arcing corner kick from the left side came down in a crowd of players. Sophomore Kyla Augustine settled it with her foot, and the ball bounced to Santo Paulo. Her 8-yard shot through traffic beat Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Emma Rigby, who was screened on the play.
“There was a lot of traffic,” Rigby said. “There were a lot of girls in the box, and it’s hard to see, and it was kind of the luck of where it is.”
Santo Paulo explained, “Kyla knocked it down for me and then I had all the space and just finishing it. No one was on me so I could turn on it.”
The Saints were on their heels at times throughout the seesaw affair but were able to turn it on when needed.
“It’s a great feeling,” Santo Paulo said. “Our team is playing really well together.
I think we’re just going to keep getting better from here. Our chemistry is great right now.”
But at the beginning it appeared Waubonsie Valley had all the ingredients needed for victory. The Warriors scored on their first shot when Paige Filipek headed home Grace Anderson’s corner kick at the 31:38 mark of the first half.
It was Filipek’s 20th goal of the season, 11 of which have come in the past five matches, and just the fourth surrendered by the Saints. Filipek nearly scored again nine minutes later, but her 18-yard blast from the left side of the box just missed the right post.
The Warriors had only one shot the rest of the half, as the Saints started asserting themselves.
“I think we came in and gave them a little too much respect,” Cunningham said. “We laid off a little bit. We know they’re a great team, and so I think we were a little bit nervous coming into it. But then we found our stride once we got the first goal, and after that we never looked back.”
Cunningham scored that goal when she blasted a 17-yard shot past Rigby with 6:44 to go in the first half. She finally dented the net after the Waubonsie Valley star had denied her 13 minutes earlier with a fully extended lunge to parry a 29-yard free kick around the right post.
Cunningham nearly put the Saints in front with two shots in the final three minutes of the half. She made a long run up the right wing before shooting wide left and then a minute later hitting the outside of the right post with a 12-yard shot.
“We played about half an hour in the first half, and I thought we looked excellent,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “I really thought we had the majority of play. We controlled it. I thought we looked great.
“Going into halftime we felt very comfortable about the second half, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, we didn’t have the same link-up in the second half. We didn’t hit feet as much as we wanted, and they were definitely able to put a few more passes together with (Filipek) up top.”
The Warriors brought a more attacking posture in the second half, moving Filipek forward and targeting her with precision passes from Kemerling, Cici Gazder and Sarah Griffith.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, with each side launching five shots and each goalie coming up with a major stop.
Rigby made a diving save on Cunningham with 7:55 to go, but before that it was St. Charles East keeper Alison Chesterfield who was under more pressure. The junior dove full out to her right to knock Kemerling’s 30-yard bullet around the post.
“I think we started off kind of slow,” Filipek said. “They were moving the ball really well. The second half I think we came out a lot stronger, and we were playing more our game and getting more passes together.”
But the Warriors still came up empty, with Filipek and Kemerling combining to miss four other shots by a yard or two.
“I don’t think we gave much away in terms of shots on target, but we definitely gave away a lot of possession and a lot of yardage in the back,” Jennison said. “But the spirit in this team is something different. I told them going into overtime, 'Whatever it is that we’ve got, let’s keep it going because to find a way to weather that storm and put that one back in was great.'
“Obviously at 2-1 you could just feel the atmosphere all of a sudden rise in our favor. The girls had no doubt that they were going to go on and win it, but to put the third one away was fantastic too.”
And yet the Saints were lucky not to find themselves trailing in overtime. They were outshot 5-2 in the first 10 minutes.
The Warriors had a great chance to take the lead with an exciting flurry midway through the period. Filipek found Griffith unguarded outside the left post, but the sophomore’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced in front, where first Sam Stricker and then Sarah Laws took whacks at it, only to see them blocked by defenders.
“We just needed to finish our chances,” Filipek said. “We had plenty of chances in that first overtime. We just needed to get them in, and I think if we did get them in it would have been much different.
“It was definitely a tough loss. We wanted to come out strong and definitely get to tomorrow, but we’ve just got to take the next game and go from there.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK: Alison Chesterfield
D: Julia Peterson
D: Sara Buetow
D: Shannon Gatehouse
D: Hayley Popiel
D: Maggie Smith
M: Kelli Santo Paulo
F: Darcy Cunningham
F: Claire Rasmussen
F: Sophie Jendrzejczyk
F: Chantel Carranza
Waubonsie Valley
GK: Emma Rigby
D: Grace Anderson
D: Tori Christiansen
D: Emily Dickens
D: Maddie Pokora
M: Cici Gazder
M: Morgan Kemerling
M: Sarah Griffith
M: Paige Filipek
F: Sarah Laws
F: Maggie Roe
MVP of the Match: Darcy Cunningham, F, St. Charles East