St. Charles North rises
to challenge, tops Plainfield East
North Stars shine in second half for 4-0 victory
By Dave Owen
LA GRANGE -- Taking a 35-mile bus ride at 8 a.m. may not be the idyllic Saturday morning plan. But after a sleepy start to its PepsiCo Showdown morning match, St. Charles North was wide awake later.
Three goals in seven minutes midway through the second half sealed a 4-0 win for the fifth-seed North Stars (5-2-2) over Plainfield East in the tournament first round at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
“It’s a little rough,” North Stars junior Ryan Olson said of the early morning trip and 10 a.m. start. “I think it showed in the first half. I wasn’t really fully awake, but as soon as the second half kicked in, you realize you only have one half left and you have to pick it up.”
Stars coach Eric Willson was equally impressed by the finish. He explained, “We felt like it was definitely one of the more complete second halves that we’ve put together.
“I felt like Plainfield East was a good team that had the potential to give us a lot of problems, and because we were so disciplined defensively and so efficiently offensively, I thought we really closed that game out well when it could have really been a dogfight for the last 40 minutes. I was proud of everybody for that.”
A source of first half pride came in the 20th minute, when the North Stars struck for what would be the eventual game-winning goal.
Senior Alex Amro sent a nice ball up the left side to Jake Persenico, who put a 15-yard shot over charging Plainfield East goalkeeper Isaias Marquez and into the far corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“Their first goal was nice,” Plainfield East coach Cosimo Patano said. “The guy made a good run in and chipped over our keeper.”
Amro was the instigator of the play.
“I like to play balls through to the forwards,” he said, “because I know that they’re both fast players and are really good in front of the goal.
“A lot of times they can finish those chances, so I had no doubt Jake could finish that goal. Basically I just saw the gap, played it through and he had a great finish. It was good to get on the other end of it.”
Adding any comfort to that lead would take some time. Plainfield East answered in the next eight minutes with two threats: a high Alan Romero 30-yard direct kick grabbed by goalkeeper Zack Norton, then a nice defensive-end steal by Garrett Morgando to repel an attack.
A Dylan Mientus 35-yarder just wide of the net and an Amro corner kick headed just wide by Ryan Olson were late half challenges by the North Stars.
“We definitely were protecting the ball more (in the first half) and keeping possession,” Patano said, “finding guys out wide and finding some success. And then we kind of got away from that.”
Goalkeeper Marquez kept the St. Charles North from pulling away with a nice sliding play to deny Mientus right of the net with 35 minutes left. Two minutes later, Persenico’s cross from left of the net pinballed off both the post and crossbar before a Bengals defender cleared the ball out of danger.
With 28:05 left, another great North Stars chance was denied when Marquez leapt to deflect a Mientus point-blank header over the crossbar.
“He (Marquez) saved us a couple of times,” Patano said. “They had some good opportunities, and Isaias kept us in the game with some big-time saves.”
But the North Stars would end any frustration with a mid-half flurry.
An Amro 40-yard direct kick triggered a long sequence that paid off with 19:48 to play. Brandon Stricker’s initial shot from the box was punched out by Marquez, but the ball deflected to Olson for a putaway into the wide open right side of the net and a hard-earned 2-0 lead.
“It was just a matter of addressing restarts,” Patano said. “The second goal was off a restart that we couldn’t clear, and they’re a good presence in the air. We couldn’t deal with that. After that our back was to the wall.”
Just 40 seconds later, the North Stars began to break the game open. Persenico fielded a long pass, nicely sidestepped a charging Marquez and scored into an empty net to make it 3-0.
While St. Charles North’s offense suddenly ignited, Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Olson considered the North Stars’ play at the other end of the field as the spark.
“We just first-off focused on our defending,” Olson said. “In the first half I came off, and coach told us we were getting run through in the midfield. In the second half we made sure to work as a team to defend, and that gave us opportunities to get forward and have the ball more.”
Said Amro, “It was definitely a lot of keeping unity as a defense, and working in a system. We work at that a lot in practice with defensive pressure, so it was just doing exactly what we do in practice and making it work.”
Olson added the finishing touch to the win with 13 minutes left, scoring off a Johnny Acevedo throw-in.
“My teammate Johnny threw a good ball into the gap between the center mid and the defense,” Olson said. “I just let it run, and when the defender stepped he was the last guy, so I had a simple finish from there.
“Johnny had a great ball. Instead of playing it down the line like we usually do, he saw an opportunity there, and he just went for it.”
The big second half gave Olson 11 goals through just nine matches this fall.
“It’s my teammates,” Olson said. “I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. They’re playing me really accurate, perfect balls to my feet or on the run, and I’m just glad I can finish them.”
Plainfield East (1-2-3) saw their first 55 minutes of solid play vaporize into a 4-0 final.
“The score didn’t really reflect the game, but you have to give them credit,” Patano said. “They’re a good side that had some good players who worked well with each other.”
The shutout was St. Charles North’s third of the season.
“We’ve definitely had some hiccups throughout the season, but right now we’re making big steps and we really want this,” Amro said. “I think it shows on the field. This was one of our hardest-working games, and if we continue to put in work and have that work rate up, I think we can go pretty far. We’re a good, solid team.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK- Zack Norton
D- Garrett Morgando
D- Brandon Stricker
D- Carter Held
D- Blake Tierney
M- Ryan Olson
M- Alex Amro
M- Johnny Acevedo
M- Peter Willis
F- Dylan Mientus
F- Jake Persenico
Plainfield East
GK- Isaias Marquez
D- Jacob Stevens
D- Edgar Flores
D- Erick Chavez
D- Victor Salgado
M- Alan Romero
M- Michael Flores
M- Gabriel Tovar
M- Griffin Mitchell
F- Marlon Azuero
F- Carlos Giron
Man of the Match: Ryan Olson, MF, St. Charles North
to challenge, tops Plainfield East
North Stars shine in second half for 4-0 victory
By Dave Owen
LA GRANGE -- Taking a 35-mile bus ride at 8 a.m. may not be the idyllic Saturday morning plan. But after a sleepy start to its PepsiCo Showdown morning match, St. Charles North was wide awake later.
Three goals in seven minutes midway through the second half sealed a 4-0 win for the fifth-seed North Stars (5-2-2) over Plainfield East in the tournament first round at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
“It’s a little rough,” North Stars junior Ryan Olson said of the early morning trip and 10 a.m. start. “I think it showed in the first half. I wasn’t really fully awake, but as soon as the second half kicked in, you realize you only have one half left and you have to pick it up.”
Stars coach Eric Willson was equally impressed by the finish. He explained, “We felt like it was definitely one of the more complete second halves that we’ve put together.
“I felt like Plainfield East was a good team that had the potential to give us a lot of problems, and because we were so disciplined defensively and so efficiently offensively, I thought we really closed that game out well when it could have really been a dogfight for the last 40 minutes. I was proud of everybody for that.”
A source of first half pride came in the 20th minute, when the North Stars struck for what would be the eventual game-winning goal.
Senior Alex Amro sent a nice ball up the left side to Jake Persenico, who put a 15-yard shot over charging Plainfield East goalkeeper Isaias Marquez and into the far corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
“Their first goal was nice,” Plainfield East coach Cosimo Patano said. “The guy made a good run in and chipped over our keeper.”
Amro was the instigator of the play.
“I like to play balls through to the forwards,” he said, “because I know that they’re both fast players and are really good in front of the goal.
“A lot of times they can finish those chances, so I had no doubt Jake could finish that goal. Basically I just saw the gap, played it through and he had a great finish. It was good to get on the other end of it.”
Adding any comfort to that lead would take some time. Plainfield East answered in the next eight minutes with two threats: a high Alan Romero 30-yard direct kick grabbed by goalkeeper Zack Norton, then a nice defensive-end steal by Garrett Morgando to repel an attack.
A Dylan Mientus 35-yarder just wide of the net and an Amro corner kick headed just wide by Ryan Olson were late half challenges by the North Stars.
“We definitely were protecting the ball more (in the first half) and keeping possession,” Patano said, “finding guys out wide and finding some success. And then we kind of got away from that.”
Goalkeeper Marquez kept the St. Charles North from pulling away with a nice sliding play to deny Mientus right of the net with 35 minutes left. Two minutes later, Persenico’s cross from left of the net pinballed off both the post and crossbar before a Bengals defender cleared the ball out of danger.
With 28:05 left, another great North Stars chance was denied when Marquez leapt to deflect a Mientus point-blank header over the crossbar.
“He (Marquez) saved us a couple of times,” Patano said. “They had some good opportunities, and Isaias kept us in the game with some big-time saves.”
But the North Stars would end any frustration with a mid-half flurry.
An Amro 40-yard direct kick triggered a long sequence that paid off with 19:48 to play. Brandon Stricker’s initial shot from the box was punched out by Marquez, but the ball deflected to Olson for a putaway into the wide open right side of the net and a hard-earned 2-0 lead.
“It was just a matter of addressing restarts,” Patano said. “The second goal was off a restart that we couldn’t clear, and they’re a good presence in the air. We couldn’t deal with that. After that our back was to the wall.”
Just 40 seconds later, the North Stars began to break the game open. Persenico fielded a long pass, nicely sidestepped a charging Marquez and scored into an empty net to make it 3-0.
While St. Charles North’s offense suddenly ignited, Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match Olson considered the North Stars’ play at the other end of the field as the spark.
“We just first-off focused on our defending,” Olson said. “In the first half I came off, and coach told us we were getting run through in the midfield. In the second half we made sure to work as a team to defend, and that gave us opportunities to get forward and have the ball more.”
Said Amro, “It was definitely a lot of keeping unity as a defense, and working in a system. We work at that a lot in practice with defensive pressure, so it was just doing exactly what we do in practice and making it work.”
Olson added the finishing touch to the win with 13 minutes left, scoring off a Johnny Acevedo throw-in.
“My teammate Johnny threw a good ball into the gap between the center mid and the defense,” Olson said. “I just let it run, and when the defender stepped he was the last guy, so I had a simple finish from there.
“Johnny had a great ball. Instead of playing it down the line like we usually do, he saw an opportunity there, and he just went for it.”
The big second half gave Olson 11 goals through just nine matches this fall.
“It’s my teammates,” Olson said. “I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. They’re playing me really accurate, perfect balls to my feet or on the run, and I’m just glad I can finish them.”
Plainfield East (1-2-3) saw their first 55 minutes of solid play vaporize into a 4-0 final.
“The score didn’t really reflect the game, but you have to give them credit,” Patano said. “They’re a good side that had some good players who worked well with each other.”
The shutout was St. Charles North’s third of the season.
“We’ve definitely had some hiccups throughout the season, but right now we’re making big steps and we really want this,” Amro said. “I think it shows on the field. This was one of our hardest-working games, and if we continue to put in work and have that work rate up, I think we can go pretty far. We’re a good, solid team.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK- Zack Norton
D- Garrett Morgando
D- Brandon Stricker
D- Carter Held
D- Blake Tierney
M- Ryan Olson
M- Alex Amro
M- Johnny Acevedo
M- Peter Willis
F- Dylan Mientus
F- Jake Persenico
Plainfield East
GK- Isaias Marquez
D- Jacob Stevens
D- Edgar Flores
D- Erick Chavez
D- Victor Salgado
M- Alan Romero
M- Michael Flores
M- Gabriel Tovar
M- Griffin Mitchell
F- Marlon Azuero
F- Carlos Giron
Man of the Match: Ryan Olson, MF, St. Charles North