Surging SCN upends Addison Trail
North Stars’ Mohiuddin contributes to goals that upset no. 4 seed
By Bill Stone
ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles North starting senior midfielder Faizan Mohiuddin was determined to make the most of his second chance when he re-entered Tuesday’s Class 3A St. Charles North Regional semifinal against Addison Trail.
“We were pressing them a lot in the first 10, 15 minutes or so,” Mohiuddin said. “I knew I got one chance earlier that the goalie saved, and I just knew when I came back in that I needed to make a bigger impact because all of the momentum was with us.”
Within a minute upon returning to the field, Mohiuddin made the initial play that created the North Stars’ first goal 6:48 before halftime.
The North Stars never trailed again and continued their recent hot streak at the best time possible to defeat the Blazers 2-1.
The North Stars, the no. 13 seed in the St. Charles East Sectional and an honorable mention team in the final regular-season Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, will play 12th-seeded Schaumburg (9-9-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday with hopes of capturing their third regional title over the past four seasons.
Schaumburg upset fifth-seeded Glenbard East 2-1.
In a topsy-turvy season, at least in the way it reached its current mark of 10-4-3, St. Charles North’s five-win start was marred by an 0-4-3 stretch. Add to that the timing of the IHSA seeding schedule, and you get a seed that underrated the North Stars.
Tuesday marked the second time time during their six-game unbeaten that St. Charles North has allowed a goal.
No. 4-seeded and 16th-ranked Addison Trail (13-5-2) put on a furious charge thwarted only by the soccer gods in the form of the crossbar and posts of the North Stars’ goal.
“We had these seven games during the middle of the season where we were in a bit of a rut. We were just giving it away, and then ever since then we’ve kind of been all committed to each other and the wins just reflect that,” said Mohiuddin, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I knew we needed a goal or something before halftime to put ourselves in the driver’s seat of this game.”
Junior Luke Persenico scored his ninth goal off a right-wing cross by senior Nick Sommer. The play was set up after Mohiuddin regained possession in the far right corner of the field. Junior center midfielder Jared Sinnaeve then scored from the far right side of the field with 21:16 left when Persenico opted to pass up the right sideline on a corner kick.
With 14:25 remaining, Addison Trail junior Juan Pablo Jiemenz created a one-goal deficit by heading home junior Aaron Sanchez’s free kick from 30 yards.
Then came two more-than-near misses in the 69th minute.
After St. Charles North senior goalie Rob Curran stopped a shot by junior Anthony Hernandez. Blazers’ outside defender Ray Fischer delivered a rebound that went off the crossbar and the left post before being cleared. The ball soon went right of the goal to senior Leo Acosta, whose blast struck the inside of the left post but, again, did not result in the equalizer.
“I didn’t even see (my shot). There were too many people in front of me but it’s whatever. You can’t go back and change it, right?” Acosta said.
Curran added: “The first one that went off the crossbar was a good shot. I just got enough of my fingertips to it and kept it from probably going over the line.
“The one (by Acosta) where it went over my head, I thought for sure it was going in and then it hit the post.”
“Just the relief that I had on my face came, when it came off and didn’t go into the goal, was a lot. I’m proud of the boys, the way we played and stuck it out and got the win. I’m excited to see what comes next.”
In a bizarre twist of fate, Sinnaeve’s goal came as a result of his 17-yard blast hitting the left post, crossing the goalmouth and then hitting the right post and going in.
“We had one that hit the post and didn’t go in. They had one hit the post that went in. That’s how soccer is,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said.
“A couple of close calls that didn’t go our way. We’re not making excuses. It’s soccer. Tough one to swallow but proud of the way our guys fought back, especially being down 2-0. We gave ourselves a chance to tie it up, and it just didn’t go in.”
St. Charles North coach Eric Willson was proud of the way his tea held on to the win.
“(At the end) I would love to see us maybe manage that game a little bit differently,” he said. “That said, it’s understandable there’s going to be some chaos at the end of a game.
“You’ve also got to say Addison Trail is a fantastic team. So it was a matter of time before they were going to start sparking some of their offense, too. At the end of the day, we found a way to move on, so we’re happy about that.”
Even before the question was completed, Dini said he and his players knew that St. Charles North should have been seeded higher and this challenging matchup was better than most, if not all, regional semifinals.
On top of that, the North Stars were on their home field and received most of the warmth from a brave crowd on one of the first significantly cold and windy nights this fall.
“Even though we were the lower seed, I feel like the whole team was real confident,” Persenico said. “I feel we all really believed in ourselves. It was a little frustrating (being no. 13) but we believed in ourselves to keep going.”
With new faces, the North Stars are showing shades of 2017, when they finished fourth in 3A. Curran said there’s a strong bond among several key seniors this season. He was then the backup goalie and among the few current seniors on that 2017 postseason roster.
“It is a good time of the year to be playing like that. I think we’re doing a lot of the little things well,” Willson said. “These guys’ combination plays are fantastic. When they can play, one-, two-, three-touch soccer, we’re tough to defend.
“I think the thing that’s motivated us the most is the momentum we’ve started to build, the camaraderie. The guys have really started to play for each other. When you’re doing that, it just means a whole lot more to you, and we’re just playing as well as we want to be right now.”
Extra effort on the part of Mohiuddin created the first goal. Mohiuddin worked down the right sideline, lost the ball to Fischer but then persevered to get the ball back.
“I know that left back. I used to play with him,” Mohiuddin said. “I tried to get by him, I didn’t, but I didn’t want to just give up on the play there. We were in such an attacking position. Coach is always saying that if you lose it, to keep pressing so I did that, and it paid off.”
Sommer, who made his way up from outside defender, was available for the trail pass and delivered a picture-perfect cross in the crease to Persenico with his back to the goal.
“I was cutting across the box, and it was a perfect ball, right onto my foot,” Persenico said. “All I had to do was make a touch in front and just cut it across my body. (Sommer) did all of the work.”
Sommer has worked his way into the starting lineup since midseason and become quite a defensive force with senior Xander Jao and Michael DePasquale, the lone sophomore starter, on the interior and senior Colin Nelson on the left side. Sommer is always happy to help offensively.
“I try to, yeah,” Sommer said.
“We’ve been going really well the last couple of games. I think it’s all because of we’re really pushing ourselves. We’ve been trying our hardest in practice. Practice like you play, and our coaches are really pushing us to do well. I think we go into games confident, and we take warmups seriously.”
Mohiuddin also earns credit for his deflected shot creating a corner kick that led to goal no. 2. Instead of the usual centering cross, Persenico found an open and eager Sinnaeve ready to let the ball rip.
“I saw Jared open,” Persenico said, “ and I know that kid loves to shoot. And he has a great shot. We’ve worked on that … any times in practice,”
“When you see (Sinnaeve) wind up to shoot, you know it’s going to be a banger,” Sommer said.
At that point, Curran’s biggest play was a diving save on Hernandez in the sixth minute. That soon changed.
Things got even worse when the North Stars were without defender Jao for the final 6:25 after his face collided with Curran’s shoulder. With senior midfielder Andrew Kraft moved to the interior, the North Stars withstood two free kicks that went through the crease without a shot and a corner kick headed out by Persenico with about three minutes remaining.
“After (Jao’s injury), things got a little panicky but the big thing is trying to stay composed,” Curran said.
The Blazers had defensive issues as well. Citing team reasons, Dini said starting senior interior defender Martin Murillo was unable to participate Tuesday.
“It’s tough, but we run a clean program, and we’re trying to teach these guys life lessons. I know he wanted to be out there,” Dini said.
“He’s our guy in the back so it affected us a lot. He’s one of our best players and not having him out there hurt, especially his long throws. He does so many things, 50-, 60-yard kicks, so many things.”
For the Blazers, this defeat was perhaps even more bitter than their 2-1 defeat at Morton on Oct. 10 that ultimately decided the West Suburban Conference Gold Division title. Addison Trail held a one-goal lead with 12 minutes left at Morton.
The Mustangs went on to capture their eighth-consecutive Gold title and extend their conference winning streak to 50-straight games. Second for the third time in the past four seasons, Addison Trail lost to Morton for the second year in a row after having the lead.
“We have a lot of underclassmen that got valuable experience (Tuesday). As soon as we saw the draw, we knew it was going to be a crazy game,” Dini said.
“We’ve got to continue to keep getting better as a program, and I think we’ve done that. Credit to (St. Charles North). They’ve got a good team. They’ll make some noise.”
The Blazers started five seniors Tuesday. Senior goalie Ernesto Padua was an unsung hero with several big saves to keep the Blazers in range before their final flurry.
“In high school soccer, you can never underestimate any team. Every team is going to come with everything. You’ve just got to go. It didn’t go our way this time,” said Acosta, who plans to play soccer in college.
“I really appreciated how (Addison Trail’s program) trusted me. I was captain. They really helped me not only as a player but as a person.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
G – Bob Curran
D – Mike DePasquale
D – Xander Jao
D – Colin Nelson
M – Faizan Mohiuddin
M – Andrew Kraft
M – Jared Sinnaeve
M – Thomas Weber
F – Luke Persenico
F – Nolan Sinnaeve
F – Nick Sommer
Addison Trail
G – Ernesto Padua
D – Jose Vega
D – Angel Gomez
D – Brian Hernandez
D – Ray Fischer
M – Leo Acosta
M – Alex Sandoval
M – Pablo Duran
M – Jason Mejia
F – Anthony Hernandez
F – Brian Flores
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Faizan Mohiuddin, sr., M, St. Charles North
Game summary
St. Charles North 1 1 – 2
Addison Trail 0 1 – 1
First half
St. Charles North: Luke Persenico (Nick Sommer, Faizan Mohiuddin) 33:12
Second half
St. Charles North: Jared Sinnaeve (Persenico) 58:44
Addison Trail: Juan Pablo Jiemenz (Aaron Sanchez) 65:35
Goalies
St. Charles North: Bob Curran (7 saves)
Addison Trail: Ernesto Padua (9 saves)
Shots (on goal)
St. Charles North 19 (11)
Addison Trail 15 (10)
Corner kicks
St. Charles North 3, Addison Trail 2
North Stars’ Mohiuddin contributes to goals that upset no. 4 seed
By Bill Stone
ST. CHARLES -- St. Charles North starting senior midfielder Faizan Mohiuddin was determined to make the most of his second chance when he re-entered Tuesday’s Class 3A St. Charles North Regional semifinal against Addison Trail.
“We were pressing them a lot in the first 10, 15 minutes or so,” Mohiuddin said. “I knew I got one chance earlier that the goalie saved, and I just knew when I came back in that I needed to make a bigger impact because all of the momentum was with us.”
Within a minute upon returning to the field, Mohiuddin made the initial play that created the North Stars’ first goal 6:48 before halftime.
The North Stars never trailed again and continued their recent hot streak at the best time possible to defeat the Blazers 2-1.
The North Stars, the no. 13 seed in the St. Charles East Sectional and an honorable mention team in the final regular-season Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, will play 12th-seeded Schaumburg (9-9-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday with hopes of capturing their third regional title over the past four seasons.
Schaumburg upset fifth-seeded Glenbard East 2-1.
In a topsy-turvy season, at least in the way it reached its current mark of 10-4-3, St. Charles North’s five-win start was marred by an 0-4-3 stretch. Add to that the timing of the IHSA seeding schedule, and you get a seed that underrated the North Stars.
Tuesday marked the second time time during their six-game unbeaten that St. Charles North has allowed a goal.
No. 4-seeded and 16th-ranked Addison Trail (13-5-2) put on a furious charge thwarted only by the soccer gods in the form of the crossbar and posts of the North Stars’ goal.
“We had these seven games during the middle of the season where we were in a bit of a rut. We were just giving it away, and then ever since then we’ve kind of been all committed to each other and the wins just reflect that,” said Mohiuddin, the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I knew we needed a goal or something before halftime to put ourselves in the driver’s seat of this game.”
Junior Luke Persenico scored his ninth goal off a right-wing cross by senior Nick Sommer. The play was set up after Mohiuddin regained possession in the far right corner of the field. Junior center midfielder Jared Sinnaeve then scored from the far right side of the field with 21:16 left when Persenico opted to pass up the right sideline on a corner kick.
With 14:25 remaining, Addison Trail junior Juan Pablo Jiemenz created a one-goal deficit by heading home junior Aaron Sanchez’s free kick from 30 yards.
Then came two more-than-near misses in the 69th minute.
After St. Charles North senior goalie Rob Curran stopped a shot by junior Anthony Hernandez. Blazers’ outside defender Ray Fischer delivered a rebound that went off the crossbar and the left post before being cleared. The ball soon went right of the goal to senior Leo Acosta, whose blast struck the inside of the left post but, again, did not result in the equalizer.
“I didn’t even see (my shot). There were too many people in front of me but it’s whatever. You can’t go back and change it, right?” Acosta said.
Curran added: “The first one that went off the crossbar was a good shot. I just got enough of my fingertips to it and kept it from probably going over the line.
“The one (by Acosta) where it went over my head, I thought for sure it was going in and then it hit the post.”
“Just the relief that I had on my face came, when it came off and didn’t go into the goal, was a lot. I’m proud of the boys, the way we played and stuck it out and got the win. I’m excited to see what comes next.”
In a bizarre twist of fate, Sinnaeve’s goal came as a result of his 17-yard blast hitting the left post, crossing the goalmouth and then hitting the right post and going in.
“We had one that hit the post and didn’t go in. They had one hit the post that went in. That’s how soccer is,” Addison Trail coach Ryan Dini said.
“A couple of close calls that didn’t go our way. We’re not making excuses. It’s soccer. Tough one to swallow but proud of the way our guys fought back, especially being down 2-0. We gave ourselves a chance to tie it up, and it just didn’t go in.”
St. Charles North coach Eric Willson was proud of the way his tea held on to the win.
“(At the end) I would love to see us maybe manage that game a little bit differently,” he said. “That said, it’s understandable there’s going to be some chaos at the end of a game.
“You’ve also got to say Addison Trail is a fantastic team. So it was a matter of time before they were going to start sparking some of their offense, too. At the end of the day, we found a way to move on, so we’re happy about that.”
Even before the question was completed, Dini said he and his players knew that St. Charles North should have been seeded higher and this challenging matchup was better than most, if not all, regional semifinals.
On top of that, the North Stars were on their home field and received most of the warmth from a brave crowd on one of the first significantly cold and windy nights this fall.
“Even though we were the lower seed, I feel like the whole team was real confident,” Persenico said. “I feel we all really believed in ourselves. It was a little frustrating (being no. 13) but we believed in ourselves to keep going.”
With new faces, the North Stars are showing shades of 2017, when they finished fourth in 3A. Curran said there’s a strong bond among several key seniors this season. He was then the backup goalie and among the few current seniors on that 2017 postseason roster.
“It is a good time of the year to be playing like that. I think we’re doing a lot of the little things well,” Willson said. “These guys’ combination plays are fantastic. When they can play, one-, two-, three-touch soccer, we’re tough to defend.
“I think the thing that’s motivated us the most is the momentum we’ve started to build, the camaraderie. The guys have really started to play for each other. When you’re doing that, it just means a whole lot more to you, and we’re just playing as well as we want to be right now.”
Extra effort on the part of Mohiuddin created the first goal. Mohiuddin worked down the right sideline, lost the ball to Fischer but then persevered to get the ball back.
“I know that left back. I used to play with him,” Mohiuddin said. “I tried to get by him, I didn’t, but I didn’t want to just give up on the play there. We were in such an attacking position. Coach is always saying that if you lose it, to keep pressing so I did that, and it paid off.”
Sommer, who made his way up from outside defender, was available for the trail pass and delivered a picture-perfect cross in the crease to Persenico with his back to the goal.
“I was cutting across the box, and it was a perfect ball, right onto my foot,” Persenico said. “All I had to do was make a touch in front and just cut it across my body. (Sommer) did all of the work.”
Sommer has worked his way into the starting lineup since midseason and become quite a defensive force with senior Xander Jao and Michael DePasquale, the lone sophomore starter, on the interior and senior Colin Nelson on the left side. Sommer is always happy to help offensively.
“I try to, yeah,” Sommer said.
“We’ve been going really well the last couple of games. I think it’s all because of we’re really pushing ourselves. We’ve been trying our hardest in practice. Practice like you play, and our coaches are really pushing us to do well. I think we go into games confident, and we take warmups seriously.”
Mohiuddin also earns credit for his deflected shot creating a corner kick that led to goal no. 2. Instead of the usual centering cross, Persenico found an open and eager Sinnaeve ready to let the ball rip.
“I saw Jared open,” Persenico said, “ and I know that kid loves to shoot. And he has a great shot. We’ve worked on that … any times in practice,”
“When you see (Sinnaeve) wind up to shoot, you know it’s going to be a banger,” Sommer said.
At that point, Curran’s biggest play was a diving save on Hernandez in the sixth minute. That soon changed.
Things got even worse when the North Stars were without defender Jao for the final 6:25 after his face collided with Curran’s shoulder. With senior midfielder Andrew Kraft moved to the interior, the North Stars withstood two free kicks that went through the crease without a shot and a corner kick headed out by Persenico with about three minutes remaining.
“After (Jao’s injury), things got a little panicky but the big thing is trying to stay composed,” Curran said.
The Blazers had defensive issues as well. Citing team reasons, Dini said starting senior interior defender Martin Murillo was unable to participate Tuesday.
“It’s tough, but we run a clean program, and we’re trying to teach these guys life lessons. I know he wanted to be out there,” Dini said.
“He’s our guy in the back so it affected us a lot. He’s one of our best players and not having him out there hurt, especially his long throws. He does so many things, 50-, 60-yard kicks, so many things.”
For the Blazers, this defeat was perhaps even more bitter than their 2-1 defeat at Morton on Oct. 10 that ultimately decided the West Suburban Conference Gold Division title. Addison Trail held a one-goal lead with 12 minutes left at Morton.
The Mustangs went on to capture their eighth-consecutive Gold title and extend their conference winning streak to 50-straight games. Second for the third time in the past four seasons, Addison Trail lost to Morton for the second year in a row after having the lead.
“We have a lot of underclassmen that got valuable experience (Tuesday). As soon as we saw the draw, we knew it was going to be a crazy game,” Dini said.
“We’ve got to continue to keep getting better as a program, and I think we’ve done that. Credit to (St. Charles North). They’ve got a good team. They’ll make some noise.”
The Blazers started five seniors Tuesday. Senior goalie Ernesto Padua was an unsung hero with several big saves to keep the Blazers in range before their final flurry.
“In high school soccer, you can never underestimate any team. Every team is going to come with everything. You’ve just got to go. It didn’t go our way this time,” said Acosta, who plans to play soccer in college.
“I really appreciated how (Addison Trail’s program) trusted me. I was captain. They really helped me not only as a player but as a person.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
G – Bob Curran
D – Mike DePasquale
D – Xander Jao
D – Colin Nelson
M – Faizan Mohiuddin
M – Andrew Kraft
M – Jared Sinnaeve
M – Thomas Weber
F – Luke Persenico
F – Nolan Sinnaeve
F – Nick Sommer
Addison Trail
G – Ernesto Padua
D – Jose Vega
D – Angel Gomez
D – Brian Hernandez
D – Ray Fischer
M – Leo Acosta
M – Alex Sandoval
M – Pablo Duran
M – Jason Mejia
F – Anthony Hernandez
F – Brian Flores
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Faizan Mohiuddin, sr., M, St. Charles North
Game summary
St. Charles North 1 1 – 2
Addison Trail 0 1 – 1
First half
St. Charles North: Luke Persenico (Nick Sommer, Faizan Mohiuddin) 33:12
Second half
St. Charles North: Jared Sinnaeve (Persenico) 58:44
Addison Trail: Juan Pablo Jiemenz (Aaron Sanchez) 65:35
Goalies
St. Charles North: Bob Curran (7 saves)
Addison Trail: Ernesto Padua (9 saves)
Shots (on goal)
St. Charles North 19 (11)
Addison Trail 15 (10)
Corner kicks
St. Charles North 3, Addison Trail 2