St. Charles East overwhelms Fremd
Gahagan scores twice in emotional, season-opening 5-0 win
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES -- McKenna Gahagan will never forget what happened two years ago. The St. Charles East senior also isn’t likely to overlook what she and her teammates did in their opener on Tuesday at Norris Stadium.
Gahagan didn’t get a chance to play with her sister Kaitlin, who was a senior during the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but she made the most of her season debut as a senior against Fremd, scoring twice in a 5-0 nonconference victory.
“This means a lot,” she said. “A lot of people didn’t get this opportunity, just like my sophomore year when my sister was a senior and didn’t get that chance. The fact that we’re fortunate enough to go out there and play our game.”
Last year the Saints were a dominant team, but there was also concern that all that joy and momentum could be seized by another shutdown due to a surge in COVID cases. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and the Saints were able to complete the shortened 2021 IHSA schedule. Now, there seems to be a great deal of relief and excitement to play the first full season of spring soccer since 2019.
“We put in so much work in last season but we were scared that it was going to suddenly be over,” she said. “We knew what that felt like before, and I think because of that everyone really wants to be here and work as hard as they can because they don’t take it for granted. Obviously with it being senior year we’re trying to take it all in game-by-game.”
In what was a matchup of the no. 18 (St. Charles East) and no. 32 teams in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide preseason poll, the host Saints (22-1-1 last spring) looked like a team that hadn’t changed much despite several key graduation losses to their starting lineup. On the other bench, Fremd suffered its first five-goal loss since a 5-0 defeat to Barrington on May 1, 2015.
“A lot of the these girls were a little nervous because of last year where we kind of knew going in that it was going to be one of those special seasons,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “This one they’ve got to work toward a lot of things, and they played well today.”
Neuqua Valley transfer Grace Williams wasted little time making an impact. She took advantage of an aggressive play from Fremd goalkeeper Sam Gary to maintain possession and send in an empty-netter with 27:38 remaining in the first half for the only pre-halftime tally.
Gahagan’s header not even two minutes into the second half off of Yazmin Martinez’s corner kick was a sign of things to come the rest of the game.
“Honestly, I wasn’t actually going to go for it (the shot) because it was too far back, but I knew that one (pointing to coach DiNuzzo) would want me to go for it so I did. I think even in those moments you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t expect that, but it happened. You’ve got to take the chances that you get.”
Senior Anna Champine made it 3-0 with 29:40 still remaining, and the Saints were in complete control. They found their mojo and kept Gary and the Fremd backline busy.
“It was all about our mindset,” Champine said. “The first half was nervousness and trying to get into our groove. We saw that in the first half, but we didn’t finish. During halftime we said it’s all about our mindset. You get out what you put in and in the second half we knew what we were capable of, and we took care of opportunities to finish because we knew that we could.”
Martinez, who had already assisted on a pair of goals, scored her first of the season, launching a shot from about 50 yards that found its way into the back of the net with 10:04 left. It was that kind of night for both teams, seemingly everything went right for St. Charles East, not so much for Fremd.
Gahagan, who scored her second goal of the game with 4:26 left and also had an assist, was named the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.
“It’s definitely amazing to be back, coming off a season like last year where we were undefeated the whole entire time (until the supersectional loss),” she said. “Definitely a lot of changes, but I think the past two weeks of morning and afternoons of working together and building up the connections, we were able to take that out on the field and make it work and get the goals in.”
Sophia Iori (2 saves) and Grace Stahman (3 saves) split goalkeeping duties to earn the shutout for a Saints team that got contributions from many for a program that won 22 games last year and in 2019 (no season in 2020).
“Physically I think we were a little bit more fit than them today, but it’s the first game, and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves,” DiNuzzo said. “There are a lot of kids are trying to prove themselves. The bench towards the end of both halves, some of these kids don’t get playing time, so they were trying to prove themselves.”
Fremd (0-1-0) didn’t have many scoring chances and the ones the Vikings did have were created late in the first half. Senior Lily Spotak and sophomores Gemma Gillespie and Bella Scesniak were among those with tough tries for the Vikings.
“We’ll figure it out,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “There’s a lot to work on, but we’ll get it straightened out. We’ve got to be a little bit smarter defensively. We were very inpatient, and I saw some things from some kids that shocked me. We’ve got to talk about that.”
Keller acknowledged that something was missing from the Vikings.
“The spirit wasn’t there,” he said. “We were outclassed. We didn’t anticipate things.”
Keller said that his goalkeeper (Gary) played phenomenally well but that giving up five goals is definitely something they cannot afford to do. Gary was able to thwart a handful of chances or the final would’ve been much more lopsided.
“It was a good game to see what we have to do and have to work on,” Keller said. “We do have a lot coming back but still with that we’re still pretty young. We graduated three kids that played a critical role for us, and we filled those roles with some sophomores.”
Scesniak, Gillespie, Maddie McMillan, Sam Findysz and Ava Catherall, the five sophomore field players on the Vikings roster, started Tuesday.
“The backbone of our team will be our two center backs (Scesniak and McMillan) and then in the middle we’re playing Ava Catherall, the little number seven. She played really well tonight. We played her at right back, but she needs to be in the midfield for us,” Keller said. “Gemma Gillespie, Kaitlyn Rodi and Kylie Williams and then our two other seniors, Anna Schmitt and Lily Spotak, I think will really be our nucleus.
“But we didn’t control much. We were on the defensive all night and you get tired of chasing. We didn’t create much, but more importantly, we didn’t play with the grit and the smarts that I was hoping for and expect, and I know we have the ability to do it somewhat.
“We’ve got to change that. But it was a good game to learn that and hopefully go back to the drawing board and figure things out.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK: Sam Gary
D: Shannon Moran
D: Bella Scesniak
D: Maddie McMillan
MF: Gemma Gillespie
MF: Ava Catherall
MF: Kylie Williams
MF: Kaitlyn Rodi
F: Sam Findysz
F: Anna Schmitt
F: Lily Spotak
St. Charles East
GK: Sofia Iora
D: Lauren Silvestri
D: Libby Thomas
D: Anna Champine
D: Madison Flanders
MF: Yazmin Martinez
MF: Ella Stehman
MF: McKenna Gahagan
MF: Kara Machala
F: Mia Raschke
F: Grace Williams
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: McKenna Gahagan, sr. MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
St. Charles East: Grace Williams (McKenna Gahagan), 14th minute
Second half
St. Charles East: Gahagan (Yazmin Martinez), 43rd minute
St. Charles East: Anna Champine (Martinez), 52nd minute
St. Charles East: Martinez (u/a), 71st minute
St. Charles East: Gahagan (Emma Chappell), 77th minute
Gahagan scores twice in emotional, season-opening 5-0 win
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES -- McKenna Gahagan will never forget what happened two years ago. The St. Charles East senior also isn’t likely to overlook what she and her teammates did in their opener on Tuesday at Norris Stadium.
Gahagan didn’t get a chance to play with her sister Kaitlin, who was a senior during the 2020 season that was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but she made the most of her season debut as a senior against Fremd, scoring twice in a 5-0 nonconference victory.
“This means a lot,” she said. “A lot of people didn’t get this opportunity, just like my sophomore year when my sister was a senior and didn’t get that chance. The fact that we’re fortunate enough to go out there and play our game.”
Last year the Saints were a dominant team, but there was also concern that all that joy and momentum could be seized by another shutdown due to a surge in COVID cases. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and the Saints were able to complete the shortened 2021 IHSA schedule. Now, there seems to be a great deal of relief and excitement to play the first full season of spring soccer since 2019.
“We put in so much work in last season but we were scared that it was going to suddenly be over,” she said. “We knew what that felt like before, and I think because of that everyone really wants to be here and work as hard as they can because they don’t take it for granted. Obviously with it being senior year we’re trying to take it all in game-by-game.”
In what was a matchup of the no. 18 (St. Charles East) and no. 32 teams in the Chicagoland Soccer First 50 state-wide preseason poll, the host Saints (22-1-1 last spring) looked like a team that hadn’t changed much despite several key graduation losses to their starting lineup. On the other bench, Fremd suffered its first five-goal loss since a 5-0 defeat to Barrington on May 1, 2015.
“A lot of the these girls were a little nervous because of last year where we kind of knew going in that it was going to be one of those special seasons,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “This one they’ve got to work toward a lot of things, and they played well today.”
Neuqua Valley transfer Grace Williams wasted little time making an impact. She took advantage of an aggressive play from Fremd goalkeeper Sam Gary to maintain possession and send in an empty-netter with 27:38 remaining in the first half for the only pre-halftime tally.
Gahagan’s header not even two minutes into the second half off of Yazmin Martinez’s corner kick was a sign of things to come the rest of the game.
“Honestly, I wasn’t actually going to go for it (the shot) because it was too far back, but I knew that one (pointing to coach DiNuzzo) would want me to go for it so I did. I think even in those moments you never know what’s going to happen. I didn’t expect that, but it happened. You’ve got to take the chances that you get.”
Senior Anna Champine made it 3-0 with 29:40 still remaining, and the Saints were in complete control. They found their mojo and kept Gary and the Fremd backline busy.
“It was all about our mindset,” Champine said. “The first half was nervousness and trying to get into our groove. We saw that in the first half, but we didn’t finish. During halftime we said it’s all about our mindset. You get out what you put in and in the second half we knew what we were capable of, and we took care of opportunities to finish because we knew that we could.”
Martinez, who had already assisted on a pair of goals, scored her first of the season, launching a shot from about 50 yards that found its way into the back of the net with 10:04 left. It was that kind of night for both teams, seemingly everything went right for St. Charles East, not so much for Fremd.
Gahagan, who scored her second goal of the game with 4:26 left and also had an assist, was named the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match.
“It’s definitely amazing to be back, coming off a season like last year where we were undefeated the whole entire time (until the supersectional loss),” she said. “Definitely a lot of changes, but I think the past two weeks of morning and afternoons of working together and building up the connections, we were able to take that out on the field and make it work and get the goals in.”
Sophia Iori (2 saves) and Grace Stahman (3 saves) split goalkeeping duties to earn the shutout for a Saints team that got contributions from many for a program that won 22 games last year and in 2019 (no season in 2020).
“Physically I think we were a little bit more fit than them today, but it’s the first game, and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves,” DiNuzzo said. “There are a lot of kids are trying to prove themselves. The bench towards the end of both halves, some of these kids don’t get playing time, so they were trying to prove themselves.”
Fremd (0-1-0) didn’t have many scoring chances and the ones the Vikings did have were created late in the first half. Senior Lily Spotak and sophomores Gemma Gillespie and Bella Scesniak were among those with tough tries for the Vikings.
“We’ll figure it out,” Fremd coach Steve Keller said. “There’s a lot to work on, but we’ll get it straightened out. We’ve got to be a little bit smarter defensively. We were very inpatient, and I saw some things from some kids that shocked me. We’ve got to talk about that.”
Keller acknowledged that something was missing from the Vikings.
“The spirit wasn’t there,” he said. “We were outclassed. We didn’t anticipate things.”
Keller said that his goalkeeper (Gary) played phenomenally well but that giving up five goals is definitely something they cannot afford to do. Gary was able to thwart a handful of chances or the final would’ve been much more lopsided.
“It was a good game to see what we have to do and have to work on,” Keller said. “We do have a lot coming back but still with that we’re still pretty young. We graduated three kids that played a critical role for us, and we filled those roles with some sophomores.”
Scesniak, Gillespie, Maddie McMillan, Sam Findysz and Ava Catherall, the five sophomore field players on the Vikings roster, started Tuesday.
“The backbone of our team will be our two center backs (Scesniak and McMillan) and then in the middle we’re playing Ava Catherall, the little number seven. She played really well tonight. We played her at right back, but she needs to be in the midfield for us,” Keller said. “Gemma Gillespie, Kaitlyn Rodi and Kylie Williams and then our two other seniors, Anna Schmitt and Lily Spotak, I think will really be our nucleus.
“But we didn’t control much. We were on the defensive all night and you get tired of chasing. We didn’t create much, but more importantly, we didn’t play with the grit and the smarts that I was hoping for and expect, and I know we have the ability to do it somewhat.
“We’ve got to change that. But it was a good game to learn that and hopefully go back to the drawing board and figure things out.”
Starting lineups
Fremd
GK: Sam Gary
D: Shannon Moran
D: Bella Scesniak
D: Maddie McMillan
MF: Gemma Gillespie
MF: Ava Catherall
MF: Kylie Williams
MF: Kaitlyn Rodi
F: Sam Findysz
F: Anna Schmitt
F: Lily Spotak
St. Charles East
GK: Sofia Iora
D: Lauren Silvestri
D: Libby Thomas
D: Anna Champine
D: Madison Flanders
MF: Yazmin Martinez
MF: Ella Stehman
MF: McKenna Gahagan
MF: Kara Machala
F: Mia Raschke
F: Grace Williams
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: McKenna Gahagan, sr. MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
St. Charles East: Grace Williams (McKenna Gahagan), 14th minute
Second half
St. Charles East: Gahagan (Yazmin Martinez), 43rd minute
St. Charles East: Anna Champine (Martinez), 52nd minute
St. Charles East: Martinez (u/a), 71st minute
St. Charles East: Gahagan (Emma Chappell), 77th minute