NS Country Day works OT for A title berth
Edwards-Mizel 2nd OT goal on Weil assist tops University (Chi)
By Gary Larsen
NAPERVILLE — North Shore Country Day has an enrollment of 228 students. On Friday in Naperville, 11 of them made history.
The Raiders’ 1-0 win over University (Chicago) in a Class A state semifinal game sent the program to its first state title game in girls’ soccer. They’ll take on Notre Dame (Quincy), a 4-0 winner over Althoff on Friday.
The historic moment for North Shore Country Day came on an Edith Edwards-Mizel goal in a second overtime period that gave the sophomore striker 27 goals this year.
That’s far and away the most goals by a single player on any of the four teams present for the Class A state finals at North Central College. But the Raiders are anything but a one-girl production.
“We can’t rely on one person. We’re such a small school, and we all have to contribute,” Raiders coach Lizzy Giffen said. “Edith has had such a breakout season. But I think she’s had a great season, because we really are a unit. We’re confident that whoever has the ball is a threat.”
You’ll get no argument from Edwards-Mizel.
Five minutes into the game, she broke in alone on net but her left foot failed her on a shot saved by Maroons keeper Eve Grobman. Edwards-Mizel had two more prime scoring chances in the second half that went for naught. Afterwards, asked if she gets frustrated when quality chances go awry, Ewards-Mizel’s answer revealed the responsibility she feels to her team.
“I do get frustrated because as the one forward, that’s my job,” she said. “It gets to me sometimes, especially when the defense is doing such a good job of not giving up any goals.”
Making Friday's win even more impressive was the fact that none of the Raiders’ starters ever came off the field. “It was a hundred minutes,” Edwards-Mizel said. “That’s a long time to be out there in the heat.”
Nobody worked any harder in Friday’s heat than Raiders junior Emily Weil. It was a rough night to be an outside midfielder, with temperatures hovering in the upper-80s and even more heat rising off the artificial field at North Central.
Weil was relentless on the outside, persistently fighting her way between and around defenders up the right side of the field. She finally found the cross she wanted on her foot in the 92nd minute after beating a defender and sending a ball to the far post.
Edwards-Mizel was there to bury it, giving Weil the payoff she fought so hard for all night.
“I just kept trying to use my strength to get a ball to players like Edith and Allie (Charnas), who seem like they’re always there and always able to kick those in,” Weil said. “I’m not going to lie, it was definitely frustrating at times. But I just tried to keep up the positivity and keep working.”
Weil’s hustle in the heat and timely cross earned her Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“She doesn’t stop. She keeps going and keeps going,” Giffen said of Weil. “And she has improved so much on her tight footwork this year.”
Friday marked the third time this season the Raiders (16-4-0) have beaten their Independent School League rival the Maroons (12-7-3).
“They brought a new intensity to this game, and we knew it would be a tough game. It’s hard to beat a team three times,” Charnas said. “It’s been close every single game, and we knew which of their players would be a battle for us, and they knew us. Knowing a team so well just makes the game so much more competitive.”
University (Chicago) came out strong to start before Grobman saved Edwards-Mizel’s quality chance at five minutes. From there, the game settled into a pattern of Raiders pressure and Maroons’ counterattacks.
Maroons forward Samantha Rodman was dangerous on the counter all night, and the Raiders had to contend with leading scorer Anna Kenig-Ziesler, but locating a truly dangerous shot proved elusive for the Maroons.
“We had chances to make them vulnerable, but we just didn’t have enough of those today,” Maroons coach Bannon Stroud said. “We battled hard, but they played much more efficiently, higher-percentage passes and connected balls, and did a much better job of that than we did. What they do well, they did consistently in the game.”
The North Shore Country Day backline of Emma Smirl, Gabbie Kaplinsky, Caroline Segal ,Anna Brennan, and keeper Abby Renaud stood tall all night for a defense that earned its eighth shutout of the year and has only given up three goals in its last six games.
Renaud made every play needed, and all four defenders tracked back well in the face of University’s counterattack.
“They did an amazing job,” Giffen said. “The four of them have been working as a unit, and we just always tell them to trust their instincts and know that if a player beats you, the next girl is there. There’s no panic and they trust each other.”
University’s best scoring chance in the first half came when Kenig-Ziesler ripped a shot from distance off and over the crossbar at 32 minutes.
North Shore Country Day’s center mids Charnas and Eun Hae Lillig sent shots on frame in the first half along with,Edwards-Mizel and Weil, but Grobman handled them all.
The Raiders ultimately finished with an 8-3 edge in shots on frame over the Maroons and an 18-5 advantage overall. Lillig was an attacking catalyst all night at midfield, where Julia Fortier and Paige Forester also had quality moments in the game.
Weil battled to the endline with a ball twice early in the second half, and Kaplinsky tracked back to disrupt Rodman at 48 minutes, before Edwards-Mizel had two good looks on net at 52 minutes.
Edwards-Mizel cut her way around two defenders in the box before firing on Grobman from 10 yards.
Grobman’s stop squirted back out and Edwards-Mizel fired again, but Maroons defender Ileana Minor made a fine stop at the goal line near the post to keep the game scoreless.
Edwards-Mizel headed a Weil serve wide, Segal raced back to destroy a counter, and Weil sent a shot just wide of the post in the second half. Grobman saved shots from Charnas and Weil in the last five minutes of regulation play.
Two minutes into the second overtime, Weil battled her way past a defender on the right side and crossed it perfectly to Edwards-Mizel, who finished from eight yards.
“It was pretty much wide open,” Edwards-Mizel said. “For a lot of the game there were three or four people on me but (Weil) had dragged so many people, and she was able to pass it through.”
And just like that, a team that starts one freshman, six sophomores, three juniors and one senior, and has only three field players on its bench earned a spot in the state title game.
“It feels amazing. I never expected this at the beginning of the season,” Weil said. “In the postseason we’ve really hit our stride. We’ve been playing our game — hitting crosses, switching the ball, and just playing really well as a team. So I think that we really deserve it.”
Charnas savored the moment after the win, and the reality of playing in a state title game Saturday.
“It’s crazy. It’s so nice,” she said. “At the beginning of the season it was more of a dream than anything else, but once we reached regionals, we realized how good we are.”
Both the Raiders and Maroons made their first state finals appearances this year. University graduates 11 seniors from this year’s team, including eight starters from Friday’s game.
“Whatever they do in life, I know they’ll be successful at it,” Maroons assistant coach Josh Potter said. “There’s not a better group of seniors in Illinois, and not just as soccer players. They’re some of the classiest individuals. If you ask them to do anything, they’ll get everyone on the same page. That’s the reason we got here.”
North Shore Country Day knows roughly what to expect from Notre Dame (Quincy), which got two goals from Olivia Dreyer and one apiece from Maddie Peters and Hannah Peters in its win over Althoff.
“They play a similar game to U. High,” Charnas said. “They have fast forwards up-top, and they play a pretty high defensive line. So we’re going to have to work on staying on-sides and prevent the original ball from getting kicked; because they’re kind of like a kick-and-run team and their forwards can get to it.”
Starting lineups
North Shore Country Day
GK Abby Renaud
D Emma Smirl
D Anna Brennan
D Gabbie Kaplinsky
D Caroline Segal
M Eun Hae Lillig
M Julia Fortier
M Emily Weil
M Allie Charnas
M Paige Forester
F Edith Edwards-Mizel
University (Chicago)
GK Eve Grobman
D Isabella Light
D Ileana Minor
D Miranda Mireles
D Elizabeth Van Ha
M Anna Kenig-Ziesler
M Kendall Cunningham
M Tia Polite
M Grace Brady
M Rachel Schonbaum
F Samantha Rodman
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emily Weil, jr., M, North Shore Country Day
Scoring summary
Second overtime
North Shore Country Day — Edwards-Mizel (Weil), 92nd minute
Edwards-Mizel 2nd OT goal on Weil assist tops University (Chi)
By Gary Larsen
NAPERVILLE — North Shore Country Day has an enrollment of 228 students. On Friday in Naperville, 11 of them made history.
The Raiders’ 1-0 win over University (Chicago) in a Class A state semifinal game sent the program to its first state title game in girls’ soccer. They’ll take on Notre Dame (Quincy), a 4-0 winner over Althoff on Friday.
The historic moment for North Shore Country Day came on an Edith Edwards-Mizel goal in a second overtime period that gave the sophomore striker 27 goals this year.
That’s far and away the most goals by a single player on any of the four teams present for the Class A state finals at North Central College. But the Raiders are anything but a one-girl production.
“We can’t rely on one person. We’re such a small school, and we all have to contribute,” Raiders coach Lizzy Giffen said. “Edith has had such a breakout season. But I think she’s had a great season, because we really are a unit. We’re confident that whoever has the ball is a threat.”
You’ll get no argument from Edwards-Mizel.
Five minutes into the game, she broke in alone on net but her left foot failed her on a shot saved by Maroons keeper Eve Grobman. Edwards-Mizel had two more prime scoring chances in the second half that went for naught. Afterwards, asked if she gets frustrated when quality chances go awry, Ewards-Mizel’s answer revealed the responsibility she feels to her team.
“I do get frustrated because as the one forward, that’s my job,” she said. “It gets to me sometimes, especially when the defense is doing such a good job of not giving up any goals.”
Making Friday's win even more impressive was the fact that none of the Raiders’ starters ever came off the field. “It was a hundred minutes,” Edwards-Mizel said. “That’s a long time to be out there in the heat.”
Nobody worked any harder in Friday’s heat than Raiders junior Emily Weil. It was a rough night to be an outside midfielder, with temperatures hovering in the upper-80s and even more heat rising off the artificial field at North Central.
Weil was relentless on the outside, persistently fighting her way between and around defenders up the right side of the field. She finally found the cross she wanted on her foot in the 92nd minute after beating a defender and sending a ball to the far post.
Edwards-Mizel was there to bury it, giving Weil the payoff she fought so hard for all night.
“I just kept trying to use my strength to get a ball to players like Edith and Allie (Charnas), who seem like they’re always there and always able to kick those in,” Weil said. “I’m not going to lie, it was definitely frustrating at times. But I just tried to keep up the positivity and keep working.”
Weil’s hustle in the heat and timely cross earned her Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“She doesn’t stop. She keeps going and keeps going,” Giffen said of Weil. “And she has improved so much on her tight footwork this year.”
Friday marked the third time this season the Raiders (16-4-0) have beaten their Independent School League rival the Maroons (12-7-3).
“They brought a new intensity to this game, and we knew it would be a tough game. It’s hard to beat a team three times,” Charnas said. “It’s been close every single game, and we knew which of their players would be a battle for us, and they knew us. Knowing a team so well just makes the game so much more competitive.”
University (Chicago) came out strong to start before Grobman saved Edwards-Mizel’s quality chance at five minutes. From there, the game settled into a pattern of Raiders pressure and Maroons’ counterattacks.
Maroons forward Samantha Rodman was dangerous on the counter all night, and the Raiders had to contend with leading scorer Anna Kenig-Ziesler, but locating a truly dangerous shot proved elusive for the Maroons.
“We had chances to make them vulnerable, but we just didn’t have enough of those today,” Maroons coach Bannon Stroud said. “We battled hard, but they played much more efficiently, higher-percentage passes and connected balls, and did a much better job of that than we did. What they do well, they did consistently in the game.”
The North Shore Country Day backline of Emma Smirl, Gabbie Kaplinsky, Caroline Segal ,Anna Brennan, and keeper Abby Renaud stood tall all night for a defense that earned its eighth shutout of the year and has only given up three goals in its last six games.
Renaud made every play needed, and all four defenders tracked back well in the face of University’s counterattack.
“They did an amazing job,” Giffen said. “The four of them have been working as a unit, and we just always tell them to trust their instincts and know that if a player beats you, the next girl is there. There’s no panic and they trust each other.”
University’s best scoring chance in the first half came when Kenig-Ziesler ripped a shot from distance off and over the crossbar at 32 minutes.
North Shore Country Day’s center mids Charnas and Eun Hae Lillig sent shots on frame in the first half along with,Edwards-Mizel and Weil, but Grobman handled them all.
The Raiders ultimately finished with an 8-3 edge in shots on frame over the Maroons and an 18-5 advantage overall. Lillig was an attacking catalyst all night at midfield, where Julia Fortier and Paige Forester also had quality moments in the game.
Weil battled to the endline with a ball twice early in the second half, and Kaplinsky tracked back to disrupt Rodman at 48 minutes, before Edwards-Mizel had two good looks on net at 52 minutes.
Edwards-Mizel cut her way around two defenders in the box before firing on Grobman from 10 yards.
Grobman’s stop squirted back out and Edwards-Mizel fired again, but Maroons defender Ileana Minor made a fine stop at the goal line near the post to keep the game scoreless.
Edwards-Mizel headed a Weil serve wide, Segal raced back to destroy a counter, and Weil sent a shot just wide of the post in the second half. Grobman saved shots from Charnas and Weil in the last five minutes of regulation play.
Two minutes into the second overtime, Weil battled her way past a defender on the right side and crossed it perfectly to Edwards-Mizel, who finished from eight yards.
“It was pretty much wide open,” Edwards-Mizel said. “For a lot of the game there were three or four people on me but (Weil) had dragged so many people, and she was able to pass it through.”
And just like that, a team that starts one freshman, six sophomores, three juniors and one senior, and has only three field players on its bench earned a spot in the state title game.
“It feels amazing. I never expected this at the beginning of the season,” Weil said. “In the postseason we’ve really hit our stride. We’ve been playing our game — hitting crosses, switching the ball, and just playing really well as a team. So I think that we really deserve it.”
Charnas savored the moment after the win, and the reality of playing in a state title game Saturday.
“It’s crazy. It’s so nice,” she said. “At the beginning of the season it was more of a dream than anything else, but once we reached regionals, we realized how good we are.”
Both the Raiders and Maroons made their first state finals appearances this year. University graduates 11 seniors from this year’s team, including eight starters from Friday’s game.
“Whatever they do in life, I know they’ll be successful at it,” Maroons assistant coach Josh Potter said. “There’s not a better group of seniors in Illinois, and not just as soccer players. They’re some of the classiest individuals. If you ask them to do anything, they’ll get everyone on the same page. That’s the reason we got here.”
North Shore Country Day knows roughly what to expect from Notre Dame (Quincy), which got two goals from Olivia Dreyer and one apiece from Maddie Peters and Hannah Peters in its win over Althoff.
“They play a similar game to U. High,” Charnas said. “They have fast forwards up-top, and they play a pretty high defensive line. So we’re going to have to work on staying on-sides and prevent the original ball from getting kicked; because they’re kind of like a kick-and-run team and their forwards can get to it.”
Starting lineups
North Shore Country Day
GK Abby Renaud
D Emma Smirl
D Anna Brennan
D Gabbie Kaplinsky
D Caroline Segal
M Eun Hae Lillig
M Julia Fortier
M Emily Weil
M Allie Charnas
M Paige Forester
F Edith Edwards-Mizel
University (Chicago)
GK Eve Grobman
D Isabella Light
D Ileana Minor
D Miranda Mireles
D Elizabeth Van Ha
M Anna Kenig-Ziesler
M Kendall Cunningham
M Tia Polite
M Grace Brady
M Rachel Schonbaum
F Samantha Rodman
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emily Weil, jr., M, North Shore Country Day
Scoring summary
Second overtime
North Shore Country Day — Edwards-Mizel (Weil), 92nd minute