NSCD finds its groove, dances past Willows
Raiders get energy from their jam, top Eagles 3-0 in sectional final
By Rusty Silber
WAUKEGAN -- You see kids wearing ear buds listening to music every day; but a team listening to a song together at halftime to fire themselves up? Well that's a whole other thing.
North Shore Country Day kept on the path to a return trip back to the Class A Final Four of the Class A girls state soccer tournament with a second half rush to post a 3-0 win over a game Willows squad in the Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional final Saturday afternoon at Dugdale Park.
The Raiders are now just one game away from making another journey to North Central College in Naperville next weekend. It all came about after a musical interlude put a hop in their step.
And what was the song that musically motivated them? It was Whitney Houston singing "I want to dance with somebody" that did the trick.
"That was our theme song last year, and it's still working its magic," North Shore Country Day coach Lizzy Giffen said. "We just needed to come out and play our game."
North Shore Country Day made history last year with its run to the championship game and a second place finish after a 5-1 loss to Notre Dame (Quincy). The best thing about this year's team is that the Raiders returned 9-of-11 starters. That's a lot of experience to carry them.
Going into the sectional final, the Raiders had won at Willows (14-6-0) in Independent School League.
North Shore Country Day found themselves in a grueling match that was tied 0-0 at halftime. For the Raiders dream to continue, something had to change.
"It was kind of a mix of things (mentioned at halftime)," Giffen said. "I thought the first half, Willows wanted it more than we did. They were pushing us around and winning the 50/50 balls.
"So, the message at the beginning was you have to have heart and come out and ready. They knew it, and they responded well. We listened to some Whitney Houston, then they came out and scored some goals."
The game-winner came very quickly -- just 12 seconds after the start of the second half. Emily Weil scored her 18th goal this season on a shot into the top-right corner off a pass from Allie Charnas.
"Coming out of halftime, I was a little bit down from the first half," said Weil, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor. "But we got the energy up at halftime. I just built on that and tried to get the goal. I was just doing it for the team. I think everyone did a good job to bring everyone back up at the half.
"I definitely try to go for the corners, because I was kicking shots to the goalie in the first half. We also have done a lot of practice aiming for the corners in our practices. That goal was definitely a sigh of relief in this game."
North Shore Country Day added a second goal for some breathing room in the 52nd minute of play. Edith Edwards-Mizel took a pass from Paige Forester and did the rest from the outside edge of the box. She used the end line and maneuvered through a couple of Willow's defenders before finding a clear look to score her 20th goal of the season.
"I think, I split the defenders back towards the middle, and I was able to tap it in," Edwards-Mizel said. "I know I can make my moves through traffic when I'm feeling it sometimes."
Forester added one more goal for insurance in the 65th minute after taking a feed from Caroline Segal for the 3-0 difference.
Willows was no different from any other Class A team this spring. North Shore Country Day's only losses this season have come against Class AA regional winner Lake Forest, and Class 3A regional winner Young and regional runnerup Wheaton North.
"I think this time, we had won five games in a row," said senior captain and midfielder Kailey Mongoven. "We kept our energy high, we kept faith in each other. I thought we pushed hard to the end. Once they scored on us quickly (second half), it was kind of tough.
"I really thought we had a lot of heart. I thought we played kind of scared the last time we played them. We knew that we had a chance to beat them. That helped us come out with the confidence we had."
Willows first-year coach Leah Kartsimas was pleased with her squad.
"I thought we had a hard-fought match," she said. "We knew that we had to come out strong. I think we did and to hold them scoreless for 40 minutes was phenomenal. It was great, (NSCD) came out strong on us last time. We came out like a totally different team. We've grown over the last month and a half, and it's been great."
Willows lost in the regional final game and two years ago in the sectional semifinals. This year the program stepped up to a new level and might have advanced if they hadn't run into a buzzsaw.
"It's crazy," Kartsimas said. "I told them from the beginning of the season, that I can see us going really far and getting there. We did make it. Girls are upset, but they are the ones that made it out there, and I'm a proud coach in my first year to make it this far. They took everything we taught them and took it in stride."
North Shore Country Day (14-3-0) will meet IC Catholic Prep (15-7-0) in the Concordia University Chicago Supersectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday in River Forest. IC Catholic Prep defeated De Paul 1-0 to win its own sectional title Friday night.
Starting lineups
North Shore Country Day
GK-Abby Renaud
D-Jane Scullion
D-Caroline Segal
D-Rachel Olatunji
D-Emma Smirl
MF-Eun Hae Lillig
MF-Julia Fortier
MF-Allie Charnas
MF-Emily Weil
F-Edith Edwards-Mizel
F-Paige Forester
Willows
GK-Kathryn Stangel
D-Theresa Presberg
D-Celia Coyle
D-Mary Grace Kenny
D-Bridget Mongoven
MF-Ashleigh Fischer
MF-Teresa Birmingham
MF-Claire Kelly
MF-Kailey Mongoven
F-Margarita Manrique
F-Fransi Inguanti
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emily Weil, sr., MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
NSCD-Emily Weil (Allie Charnas) 41'
NSCD-Edith Edwards-Mizel (Paige Forester) 52'
NSCD-Forester (Caroline Segal) 65'
Raiders get energy from their jam, top Eagles 3-0 in sectional final
By Rusty Silber
WAUKEGAN -- You see kids wearing ear buds listening to music every day; but a team listening to a song together at halftime to fire themselves up? Well that's a whole other thing.
North Shore Country Day kept on the path to a return trip back to the Class A Final Four of the Class A girls state soccer tournament with a second half rush to post a 3-0 win over a game Willows squad in the Cristo Rey St. Martin Sectional final Saturday afternoon at Dugdale Park.
The Raiders are now just one game away from making another journey to North Central College in Naperville next weekend. It all came about after a musical interlude put a hop in their step.
And what was the song that musically motivated them? It was Whitney Houston singing "I want to dance with somebody" that did the trick.
"That was our theme song last year, and it's still working its magic," North Shore Country Day coach Lizzy Giffen said. "We just needed to come out and play our game."
North Shore Country Day made history last year with its run to the championship game and a second place finish after a 5-1 loss to Notre Dame (Quincy). The best thing about this year's team is that the Raiders returned 9-of-11 starters. That's a lot of experience to carry them.
Going into the sectional final, the Raiders had won at Willows (14-6-0) in Independent School League.
North Shore Country Day found themselves in a grueling match that was tied 0-0 at halftime. For the Raiders dream to continue, something had to change.
"It was kind of a mix of things (mentioned at halftime)," Giffen said. "I thought the first half, Willows wanted it more than we did. They were pushing us around and winning the 50/50 balls.
"So, the message at the beginning was you have to have heart and come out and ready. They knew it, and they responded well. We listened to some Whitney Houston, then they came out and scored some goals."
The game-winner came very quickly -- just 12 seconds after the start of the second half. Emily Weil scored her 18th goal this season on a shot into the top-right corner off a pass from Allie Charnas.
"Coming out of halftime, I was a little bit down from the first half," said Weil, who earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor. "But we got the energy up at halftime. I just built on that and tried to get the goal. I was just doing it for the team. I think everyone did a good job to bring everyone back up at the half.
"I definitely try to go for the corners, because I was kicking shots to the goalie in the first half. We also have done a lot of practice aiming for the corners in our practices. That goal was definitely a sigh of relief in this game."
North Shore Country Day added a second goal for some breathing room in the 52nd minute of play. Edith Edwards-Mizel took a pass from Paige Forester and did the rest from the outside edge of the box. She used the end line and maneuvered through a couple of Willow's defenders before finding a clear look to score her 20th goal of the season.
"I think, I split the defenders back towards the middle, and I was able to tap it in," Edwards-Mizel said. "I know I can make my moves through traffic when I'm feeling it sometimes."
Forester added one more goal for insurance in the 65th minute after taking a feed from Caroline Segal for the 3-0 difference.
Willows was no different from any other Class A team this spring. North Shore Country Day's only losses this season have come against Class AA regional winner Lake Forest, and Class 3A regional winner Young and regional runnerup Wheaton North.
"I think this time, we had won five games in a row," said senior captain and midfielder Kailey Mongoven. "We kept our energy high, we kept faith in each other. I thought we pushed hard to the end. Once they scored on us quickly (second half), it was kind of tough.
"I really thought we had a lot of heart. I thought we played kind of scared the last time we played them. We knew that we had a chance to beat them. That helped us come out with the confidence we had."
Willows first-year coach Leah Kartsimas was pleased with her squad.
"I thought we had a hard-fought match," she said. "We knew that we had to come out strong. I think we did and to hold them scoreless for 40 minutes was phenomenal. It was great, (NSCD) came out strong on us last time. We came out like a totally different team. We've grown over the last month and a half, and it's been great."
Willows lost in the regional final game and two years ago in the sectional semifinals. This year the program stepped up to a new level and might have advanced if they hadn't run into a buzzsaw.
"It's crazy," Kartsimas said. "I told them from the beginning of the season, that I can see us going really far and getting there. We did make it. Girls are upset, but they are the ones that made it out there, and I'm a proud coach in my first year to make it this far. They took everything we taught them and took it in stride."
North Shore Country Day (14-3-0) will meet IC Catholic Prep (15-7-0) in the Concordia University Chicago Supersectional at 5 p.m. Tuesday in River Forest. IC Catholic Prep defeated De Paul 1-0 to win its own sectional title Friday night.
Starting lineups
North Shore Country Day
GK-Abby Renaud
D-Jane Scullion
D-Caroline Segal
D-Rachel Olatunji
D-Emma Smirl
MF-Eun Hae Lillig
MF-Julia Fortier
MF-Allie Charnas
MF-Emily Weil
F-Edith Edwards-Mizel
F-Paige Forester
Willows
GK-Kathryn Stangel
D-Theresa Presberg
D-Celia Coyle
D-Mary Grace Kenny
D-Bridget Mongoven
MF-Ashleigh Fischer
MF-Teresa Birmingham
MF-Claire Kelly
MF-Kailey Mongoven
F-Margarita Manrique
F-Fransi Inguanti
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Emily Weil, sr., MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring summary
First half
No scoring
Second half
NSCD-Emily Weil (Allie Charnas) 41'
NSCD-Edith Edwards-Mizel (Paige Forester) 52'
NSCD-Forester (Caroline Segal) 65'