SCE rallies, tops Neuqua V. in a shootout
Saints use Griffin save, Unterberg clincher to win NI quarterfinal
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Grace Griffin had been in this position before, so she wasn’t worried.
The St. Charles East goalkeeper hadn’t participated in a penalty kick shootout in just over a year when Thursday night’s Naperville Invitational quarterfinal with Neuqua Valley was deadlocked at 1-1 after regulation.
But she remembered the last time the Saints had to go to PKs. It was April 20 of last year, also at the Naperville Invitational. Griffin stopped three shots as the Saints won 6-5 against Evanston in an eight-round shootout after a 0-0 tie to advance to the quarterfinals.
“It was tough, but we’ve been practicing PKs a lot. At practice my teammates have been helping me with guessing which way to go and trying to read the players,” Griffin said. “I was pretty confident going in.”
Griffin was still confident even after Neuqua’s first four shooters -- Danielle Hopkins, Shannon Tagler, Leah Senese and Alison Dovalovsky -- beat her with thunderous kicks. She guessed correctly on Senese’s shot, which had enough pace to roll underneath her and over the line.
The shootout was tied 4-4 entering the fifth round. That brought up Neuqua’s Paige Munar, who fired for the lower right corner of the net. Griffin reacted swiftly, fulling extending to knock the ball away.
Renee Unterberg then calmly converted her kick for St. Charles East, propelling the Saints (13-5-0) into Friday’s semifinals, where they will play two-time defending state champion Barrington (13-0-1) at 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. St. Charles North (12-0-1) takes on New Trier (13-1-5) in the second semifinal.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but I know we practice it a million times,” Unterberg said. “I know my whole team believes in me, so I knew I had to step up and get the job done.”
Unterberg did it by not overthinking things. While some players shoot for the same spot each time and others try to either read the goalkeeper or fake her out, Unterberg clears her mind and has no set plan.
“I focus on my teammates, just supporting them while they’re shooting,” Unterberg said. “I focus not on my shot until it’s time to shoot, to walk up.
“I don’t think about where I’m going to put it until I get up there, look at the goalie, and it’s going in.”
Griffin knew it would.
“When I (made my) save I was really excited right after,” Griffin said. “Then I was like, ‘Alright, Renee, it’s your turn,’ and I had confidence in her. She’s been doing great in practice."
All of the penalties went in for the Saints, who are ranked sixth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, who didn’t give Neuqua Valley goalie Tara Tesmond a chance. Unterberg, Elle McCaslin, Alondra Carranza, Kayla Villa and Hannah Miller were spot-on from the spot.
“The experience of having penalties is another reason we do this tournament, to get that playoff-pressure experience,” St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “Each team had their run of play. I felt like a tie was a deserved result, but I’ll take going through.”
The result was officially a loss for no. 10 Neuqua, but coach Joe Moreau felt the Wildcats (6-3-3) played to a draw, with his team playing better in the second half. Neuqua held a 12-7 edge in shots, eight of which came after intermission.
“We’ve got to play the first half like we did the second half,” said Moreau, whose team saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end. “The second half was a completely different game.
“We had a lot more chances. First half the ball was in the air, and we’ve got to keep it on the ground.
“I thought defensively we’re playing great, just got to finish some chances. I’m very pleased overall, but we’ve got to play 80 minutes, not 40 minutes.”
Both teams tallied in the first half. Neuqua struck first at the 30:57 mark on a rebound goal from sophomore Katelyn Nardulli.
That play started when Piper Biziorek’s shot was cleared off the line by a defender. The ball went straight to Nardulli, who buried a 15-yard shot.
But the Saints answered 11 minutes later on a 15-yard shot to the top shelf by McCaslin.
“We started slow,” DiNuzzo said. “They hit us on a counter early, I thought against the run of play.
“I thought we played really well in the first 6-7 minutes and then they scored. It was kind of a shock for us. But we settled in and we played good, they played good.”
Indeed, neither side gained the upper hand for the rest of the first half. Neuqua had more of the attack in the second half but had nothing to show for it.
Griffin made four of her five saves after intermission, including a diving effort to deflect a powerful 23-yard blast from Tagler around the left post just 40 seconds in.
Tagler was dangerous on numerous occasions. She rattled a 39-yard free kick off the crossbar with 22:47 remaining, while teammate Megan Olah sent a 35-yard shot just over the pipe with 2:20 to go.
“We trust our backline 100 percent, and we trust our offense,” Unterberg said. “We’ve scored more goals this season than ever before. So we are really confident in our offense, and they got it done.
“We know on defense that if we do our jobs, (the forwards) will do their jobs.”
McCaslin got the job done early but after that Neuqua’s backline did well to contain her. Munar made the best defensive play of regulation when the Saints put a ball over the top to McCaslin, who momentarily had a half-step on Munar.
But Munar kicked the ball away from McCaslin, then raced 10 yards up the field to slide-tackle it away from another Saint with 28:48 left in the second half.
Now the Saints get a crack at the top-ranked team in the state.
“I’m really excited,” Griffin said. “We’ve worked really hard to come this far and this has been one of our goals for the seasons. We’re just going to come out and do our best tomorrow.”
St. Charles East’s best is pretty darn good, but it still might not be enough to top Barrington, which will be favored. But Unterberg relishes the opportunity.
“This is the thrill of high school soccer,” Unterberg said. “You compete with your rivals and then we get to play the best teams in the state in back-to-back games. It’s really exciting.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Tara Tesmond
D Paige Munar
D Megan Olah
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
M Piper Biziorek
F Shannon Tagler
F Erin McCarthy
F Alison Dovalovsky
St. Charles East
GK Grace Griffin
D Ashley DiOrio
D Alondra Carranza
D Jessica Stepien
D Lindsey Rzeszutko
M Jenna Sitta
M Kayla Villa
M Margaret Harper
M Hannah Miller
M Renee Unterberg
F Elle McCaslin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Grace Griffin, sr., GK, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
Neuqua Valley – Katelyn Nardulli 30:57
SCE – Elle McCaslin 19:45
Second half
No scoring
Penalty kicks
Neuqua: made, Danielle Hopkins, Shannon Tagler, Leah Senese, Alison Dovalovsky; saved, Paige Munar
SCE: made McCaslin, Alondra Carranza, Kayla Villa, Hannah Miller, Renee Unterberg
Saints use Griffin save, Unterberg clincher to win NI quarterfinal
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Grace Griffin had been in this position before, so she wasn’t worried.
The St. Charles East goalkeeper hadn’t participated in a penalty kick shootout in just over a year when Thursday night’s Naperville Invitational quarterfinal with Neuqua Valley was deadlocked at 1-1 after regulation.
But she remembered the last time the Saints had to go to PKs. It was April 20 of last year, also at the Naperville Invitational. Griffin stopped three shots as the Saints won 6-5 against Evanston in an eight-round shootout after a 0-0 tie to advance to the quarterfinals.
“It was tough, but we’ve been practicing PKs a lot. At practice my teammates have been helping me with guessing which way to go and trying to read the players,” Griffin said. “I was pretty confident going in.”
Griffin was still confident even after Neuqua’s first four shooters -- Danielle Hopkins, Shannon Tagler, Leah Senese and Alison Dovalovsky -- beat her with thunderous kicks. She guessed correctly on Senese’s shot, which had enough pace to roll underneath her and over the line.
The shootout was tied 4-4 entering the fifth round. That brought up Neuqua’s Paige Munar, who fired for the lower right corner of the net. Griffin reacted swiftly, fulling extending to knock the ball away.
Renee Unterberg then calmly converted her kick for St. Charles East, propelling the Saints (13-5-0) into Friday’s semifinals, where they will play two-time defending state champion Barrington (13-0-1) at 5 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. St. Charles North (12-0-1) takes on New Trier (13-1-5) in the second semifinal.
“It’s a lot of pressure, but I know we practice it a million times,” Unterberg said. “I know my whole team believes in me, so I knew I had to step up and get the job done.”
Unterberg did it by not overthinking things. While some players shoot for the same spot each time and others try to either read the goalkeeper or fake her out, Unterberg clears her mind and has no set plan.
“I focus on my teammates, just supporting them while they’re shooting,” Unterberg said. “I focus not on my shot until it’s time to shoot, to walk up.
“I don’t think about where I’m going to put it until I get up there, look at the goalie, and it’s going in.”
Griffin knew it would.
“When I (made my) save I was really excited right after,” Griffin said. “Then I was like, ‘Alright, Renee, it’s your turn,’ and I had confidence in her. She’s been doing great in practice."
All of the penalties went in for the Saints, who are ranked sixth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, who didn’t give Neuqua Valley goalie Tara Tesmond a chance. Unterberg, Elle McCaslin, Alondra Carranza, Kayla Villa and Hannah Miller were spot-on from the spot.
“The experience of having penalties is another reason we do this tournament, to get that playoff-pressure experience,” St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “Each team had their run of play. I felt like a tie was a deserved result, but I’ll take going through.”
The result was officially a loss for no. 10 Neuqua, but coach Joe Moreau felt the Wildcats (6-3-3) played to a draw, with his team playing better in the second half. Neuqua held a 12-7 edge in shots, eight of which came after intermission.
“We’ve got to play the first half like we did the second half,” said Moreau, whose team saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end. “The second half was a completely different game.
“We had a lot more chances. First half the ball was in the air, and we’ve got to keep it on the ground.
“I thought defensively we’re playing great, just got to finish some chances. I’m very pleased overall, but we’ve got to play 80 minutes, not 40 minutes.”
Both teams tallied in the first half. Neuqua struck first at the 30:57 mark on a rebound goal from sophomore Katelyn Nardulli.
That play started when Piper Biziorek’s shot was cleared off the line by a defender. The ball went straight to Nardulli, who buried a 15-yard shot.
But the Saints answered 11 minutes later on a 15-yard shot to the top shelf by McCaslin.
“We started slow,” DiNuzzo said. “They hit us on a counter early, I thought against the run of play.
“I thought we played really well in the first 6-7 minutes and then they scored. It was kind of a shock for us. But we settled in and we played good, they played good.”
Indeed, neither side gained the upper hand for the rest of the first half. Neuqua had more of the attack in the second half but had nothing to show for it.
Griffin made four of her five saves after intermission, including a diving effort to deflect a powerful 23-yard blast from Tagler around the left post just 40 seconds in.
Tagler was dangerous on numerous occasions. She rattled a 39-yard free kick off the crossbar with 22:47 remaining, while teammate Megan Olah sent a 35-yard shot just over the pipe with 2:20 to go.
“We trust our backline 100 percent, and we trust our offense,” Unterberg said. “We’ve scored more goals this season than ever before. So we are really confident in our offense, and they got it done.
“We know on defense that if we do our jobs, (the forwards) will do their jobs.”
McCaslin got the job done early but after that Neuqua’s backline did well to contain her. Munar made the best defensive play of regulation when the Saints put a ball over the top to McCaslin, who momentarily had a half-step on Munar.
But Munar kicked the ball away from McCaslin, then raced 10 yards up the field to slide-tackle it away from another Saint with 28:48 left in the second half.
Now the Saints get a crack at the top-ranked team in the state.
“I’m really excited,” Griffin said. “We’ve worked really hard to come this far and this has been one of our goals for the seasons. We’re just going to come out and do our best tomorrow.”
St. Charles East’s best is pretty darn good, but it still might not be enough to top Barrington, which will be favored. But Unterberg relishes the opportunity.
“This is the thrill of high school soccer,” Unterberg said. “You compete with your rivals and then we get to play the best teams in the state in back-to-back games. It’s really exciting.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Tara Tesmond
D Paige Munar
D Megan Olah
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
M Piper Biziorek
F Shannon Tagler
F Erin McCarthy
F Alison Dovalovsky
St. Charles East
GK Grace Griffin
D Ashley DiOrio
D Alondra Carranza
D Jessica Stepien
D Lindsey Rzeszutko
M Jenna Sitta
M Kayla Villa
M Margaret Harper
M Hannah Miller
M Renee Unterberg
F Elle McCaslin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Grace Griffin, sr., GK, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
Neuqua Valley – Katelyn Nardulli 30:57
SCE – Elle McCaslin 19:45
Second half
No scoring
Penalty kicks
Neuqua: made, Danielle Hopkins, Shannon Tagler, Leah Senese, Alison Dovalovsky; saved, Paige Munar
SCE: made McCaslin, Alondra Carranza, Kayla Villa, Hannah Miller, Renee Unterberg