St. Charles North washes away
scoring woes in win over Batavia
North Stars post 2-0 win in regular-season, conference finale
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA -- The weather served as a perfect setting for the first goal scored in Tuesday’s DuKane Conference contest between St. Charles North and Batavia.
During a downpour, North Stars Charlie Mazurek found the back of the net in the 11th minute, ending a six-match scoring drought and winless streak for St. Charles North.
With another strike in the second half, the North Stars won their regular-season finale over the Bulldogs 2-0.
“It’s been a little while since we’ve scored a goal so it’s nice for us to break out of that scoring drought that we were in,” said St. Charles North coach Eric Willson. “It’s been a few games since we’ve done that. So to come out here tonight and get two, that was super positive for us before postseason time.”
St. Charles North can build on the positives of the victory, , according to Willson.
“It’s always good to end your regular-season with the win, trying to build the momentum for probably the most enjoyable part of the season, which is our playoff time,” he said.
“We got a good win right there. It’s never an easy win on the road in the DuKane Conference and on Batavia’s Senior Night. Their guys were pretty motivated.
“It was a good team effort all the way around. I think we played quick, combination soccer,” Willson continued. “We moved the ball a little bit better and created some chances.”
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco thought the opening minutes of both halves were critical to the match’s outcome.
“The first goal was scored in the first 10 minutes of the first half and the second one was scored the first 10 minutes of the second half,” said Gianfrancesco. “I’d say if you take that those two pieces out, (St. Charles North) had not created a ton of chances outside of those.
"(Batavia goalkeeper Ryan) Horlock made a couple of nice saves in the second half coming off his line but for the most part I don’t think they really had a bunch of clear-cut chances.”
The St. Charles North defense continued its stingy ways, earning its 10th clean-sheet of the season.
“We have defended fantastically all season long. In 16 games, we’ve only conceded seven goals, that has been a constant for us,” Willson said. “Hopefully that will bode well for us in the playoffs.”
The entire defensive unit can share the credit, according to the St. Charles North coach.
“It’s hard to point to one person. The whole backline, center backs Casey Kriz and Aston
Goettel and Bryce Thomas and Stefano Nava, our outside backs, have done a really nice job for us,” he said. “And how can you not bring up our goalkeeper, Alex Curtis, who’s just been phenomenal for us between the pipes.”
The junior posted three saves to record the clean-sheet.
The defense stands on solid ground, according to Thomas.
“We trust each other. We know that if we get beat on a long ball, there’s always someone behind us. We don’t have to second guess anything,” said the senior “Our defense steps up for one another.”
A Walter DeLaPaz corner kick set up the first goal for St. Charles North (8-5-4, 2-3-2). Mazurek, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, corralled the serve and booted in his fourth goal of the season.
DeLaPaz also had a foot in the second goal. He passed the ball to Jacob Glanzman, who took a shot from 20 yards that got past Horlock four minutes into the second half. Glanzman leads St. Charles North with seven goals.
DeLaPaz said the North Stars were determined to score.
“We were stepping on the gas and looking for opportunities,” said the junior midfielder. “Even if we missed, we kept on trying to find the back of the net, and it finally worked out.”
Thomas agreed the win was important.
‘The goal of the game was to give us momentum in the postseason,” added Thomas. “We had a little scoring drought , six games. It’s nice to get a couple of goals and know that we can win some games going into the postseason.”
Batavia (3-11-4, 0-5-1) needs to step up its offense according to Gianfrancesco.
“We’ve got to create more chances as well as finish the chances we are getting. I think we had a couple we could have could have put in,” he said. “That’s been our season in a nutshell.”
The Bulldogs coach did appreciate freshman midfielder Xavier Justice’s efforts.
“He played pretty solid yesterday,” said Giafrancesco. “He was up and back. He had a lot of energy.”
Willson had more midfield to hand out.
“I love our midfield. They do a really nice job. We’ve moved Charlie (Mazurek) from the back into the midfield to help us out and with Walter DeLaPaz in the middle you’ve got to feel good about what they are doing,” the North Star coach said. “They do a nice job for us.”
St. Charles North, seeded sixth in the St. Charles East Class 3A Sectional and a regional host, opens the postseason at home Oct. 18 against Glenbard West, a twelfth seed.
“I think it’s a tough regional, and it’s an incredibly tough sectional from top to bottom. There are a lot of teams that probably have a strong claim in saying that they can win not only a regional but even a sectional, so it’s going to be difficult,” Willson said. “(Glenbard West) is s going to be a super-tough opponent. We have a week to prepare. The coaching staff will do their best to get this team ready to go.”
Batavia wraps up the regular-season and conference play Thursday at St. Charles East. The 15th-seeded Bulldogs, also a regional host, will play in the Class 3A Bolingbrook Sectional.
“We have Yorkville on Saturday, and we’re hopeful," said Gianfrancesco. "If we win that match, we would then face top-seeded Naperville Central (third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25), which is right in line with Saint Charles East (13th in the top 25). So East is a good barometer for us tomorrow.
"We need to raise our level of play, clean up some of that stuff that should be taken care of and get those scoring opportunities. It will be a good test for us.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Alexander Curtis
D: Ashton Goetiel
D: Stefano Nava
D: Bryce Thomas
D: Casey Kriz
M: Diego Torres
M: Walter DeLaPaz
M: Charlie Maruzek
F: Trevor Mirra
F: Jacob Glanzman
F: Arnel Dizdarevic
Batavia
GK: Ryan Horlock
D: Ryan Wirsing
D: Nicholas Evangelista
D: Owen Stahl
D: John Smeraglinolo
M Nathan Feller
M: Alexander Marshall
M: Brokk Olberg
F: Eric Perkins
F: Aric Hayes
F: Eder Sanchex
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Charlie Mazurek, sr., MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
SCN – Charlie Mazurek (Walter DeLaPaz) 11’
Second half
SCN – Jacob Glanzman (Walter DeLaPaz) 44’
scoring woes in win over Batavia
North Stars post 2-0 win in regular-season, conference finale
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA -- The weather served as a perfect setting for the first goal scored in Tuesday’s DuKane Conference contest between St. Charles North and Batavia.
During a downpour, North Stars Charlie Mazurek found the back of the net in the 11th minute, ending a six-match scoring drought and winless streak for St. Charles North.
With another strike in the second half, the North Stars won their regular-season finale over the Bulldogs 2-0.
“It’s been a little while since we’ve scored a goal so it’s nice for us to break out of that scoring drought that we were in,” said St. Charles North coach Eric Willson. “It’s been a few games since we’ve done that. So to come out here tonight and get two, that was super positive for us before postseason time.”
St. Charles North can build on the positives of the victory, , according to Willson.
“It’s always good to end your regular-season with the win, trying to build the momentum for probably the most enjoyable part of the season, which is our playoff time,” he said.
“We got a good win right there. It’s never an easy win on the road in the DuKane Conference and on Batavia’s Senior Night. Their guys were pretty motivated.
“It was a good team effort all the way around. I think we played quick, combination soccer,” Willson continued. “We moved the ball a little bit better and created some chances.”
Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco thought the opening minutes of both halves were critical to the match’s outcome.
“The first goal was scored in the first 10 minutes of the first half and the second one was scored the first 10 minutes of the second half,” said Gianfrancesco. “I’d say if you take that those two pieces out, (St. Charles North) had not created a ton of chances outside of those.
"(Batavia goalkeeper Ryan) Horlock made a couple of nice saves in the second half coming off his line but for the most part I don’t think they really had a bunch of clear-cut chances.”
The St. Charles North defense continued its stingy ways, earning its 10th clean-sheet of the season.
“We have defended fantastically all season long. In 16 games, we’ve only conceded seven goals, that has been a constant for us,” Willson said. “Hopefully that will bode well for us in the playoffs.”
The entire defensive unit can share the credit, according to the St. Charles North coach.
“It’s hard to point to one person. The whole backline, center backs Casey Kriz and Aston
Goettel and Bryce Thomas and Stefano Nava, our outside backs, have done a really nice job for us,” he said. “And how can you not bring up our goalkeeper, Alex Curtis, who’s just been phenomenal for us between the pipes.”
The junior posted three saves to record the clean-sheet.
The defense stands on solid ground, according to Thomas.
“We trust each other. We know that if we get beat on a long ball, there’s always someone behind us. We don’t have to second guess anything,” said the senior “Our defense steps up for one another.”
A Walter DeLaPaz corner kick set up the first goal for St. Charles North (8-5-4, 2-3-2). Mazurek, who was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match, corralled the serve and booted in his fourth goal of the season.
DeLaPaz also had a foot in the second goal. He passed the ball to Jacob Glanzman, who took a shot from 20 yards that got past Horlock four minutes into the second half. Glanzman leads St. Charles North with seven goals.
DeLaPaz said the North Stars were determined to score.
“We were stepping on the gas and looking for opportunities,” said the junior midfielder. “Even if we missed, we kept on trying to find the back of the net, and it finally worked out.”
Thomas agreed the win was important.
‘The goal of the game was to give us momentum in the postseason,” added Thomas. “We had a little scoring drought , six games. It’s nice to get a couple of goals and know that we can win some games going into the postseason.”
Batavia (3-11-4, 0-5-1) needs to step up its offense according to Gianfrancesco.
“We’ve got to create more chances as well as finish the chances we are getting. I think we had a couple we could have could have put in,” he said. “That’s been our season in a nutshell.”
The Bulldogs coach did appreciate freshman midfielder Xavier Justice’s efforts.
“He played pretty solid yesterday,” said Giafrancesco. “He was up and back. He had a lot of energy.”
Willson had more midfield to hand out.
“I love our midfield. They do a really nice job. We’ve moved Charlie (Mazurek) from the back into the midfield to help us out and with Walter DeLaPaz in the middle you’ve got to feel good about what they are doing,” the North Star coach said. “They do a nice job for us.”
St. Charles North, seeded sixth in the St. Charles East Class 3A Sectional and a regional host, opens the postseason at home Oct. 18 against Glenbard West, a twelfth seed.
“I think it’s a tough regional, and it’s an incredibly tough sectional from top to bottom. There are a lot of teams that probably have a strong claim in saying that they can win not only a regional but even a sectional, so it’s going to be difficult,” Willson said. “(Glenbard West) is s going to be a super-tough opponent. We have a week to prepare. The coaching staff will do their best to get this team ready to go.”
Batavia wraps up the regular-season and conference play Thursday at St. Charles East. The 15th-seeded Bulldogs, also a regional host, will play in the Class 3A Bolingbrook Sectional.
“We have Yorkville on Saturday, and we’re hopeful," said Gianfrancesco. "If we win that match, we would then face top-seeded Naperville Central (third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25), which is right in line with Saint Charles East (13th in the top 25). So East is a good barometer for us tomorrow.
"We need to raise our level of play, clean up some of that stuff that should be taken care of and get those scoring opportunities. It will be a good test for us.”
Starting lineups
St. Charles North
GK: Alexander Curtis
D: Ashton Goetiel
D: Stefano Nava
D: Bryce Thomas
D: Casey Kriz
M: Diego Torres
M: Walter DeLaPaz
M: Charlie Maruzek
F: Trevor Mirra
F: Jacob Glanzman
F: Arnel Dizdarevic
Batavia
GK: Ryan Horlock
D: Ryan Wirsing
D: Nicholas Evangelista
D: Owen Stahl
D: John Smeraglinolo
M Nathan Feller
M: Alexander Marshall
M: Brokk Olberg
F: Eric Perkins
F: Aric Hayes
F: Eder Sanchex
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Charlie Mazurek, sr., MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
First half
SCN – Charlie Mazurek (Walter DeLaPaz) 11’
Second half
SCN – Jacob Glanzman (Walter DeLaPaz) 44’