SCN flicks on power switch vs. Batavia
North Stars win 6-0, turned electricity up in October
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – When St. Charles North lost a heartbreaker to crosstown rival St. Charles East on Sept. 26, North Stars coach Eric Willson sounded worried about his team.
He said, “Winning is contagious, and I think the other way around it’s the same way.
“We need our playmakers to step up. We need leaders to step up. That’s not happening right now so hopefully we’ll keep grinding it out and find a way to make that happen when it matters most at the end of the year.”
Fast forward to Thursday night at Geneva’s Burgess Field where the North Stars cruised past Batavia 6-0 on an emotional Tri-Cities NIght as the Bulldogs continue to mourn the tragic loss of junior teammate Kyle Nicely. The proceeds from the game went to the Batavia junior's family.
St. Charles East faced Geneva in the nightcap on Thursday during an event that was still able to shine as a festive night for these storied local soccer communities.
Since that loss to St. Charles East, the North Stars have gone unbeaten. They tied DuKane rival Glenbard North before reeling off three-straight victories against Streamwood, Neuqua Valley and Batavia. With a win next week against Wheaton Warrenville South, the North Stars will be streaking upward when they take on Addison Trail at home on Oct. 22 in a big-time regional semifinal.
“I think we’re seeing a different team now,” Willson said. “Momentum is a funny thing, and I think the guys kind of have committed to how we wanted to play, who we wanted to be, how we wanted to train, and I think that you’re seeing those results on the field. We’re just different; and it feels different. And I know winning certainly helps a lot of time.
“It’s the things we talked about. It’s your response to those specific events that end up dictating what the outcome is going to be. For us, our outcome is we want to be the best version of ourselves that we can be come playoff time."
Without a doubt, the North Stars were ready to go in this one. They built a 3-0 lead after a half to take complete control.
St. Charles North had a 2-0 lead late in the first half. They looked comfortable as Batavia struggled to find offense. That changed with 3:25 left before the break when the Bulldogs were awarded a PK. Converting it would cut their deficit in half and give them momentum heading into the second half when anything could happen, right?
Wrong.
Bobby Curran read Batavia senior forward Isaac Hager’s penalty kick attempt like a book and dived to his left to deny it.
“I know him from having played with him in previous years, so I was just telling him good luck (before he took the shot),” Curran said. “I just saw his hips open when he took it; and you look for things like that. So I got a good read on that, and it was a good shot. I kind of got a lucky save on it.”
To make matters worse for the Bulldogs, who had just been thinking of the possibility of being within a single goal, the North Stars extended their lead to 3-0 with just 20 seconds left in the half as Luke Persenico found Thomas Weber who buried his shot.
“It could’ve been 2-1 at half if we convert the PK,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “But then giving up goals right after that was rough. I thought we had a little bit of control. They had three quick runouts on us and bang they were in the back of the net.
The North Stars extended their lead just six minutes into the second half when Faizan Mohiuddin joined the scoring column.
They made it 5-0 when Persenico tapped in his second goal of the evening from Sam Strader with 22:45 left to play. Persenico had already scored late in the first half to make it a 2-0 game with 8:00 left. He was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
It was the second time this season that Persenico tallied a pair of goals in a game.
“On the first goal it was a great ball from Xander (Zao) and I found the ball and just had to tap it in,” Persenico said. “On the one from Tommy, I beat the keeper outside, and he was in the box. All he had to do was put it in.”
Branden Collins concluded the scoring for the North Stars with 12:24 remaining with an unassisted goal, giving the North Stars their biggest scoring output since they beat Burlington Central, 7-2, on Sept. 22, 2018.
Batavia (2-13-1, 0-6-0) played like a team that was running on fumes physically and emotionally. The Bulldogs were playing for the third time in four days.
They played hard, but didn’t get the futbol result they pursued.
“It’s been a crazy week, but we’ve seen some good things, getting that second win and the tie in the (WarStang Invitational) tournament,” Bulldogs junior Mark Lillig said. “We have been playing solid this week.”
Yielding a penalty kick, which Nolan Sinnaeve converted, not even 10 minutes into the action, was definitely not the inspiring start the Bulldogs needed in a game in which they were the huge underdog.
“I think the PK call right away started to dictate things,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “If that wasn’t called I’m thinking maybe it would’ve been a different half to start out with. That just, boom, got us down right away.”
And then it got away from the Bulldogs, something that hadn’t happened earlier this week against Waubonsie Valley (2-2 tie) and Boylan (1-0 win).
“I think over the last week and week-and-a-half, the results haven’t been great, but we’re showing some glimpses of stuff and we’re just trying to get to the playoff time now where it’s 0-0. I’m sure our guys would be happy to get there and start over again. These are just practice games now and telling us what can we do to get better. We’ve been showing some real improvement, but unfortunately today, we saw some decent things, but really minimal opportunities on frame or in front of the goal. We really struggled with their pace today.
One thing that Bulldogs definitely aren’t doing is quitting. While this team doesn’t have the same dynamic as it did a year ago with a senior-heavy roster, it shares that closeness and bond.
“It’s been all so emotional this season with all the events going on so it’s easy to let our heads fall down really quickly in games,” Lillig said. “So we’ve really had to rely on each other and to keep trying to better as the season goes on. All we can do is stick with it, help each other and be there for everyone. It’s really tough because there’s no easy or correct way to go through with it.”
The Bulldogs will continue to persevere.
“Saturday is another day,” Gianfrancesco said. “We’ve got Wheaton Academy so we’re back at it and then we start to look for the start of the playoffs.”
And anything can happen in the postseason -- just ask the Bulldogs. They are just a victory short of where they were when they entered the postseason a year ago. They provided a season highlight with a regional championship. Anything can happen.
As for the North Stars, they’re playing some of their best soccer of the season while being tested emotionally as well. Their classmate Aidan Carlson suffered a severe brain injury during a football game last weekend. That’s a lot for anyone to handle, and they’re doing the best they can to move forward.
“It’s been pretty hard,” Persenico said. “A few of the guys on the team knew (Nicely) pretty well. We’re just trying to stay positive. We came out here and knew this was at a good cause but still tried to play our game the best way that we could.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Will Bardol
D Quinn Carlson
D Will Chandler
D Riley Miller
D Hector Rosales
M Rodrigo Maldonado
F Isaac Hager
F Austin Saenz
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
St. Charles North
GK Bob Curran
D Mike DePasquale
D Colin Nelson
D Xander Zao
M Andrew Kraft
M Faizan Mohiuddin
M Jared Sinnaeve
M Thomas Weber
F Luke Persenico
F Nolan Sinnaeve
F Nick Sommer
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Luke Persenico, jr., F, St. Charles North
Kyle Nicely, jr., F, Batavia
Game summary
St. Charles North 6, Batavia 0
St. Charles North 3 3 – 6
Batavia 0 0 - 0
First half
St. Charles North – Nolan Sinnaeve PK 31:42
St. Charles North – Luke Persenico (Xander Jao) 8:00
St. Charles North – Thomas Weber (Luke Persenico) 0:20
Second half
St. Charles North – Faizan Mohiuddin (Thomas Weber) 33:53
St. Charles North – Luke Persenico (Sam Strader) 22:45
St. Charles North – Branden Collins (u/a) 12:24
North Stars win 6-0, turned electricity up in October
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – When St. Charles North lost a heartbreaker to crosstown rival St. Charles East on Sept. 26, North Stars coach Eric Willson sounded worried about his team.
He said, “Winning is contagious, and I think the other way around it’s the same way.
“We need our playmakers to step up. We need leaders to step up. That’s not happening right now so hopefully we’ll keep grinding it out and find a way to make that happen when it matters most at the end of the year.”
Fast forward to Thursday night at Geneva’s Burgess Field where the North Stars cruised past Batavia 6-0 on an emotional Tri-Cities NIght as the Bulldogs continue to mourn the tragic loss of junior teammate Kyle Nicely. The proceeds from the game went to the Batavia junior's family.
St. Charles East faced Geneva in the nightcap on Thursday during an event that was still able to shine as a festive night for these storied local soccer communities.
Since that loss to St. Charles East, the North Stars have gone unbeaten. They tied DuKane rival Glenbard North before reeling off three-straight victories against Streamwood, Neuqua Valley and Batavia. With a win next week against Wheaton Warrenville South, the North Stars will be streaking upward when they take on Addison Trail at home on Oct. 22 in a big-time regional semifinal.
“I think we’re seeing a different team now,” Willson said. “Momentum is a funny thing, and I think the guys kind of have committed to how we wanted to play, who we wanted to be, how we wanted to train, and I think that you’re seeing those results on the field. We’re just different; and it feels different. And I know winning certainly helps a lot of time.
“It’s the things we talked about. It’s your response to those specific events that end up dictating what the outcome is going to be. For us, our outcome is we want to be the best version of ourselves that we can be come playoff time."
Without a doubt, the North Stars were ready to go in this one. They built a 3-0 lead after a half to take complete control.
St. Charles North had a 2-0 lead late in the first half. They looked comfortable as Batavia struggled to find offense. That changed with 3:25 left before the break when the Bulldogs were awarded a PK. Converting it would cut their deficit in half and give them momentum heading into the second half when anything could happen, right?
Wrong.
Bobby Curran read Batavia senior forward Isaac Hager’s penalty kick attempt like a book and dived to his left to deny it.
“I know him from having played with him in previous years, so I was just telling him good luck (before he took the shot),” Curran said. “I just saw his hips open when he took it; and you look for things like that. So I got a good read on that, and it was a good shot. I kind of got a lucky save on it.”
To make matters worse for the Bulldogs, who had just been thinking of the possibility of being within a single goal, the North Stars extended their lead to 3-0 with just 20 seconds left in the half as Luke Persenico found Thomas Weber who buried his shot.
“It could’ve been 2-1 at half if we convert the PK,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “But then giving up goals right after that was rough. I thought we had a little bit of control. They had three quick runouts on us and bang they were in the back of the net.
The North Stars extended their lead just six minutes into the second half when Faizan Mohiuddin joined the scoring column.
They made it 5-0 when Persenico tapped in his second goal of the evening from Sam Strader with 22:45 left to play. Persenico had already scored late in the first half to make it a 2-0 game with 8:00 left. He was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
It was the second time this season that Persenico tallied a pair of goals in a game.
“On the first goal it was a great ball from Xander (Zao) and I found the ball and just had to tap it in,” Persenico said. “On the one from Tommy, I beat the keeper outside, and he was in the box. All he had to do was put it in.”
Branden Collins concluded the scoring for the North Stars with 12:24 remaining with an unassisted goal, giving the North Stars their biggest scoring output since they beat Burlington Central, 7-2, on Sept. 22, 2018.
Batavia (2-13-1, 0-6-0) played like a team that was running on fumes physically and emotionally. The Bulldogs were playing for the third time in four days.
They played hard, but didn’t get the futbol result they pursued.
“It’s been a crazy week, but we’ve seen some good things, getting that second win and the tie in the (WarStang Invitational) tournament,” Bulldogs junior Mark Lillig said. “We have been playing solid this week.”
Yielding a penalty kick, which Nolan Sinnaeve converted, not even 10 minutes into the action, was definitely not the inspiring start the Bulldogs needed in a game in which they were the huge underdog.
“I think the PK call right away started to dictate things,” Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “If that wasn’t called I’m thinking maybe it would’ve been a different half to start out with. That just, boom, got us down right away.”
And then it got away from the Bulldogs, something that hadn’t happened earlier this week against Waubonsie Valley (2-2 tie) and Boylan (1-0 win).
“I think over the last week and week-and-a-half, the results haven’t been great, but we’re showing some glimpses of stuff and we’re just trying to get to the playoff time now where it’s 0-0. I’m sure our guys would be happy to get there and start over again. These are just practice games now and telling us what can we do to get better. We’ve been showing some real improvement, but unfortunately today, we saw some decent things, but really minimal opportunities on frame or in front of the goal. We really struggled with their pace today.
One thing that Bulldogs definitely aren’t doing is quitting. While this team doesn’t have the same dynamic as it did a year ago with a senior-heavy roster, it shares that closeness and bond.
“It’s been all so emotional this season with all the events going on so it’s easy to let our heads fall down really quickly in games,” Lillig said. “So we’ve really had to rely on each other and to keep trying to better as the season goes on. All we can do is stick with it, help each other and be there for everyone. It’s really tough because there’s no easy or correct way to go through with it.”
The Bulldogs will continue to persevere.
“Saturday is another day,” Gianfrancesco said. “We’ve got Wheaton Academy so we’re back at it and then we start to look for the start of the playoffs.”
And anything can happen in the postseason -- just ask the Bulldogs. They are just a victory short of where they were when they entered the postseason a year ago. They provided a season highlight with a regional championship. Anything can happen.
As for the North Stars, they’re playing some of their best soccer of the season while being tested emotionally as well. Their classmate Aidan Carlson suffered a severe brain injury during a football game last weekend. That’s a lot for anyone to handle, and they’re doing the best they can to move forward.
“It’s been pretty hard,” Persenico said. “A few of the guys on the team knew (Nicely) pretty well. We’re just trying to stay positive. We came out here and knew this was at a good cause but still tried to play our game the best way that we could.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Will Bardol
D Quinn Carlson
D Will Chandler
D Riley Miller
D Hector Rosales
M Rodrigo Maldonado
F Isaac Hager
F Austin Saenz
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
St. Charles North
GK Bob Curran
D Mike DePasquale
D Colin Nelson
D Xander Zao
M Andrew Kraft
M Faizan Mohiuddin
M Jared Sinnaeve
M Thomas Weber
F Luke Persenico
F Nolan Sinnaeve
F Nick Sommer
Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Luke Persenico, jr., F, St. Charles North
Kyle Nicely, jr., F, Batavia
Game summary
St. Charles North 6, Batavia 0
St. Charles North 3 3 – 6
Batavia 0 0 - 0
First half
St. Charles North – Nolan Sinnaeve PK 31:42
St. Charles North – Luke Persenico (Xander Jao) 8:00
St. Charles North – Thomas Weber (Luke Persenico) 0:20
Second half
St. Charles North – Faizan Mohiuddin (Thomas Weber) 33:53
St. Charles North – Luke Persenico (Sam Strader) 22:45
St. Charles North – Branden Collins (u/a) 12:24