Late St. Francis goal tops Timothy
Chrustowski’s 78th-minute strike makes Spartans 2-1 winner
By Gary Larsen
WHEATON —Like many seniors across Illinois, St. Francis’ Kaitlin Chaparro must feel like she entered a time machine.
She was a sophomore role player in 2019 and the next thing she knew that time machine dumped her unceremoniously onto the pitch in 2021 as a senior with a captain’s band on her arm.
The pandemic robbed a lot of players of their transitional varsity seasons in 2020. There was no junior year to acclimate as a key varsity contributor, or grow into a leadership role.
“It was really weird not playing last season,” Chaparro said. “It definitely feels like I went from a sophomore to a senior, where now it's suddenly me leading warm-ups.”
On paper, Chaparro and fellow senior captain Kat Lemke might seem to have a particularly tough task this year, since providing leadership for a team featuring seven varsity freshmen can be a lot like corralling cats.
Luckily, that clowder of felines is talented at St. Francis this year. And one of them played the hero on Thursday.
With her team tied 1-1 against visiting Metro Suburban Conference rival Timothy and less than two minutes remaining, St. Francis freshman forward Paige Chrustowski made Chaparro’s and Lemke’s leadership jobs just a little bit easier.
With timing running out, the Spartans played a ball into the Trojans’ penalty area near the post and Chrustowski pounced on it like, well, like a cat.
“It was a nice through-ball from Sara (Dziengel) and then Tristan (Grosam) crossed it in,” Chrustowski said. “The goalie went for it and missed, and I just hit it in. It was loose in the air, I headed it, and it went in off a few people.”
It was the first game-winning goal of Chrustowski’s young varsity career.
In a game between two previously unbeaten teams, play was marked largely by St. Francis’ sustained pressure and Timothy’s ability to counter off of that pressure.
Timothy (5-1-0, 4-1-0) went into the game having outscored opponents 27-1, while St. Francis (3-0-0, 3-0-0) held a 7-0 scoring edge over its first two opponents.
“I knew coming into this game that they were solid. They have kids that can play,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said of Timothy.
Through 15 minutes, St. Francis had the ball on the doorstep of the goal a handful of times but couldn’t convert, and Timothy Christian made the Spartans pay for it.
The Trojans have an athletic, fast, rangy attacking sophomore in Madison Drye and she used all of those traits to break the ice at 18 minutes. Teammate Emma Carter sent a ball over the top from near midfield and Drye fought her way between two defenders to run it down near the top of the penalty area.
With St. Francis keeper Hannah Blaha charging off her line, Drye got to the ball first and toe-poked it inside the post from 14 yards to give the Trojans the lead.
“It was hammer a ball forward, and see if (Drye) could get on the end of it, and that’s how they scored the first goal,” Winslow said. “We’ll need to clean that up defensively.”
St. Francis answered three minutes later, when Lemke sent a ball up the left side to a streaking Lauren Bruce.
“I took a touch down line, and I saw Kate (Chaparro) running out of the corner of my eye,” Bruce said. “I knew there was a defender, but I just crossed it in, and she made a perfect run. We work really well together.”
Bruce’s cross found the far post, Chaparro found the ball, and St. Francis found a game-tying goal at 22 minutes.
“There was no one in front of the goalie, and I knew Lauren could get it to me,” Chaparro said. “We've been working on crossing and finishing in practices and working on that run. I just saw the opportunity, and I took it.”
The play in nearly all of the first half was best summed up by Timothy coach Jon Hamelinck: “They’re a skilled team. They were out-possessing us and clearly had a territorial edge over us. They’re organized and some of their overlapping runs and wing play was very good.
“I don’t think we had our best stuff in the first half. We let them a win a little bit too much of the middle of the field. But we had a much better start to the second half. The girls bought in and did a lot of the things we asked them to do at halftime.”
Indeed, the Trojans began playing to feet well to start the second half but finding a final link to a clean look on net proved difficult against the Spartans’ backline of Meghan Ward, Abby Curtis and Dziengel.
Drye nearly raced onto the end of a few through-balls in transition but the Spartans held firm. Ward tracked back hard to disrupt Drye, Blaha left her line aggressively, and Curtis had a whale of a day in back for the Spartans.
“She’s really stepping into her role at center back,” Winslow said of Curtis. “She’s always been an outside back, but she’s stepping in and doing good things for us. She played fantastic today.”
Chrustowski, Chaparro, and Claire Reinke all had scoring opportunities that went for naught down the stretch before Chrustowski’s late goal decided the game.
To that point, Timothy's defensive unit of Sophia Biscan, Mara Veenstra, Elena Munk, Chloe Leppink and keeper Angel Burke fought tooth-and-nail to withstand the pressure of St. Francis, which is ranked no. 25 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
Ultimately, the Spartans attack simply wore Timothy down.
“I was really proud of us,” Chaparro said. “We really stuck to it, and this was a game that we really wanted to win. We knew they had a good record.
“The mindset was to keep grinding away. We knew they were getting tired and once we got a few opportunities and broke them down we just had to keep going.”
Starting lineups
Timothy
GK Angel Burke
D Chloe Leppink
D Elena Munk
D Mara Veenstra
D Sophia Biscan
M Madison Drye
M Emma Carter
M Juliana Norman
M Lauren Wiegers
M Abby Bechtel
F Miliana Martens
St. Francis
GK Hannah Blaha
D Abby Curtis
D Meghan Ward
D Sara Dziengel
M Sophia Roszkowski
M Claire Reinke
M Kat Lemke
M Paige Chrustowski
M Sofia Monzon
F Lauren Bruce
F Kaitlin Chaparro
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Abby Curtis, sr., D, St. Francis
Scoring summary
First half
Timothy — Drye (Carter) 18 minutes
St. Francis — Chaparro (Bruce) 22 minutes
Second half
St. Francis — Chrustowski (Grosam) 78 minutes
Chrustowski’s 78th-minute strike makes Spartans 2-1 winner
By Gary Larsen
WHEATON —Like many seniors across Illinois, St. Francis’ Kaitlin Chaparro must feel like she entered a time machine.
She was a sophomore role player in 2019 and the next thing she knew that time machine dumped her unceremoniously onto the pitch in 2021 as a senior with a captain’s band on her arm.
The pandemic robbed a lot of players of their transitional varsity seasons in 2020. There was no junior year to acclimate as a key varsity contributor, or grow into a leadership role.
“It was really weird not playing last season,” Chaparro said. “It definitely feels like I went from a sophomore to a senior, where now it's suddenly me leading warm-ups.”
On paper, Chaparro and fellow senior captain Kat Lemke might seem to have a particularly tough task this year, since providing leadership for a team featuring seven varsity freshmen can be a lot like corralling cats.
Luckily, that clowder of felines is talented at St. Francis this year. And one of them played the hero on Thursday.
With her team tied 1-1 against visiting Metro Suburban Conference rival Timothy and less than two minutes remaining, St. Francis freshman forward Paige Chrustowski made Chaparro’s and Lemke’s leadership jobs just a little bit easier.
With timing running out, the Spartans played a ball into the Trojans’ penalty area near the post and Chrustowski pounced on it like, well, like a cat.
“It was a nice through-ball from Sara (Dziengel) and then Tristan (Grosam) crossed it in,” Chrustowski said. “The goalie went for it and missed, and I just hit it in. It was loose in the air, I headed it, and it went in off a few people.”
It was the first game-winning goal of Chrustowski’s young varsity career.
In a game between two previously unbeaten teams, play was marked largely by St. Francis’ sustained pressure and Timothy’s ability to counter off of that pressure.
Timothy (5-1-0, 4-1-0) went into the game having outscored opponents 27-1, while St. Francis (3-0-0, 3-0-0) held a 7-0 scoring edge over its first two opponents.
“I knew coming into this game that they were solid. They have kids that can play,” St. Francis coach Jim Winslow said of Timothy.
Through 15 minutes, St. Francis had the ball on the doorstep of the goal a handful of times but couldn’t convert, and Timothy Christian made the Spartans pay for it.
The Trojans have an athletic, fast, rangy attacking sophomore in Madison Drye and she used all of those traits to break the ice at 18 minutes. Teammate Emma Carter sent a ball over the top from near midfield and Drye fought her way between two defenders to run it down near the top of the penalty area.
With St. Francis keeper Hannah Blaha charging off her line, Drye got to the ball first and toe-poked it inside the post from 14 yards to give the Trojans the lead.
“It was hammer a ball forward, and see if (Drye) could get on the end of it, and that’s how they scored the first goal,” Winslow said. “We’ll need to clean that up defensively.”
St. Francis answered three minutes later, when Lemke sent a ball up the left side to a streaking Lauren Bruce.
“I took a touch down line, and I saw Kate (Chaparro) running out of the corner of my eye,” Bruce said. “I knew there was a defender, but I just crossed it in, and she made a perfect run. We work really well together.”
Bruce’s cross found the far post, Chaparro found the ball, and St. Francis found a game-tying goal at 22 minutes.
“There was no one in front of the goalie, and I knew Lauren could get it to me,” Chaparro said. “We've been working on crossing and finishing in practices and working on that run. I just saw the opportunity, and I took it.”
The play in nearly all of the first half was best summed up by Timothy coach Jon Hamelinck: “They’re a skilled team. They were out-possessing us and clearly had a territorial edge over us. They’re organized and some of their overlapping runs and wing play was very good.
“I don’t think we had our best stuff in the first half. We let them a win a little bit too much of the middle of the field. But we had a much better start to the second half. The girls bought in and did a lot of the things we asked them to do at halftime.”
Indeed, the Trojans began playing to feet well to start the second half but finding a final link to a clean look on net proved difficult against the Spartans’ backline of Meghan Ward, Abby Curtis and Dziengel.
Drye nearly raced onto the end of a few through-balls in transition but the Spartans held firm. Ward tracked back hard to disrupt Drye, Blaha left her line aggressively, and Curtis had a whale of a day in back for the Spartans.
“She’s really stepping into her role at center back,” Winslow said of Curtis. “She’s always been an outside back, but she’s stepping in and doing good things for us. She played fantastic today.”
Chrustowski, Chaparro, and Claire Reinke all had scoring opportunities that went for naught down the stretch before Chrustowski’s late goal decided the game.
To that point, Timothy's defensive unit of Sophia Biscan, Mara Veenstra, Elena Munk, Chloe Leppink and keeper Angel Burke fought tooth-and-nail to withstand the pressure of St. Francis, which is ranked no. 25 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25.
Ultimately, the Spartans attack simply wore Timothy down.
“I was really proud of us,” Chaparro said. “We really stuck to it, and this was a game that we really wanted to win. We knew they had a good record.
“The mindset was to keep grinding away. We knew they were getting tired and once we got a few opportunities and broke them down we just had to keep going.”
Starting lineups
Timothy
GK Angel Burke
D Chloe Leppink
D Elena Munk
D Mara Veenstra
D Sophia Biscan
M Madison Drye
M Emma Carter
M Juliana Norman
M Lauren Wiegers
M Abby Bechtel
F Miliana Martens
St. Francis
GK Hannah Blaha
D Abby Curtis
D Meghan Ward
D Sara Dziengel
M Sophia Roszkowski
M Claire Reinke
M Kat Lemke
M Paige Chrustowski
M Sofia Monzon
F Lauren Bruce
F Kaitlin Chaparro
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Abby Curtis, sr., D, St. Francis
Scoring summary
First half
Timothy — Drye (Carter) 18 minutes
St. Francis — Chaparro (Bruce) 22 minutes
Second half
St. Francis — Chrustowski (Grosam) 78 minutes