Season recap: St. Francis
By Dave Owen
St. Francis overcame the one-two punch of major injuries and a brutal early season schedule to finish 2022 in style.
The Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division co-champions closed the spring on a 5-1-0 run to finish 7-8-1 overall. And coach Jim Winslow thinks the best is yet to come.
“A lot of sophomores got varsity experience,” he said. “And not for five minutes, but in big times and critical moments. Our backline comes back pretty much intact, our midfield too and our kids up-top generally are back intact.
“So, if we can harness that and get it moving in the same direction it should be a nice group. I'm looking forward to it.”
Players like sophomore forward Paige Chrustowski share their coach’s enthusiasm.
“We are really excited for the future of St. Francis soccer,” Chrustowski said. “The upperclassmen really helped the freshman and sophomores this year be prepared to be a dominant force next year. And we have high expectations for the incoming freshmen.”
Beyond the huge group of 16 freshmen and sophomores on this year’s varsity, it’s that freshman class arriving in September that really has hopes sky high for the next few years.
“I have a very good group (Class of 2026) coming in,” Winslow said. “It's a talented group, and the other thing I'm excited about is that we're starting to build our numbers back. We're losing four seniors, but bringing in eight or nine kids.”
Those four seniors were a small but special group, led by Blue Division Player of the Year Lauren Bruce.
Faced with carrying most of the scoring burden after forwards Chrustowski and Sophia Roszkowski were sidelined by early season injuries, Bruce delivered.
“Lauren was our top scorer with around 14 goals and 5 or 6 assists,” Winslow said. “Last year when we were 13-1-0, Lauren was our top point-getter and Paige number two. This year we lost Paige after game two (of the season) for a month, and Lauren carried us through a tough point until Paige got back. And Sophia had decent numbers too but missed three weeks.”
Defensively, the Spartans were dealt another injury hit when junior goalkeeper Hannah Blaha was injured in April and freshman Kennedy Karl took over in the net.
“We lost Hannah for the year,” Winslow said. “And other kids were out. Like (defender) Ella Schroeder started two games and then had a chronic injury.
“It was just one of those years. Sometimes you get those.”
For her part, Bruce tried to keep the waves of challenges in perspective.
“I didn't feel I had to do way, way too much,” she said. “It was difficult at first when we did have a lot of players out, because everyone was used to playing with them. But I really think that we all started contributing a little bit more. And the midfielders really did a great job getting the ball up the field, which allowed me to use my skills and go and score for the team.
“Honestly I was shocked that I won it (Blue Divison Player of the Year). I was really excited too, because that's such a great accomplishment.
“I would say the reason I played so well was that Jim Winslow really coached me well these last four years. He would always help me fix something I did wrong, and I think he really pushed me to be the best that I could be, which allowed me to win that honor this year.”
The Spartans’ other three seniors also made major impacts.
“Every coach wants a kid like Mia (Hass),” Winslow said. “She doesn't care where she plays or what she does. Whether it's handing out water or starting, she just wants to be part of the team.
“And Lauren and Claire (Reinke) and Sara (Dziengel), those kids were more full-time players and all played on bigger clubs. Lauren was Player of the Year, and Sara and Claire were both all-conference players, along with (junior defender) Ada Suriano, Paige, Sophia and our freshman Elle. They can hang their hats on that.”
And this fall, all four Spartans seniors have quality college destinations.
“Claire's going to UCLA, Mia to Dayton, Sara to U of I (Illinois) and Lauren to Indiana (where she plans to play club soccer),” Winslow said.
“They're all bright kids. And they were all multiple sport athletes in high school. We’ll miss them.”
As for the senior quartet’s final season at St. Francis, Bruce’s end-of-season top honors and St. Francis’ eventual 5-1-0 record in conference play both seemed longshots in late April.
After battling a nonconference schedule that included losses to eventual Class 3A fourth-place state finisher Evanston, 3A sectional champ Libertyville and perennial west suburban powerhouses Naperville North and Naperville Central, the Spartans found themselves with an uncharacteristic 2-7-1 record after an April 23 loss at Timothy.
That record also included a 2-0 loss at Riverside-Brookfield in their April 5 conference opener, making a run for the conference title an uphill climb.
With three state trophies in 10 years (including AA titles in 2012 and 2018), a mark five games below .500 was a rare challenge for St. Francis.
But rather than panic or surrender to the fickle fate of injuries, the Spartans changed course. It started with an 11-0 win over Westmont on April 28. St. Francis outscored its final five-regular season opponents by an overwhelming 34-3 margin.
So much for adversity.
“It was three basic things,” Winslow said. “One, we got healthy. Two, the schedule obviously lightened up a little bit. And three was a combination of things.
“We've had a ton of success over the years, and we weren't having success. You miss the parts in winning seasons when you grind. This year the grind was worse simply because of being unbelievable young, and we were beat up and injured.
“I talked to my wife (assistant coach Amy Winslow) and (fellow assistants) Meg (Hanika), Bill (Andrews) and Nykia (Wetterman), and we realized what we’re doing isn't working. Halfway through the season we decided ‘Let's just put a fresh look on things.’
“We moved a bunch of people around, and to the credit of the captains (Bruce, Dziengel and Reinke) they were like 'Yeah, what we're doing now isn't going great. Let's try something new.' And it seemed to click. Hats off to them (our players) for being open-minded about it.”
A few of those position changes seemed to especially pay off.
“Elle Wainscott probably had as good a freshman year as any kid we've had since maybe (current University of Illinois forward) Kendra Pasquale,” Winslow said. “She didn't score a ton of goals. We were playing her in back, and she was doing a great job.
“Sophia Roszkowski got a concussion and was out, and we were struggling to find someone (at forward). Claire (Reinke) was playing in there, a nice, skilled player, but she's slight and the high school game is more rugged at times than the club game. Last year we experimented with playing her outside mid, and she said 'Okay,' because she loves to go. And we put Sara Dziengel back at center back.”
A team that had been shut out in four of its previous five games suddenly was a juggernaut.
“They just went with it, did it, and you could see from one practice to the next we looked so much better,” Winslow said. “So, it was 'Here we go, we're going to live and die with this.' And we gelled.”
Bruce and her teammates never let the wave of injuries nor quality opponents crush their hopes.
“Our team was very young,” Bruce said. “At practice we just kept pushing everyone to give it their all. And I really think when we played teams like Naperville North and those bigger schools, I think they helped us be more aggressive and push ourselves even more. That helped us prepare for other games (late in the season) and the playoffs. I'm proud of how we finished toward the end of the season.”
The return of players like Chrustowski for the bulk of the conference season was a huge late-season boost. And as in her strong freshman season, the upperclassmen helped Chrustowski’s high level of play.
“Each year I have had an amazing opportunity to develop lifelong friendships with our seniors,” she said. “They’ve taught me how to be a leader on this team, and I look forward to doing the same thing for our freshman and sophomore teammates during my last two years at Francis.
“I feel like playing with all the seniors really helped me be a better player on the field and just a better person off the field. And playing with Lauren (Bruce) really helped me see the field, and also helped me see what areas I need to work on in my own game.”
Chrustowski endured a rough month of April being unable to play and watching the Spartans struggle. But her return coincided with a huge, final push.
“Getting everyone healthy was key to our strong finish. Being a young team, it took us a little while longer to gel together this season,” she said. “Also our very tough schedule prepared us to finish strong in our conference.
“Watching while being injured was tough. I never like to sit on the bench. It fueled me to come back strong and support my teammates to win our final games.”
Chrustowski came up huge in the Spartans’ biggest win of 2022, a 2-1 triumph over Wheaton Academy in the regular-season finale. Her free kick goal just 10 seconds before halftime proved to be the difference.
Then in an immediate rematch with the Warriors in the regionals five days later, Chrustowski struck again.
“Claire has an amazing ball to me that I was able to tap in,” she said. “Claire assisting my goal was very special in itself, because she is one of my best friends on the team.”
Unfortunately for the Spartans, that goal came with Wheaton Academy up 2-0 and wasn’t enough to avoid a season-ending 2-1 setback.
“The Wheaton kids play hard,” Winslow said. “They hustle, they defend, and (coach) Maria (Selvaggio) does such a phenomenal job.
“They hustled to get a free ball, and we’re down 2-0. Then we score 10 seconds later and were back in it. We're pushing, get two or three good shots and outshot them, but that's soccer.”
“I think me scoring gave us some hope,” Chrustowski said, “and really made us push ourselves till the very end. Of course, I wish that game went differently. I think we left it all on the field, and we are ready to come back harder next year.”
And the regular-season ending win over Wheaton Academy will always hold a special place in memories of 2022.
“I was really proud of our team,” Bruce said, “because we knew that they were a good team, and we were a very young team. We went into it like 'OK, let's just give it our all and see how it goes.' And I was really proud of how we played.
“Everyone pushed really hard, and we fought hard for the win. I thought it was one of the best games we played all season.”
The win’s impact on the conference race made it especially sweet.
“I appreciated the kids being able to come back from a tough beginning to win a share of the conference championship,” Winslow said. “That was huge. Ultimately with such a young team, unless a lot of things break your way, you’re not getting into the (Class AA) Final Four. So, it was almost better in a way winning Friday night (to get the conference title).
“Wednesday (in the regional rematch) we had good opportunities we didn't put away. If we do, it’s a different game. But the rivalry is intense, so whichever team loses (the first game) you know they'll have a huge chip on their shoulder the next time.”
For the seniors, the roller coaster season of 2022 was just the latest challenge.
“I was upset we didn't have a sophomore year (due to the COVID shutdown),” Bruce said, “because I really thought that team would win state. We had so many good seniors that year. It was unfortunate, but I'm so glad I got three years in and a full senior year.
“Looking back at the three years playing (at St. Francis) I enjoyed it so much. I think it was great, all of the players we had each year. Our team was good, and kept building and building every year.”
After the frustration of 2020, the Spartans moved to an abbreviated but dominant 2021 season with a 13-1-0 season that was ended with a loss to eventual fourth place finisher St. Ignatius in a sectional final.
The ups and downs resumed this spring.
“I appreciate the fact they were willing to make changes halfway through the season,” Winslow said. “The worst part was their sophomore year. We knew we'd be good, and as bad as I felt for that group of seniors that year, those guys had a legitimate shot at the Final Four.
“That's the part I feel bad for, but I'm grateful that they had a great season last year, and this year they ended up coming back and getting a conference championship.”
By Dave Owen
St. Francis overcame the one-two punch of major injuries and a brutal early season schedule to finish 2022 in style.
The Metro Suburban Conference Blue Division co-champions closed the spring on a 5-1-0 run to finish 7-8-1 overall. And coach Jim Winslow thinks the best is yet to come.
“A lot of sophomores got varsity experience,” he said. “And not for five minutes, but in big times and critical moments. Our backline comes back pretty much intact, our midfield too and our kids up-top generally are back intact.
“So, if we can harness that and get it moving in the same direction it should be a nice group. I'm looking forward to it.”
Players like sophomore forward Paige Chrustowski share their coach’s enthusiasm.
“We are really excited for the future of St. Francis soccer,” Chrustowski said. “The upperclassmen really helped the freshman and sophomores this year be prepared to be a dominant force next year. And we have high expectations for the incoming freshmen.”
Beyond the huge group of 16 freshmen and sophomores on this year’s varsity, it’s that freshman class arriving in September that really has hopes sky high for the next few years.
“I have a very good group (Class of 2026) coming in,” Winslow said. “It's a talented group, and the other thing I'm excited about is that we're starting to build our numbers back. We're losing four seniors, but bringing in eight or nine kids.”
Those four seniors were a small but special group, led by Blue Division Player of the Year Lauren Bruce.
Faced with carrying most of the scoring burden after forwards Chrustowski and Sophia Roszkowski were sidelined by early season injuries, Bruce delivered.
“Lauren was our top scorer with around 14 goals and 5 or 6 assists,” Winslow said. “Last year when we were 13-1-0, Lauren was our top point-getter and Paige number two. This year we lost Paige after game two (of the season) for a month, and Lauren carried us through a tough point until Paige got back. And Sophia had decent numbers too but missed three weeks.”
Defensively, the Spartans were dealt another injury hit when junior goalkeeper Hannah Blaha was injured in April and freshman Kennedy Karl took over in the net.
“We lost Hannah for the year,” Winslow said. “And other kids were out. Like (defender) Ella Schroeder started two games and then had a chronic injury.
“It was just one of those years. Sometimes you get those.”
For her part, Bruce tried to keep the waves of challenges in perspective.
“I didn't feel I had to do way, way too much,” she said. “It was difficult at first when we did have a lot of players out, because everyone was used to playing with them. But I really think that we all started contributing a little bit more. And the midfielders really did a great job getting the ball up the field, which allowed me to use my skills and go and score for the team.
“Honestly I was shocked that I won it (Blue Divison Player of the Year). I was really excited too, because that's such a great accomplishment.
“I would say the reason I played so well was that Jim Winslow really coached me well these last four years. He would always help me fix something I did wrong, and I think he really pushed me to be the best that I could be, which allowed me to win that honor this year.”
The Spartans’ other three seniors also made major impacts.
“Every coach wants a kid like Mia (Hass),” Winslow said. “She doesn't care where she plays or what she does. Whether it's handing out water or starting, she just wants to be part of the team.
“And Lauren and Claire (Reinke) and Sara (Dziengel), those kids were more full-time players and all played on bigger clubs. Lauren was Player of the Year, and Sara and Claire were both all-conference players, along with (junior defender) Ada Suriano, Paige, Sophia and our freshman Elle. They can hang their hats on that.”
And this fall, all four Spartans seniors have quality college destinations.
“Claire's going to UCLA, Mia to Dayton, Sara to U of I (Illinois) and Lauren to Indiana (where she plans to play club soccer),” Winslow said.
“They're all bright kids. And they were all multiple sport athletes in high school. We’ll miss them.”
As for the senior quartet’s final season at St. Francis, Bruce’s end-of-season top honors and St. Francis’ eventual 5-1-0 record in conference play both seemed longshots in late April.
After battling a nonconference schedule that included losses to eventual Class 3A fourth-place state finisher Evanston, 3A sectional champ Libertyville and perennial west suburban powerhouses Naperville North and Naperville Central, the Spartans found themselves with an uncharacteristic 2-7-1 record after an April 23 loss at Timothy.
That record also included a 2-0 loss at Riverside-Brookfield in their April 5 conference opener, making a run for the conference title an uphill climb.
With three state trophies in 10 years (including AA titles in 2012 and 2018), a mark five games below .500 was a rare challenge for St. Francis.
But rather than panic or surrender to the fickle fate of injuries, the Spartans changed course. It started with an 11-0 win over Westmont on April 28. St. Francis outscored its final five-regular season opponents by an overwhelming 34-3 margin.
So much for adversity.
“It was three basic things,” Winslow said. “One, we got healthy. Two, the schedule obviously lightened up a little bit. And three was a combination of things.
“We've had a ton of success over the years, and we weren't having success. You miss the parts in winning seasons when you grind. This year the grind was worse simply because of being unbelievable young, and we were beat up and injured.
“I talked to my wife (assistant coach Amy Winslow) and (fellow assistants) Meg (Hanika), Bill (Andrews) and Nykia (Wetterman), and we realized what we’re doing isn't working. Halfway through the season we decided ‘Let's just put a fresh look on things.’
“We moved a bunch of people around, and to the credit of the captains (Bruce, Dziengel and Reinke) they were like 'Yeah, what we're doing now isn't going great. Let's try something new.' And it seemed to click. Hats off to them (our players) for being open-minded about it.”
A few of those position changes seemed to especially pay off.
“Elle Wainscott probably had as good a freshman year as any kid we've had since maybe (current University of Illinois forward) Kendra Pasquale,” Winslow said. “She didn't score a ton of goals. We were playing her in back, and she was doing a great job.
“Sophia Roszkowski got a concussion and was out, and we were struggling to find someone (at forward). Claire (Reinke) was playing in there, a nice, skilled player, but she's slight and the high school game is more rugged at times than the club game. Last year we experimented with playing her outside mid, and she said 'Okay,' because she loves to go. And we put Sara Dziengel back at center back.”
A team that had been shut out in four of its previous five games suddenly was a juggernaut.
“They just went with it, did it, and you could see from one practice to the next we looked so much better,” Winslow said. “So, it was 'Here we go, we're going to live and die with this.' And we gelled.”
Bruce and her teammates never let the wave of injuries nor quality opponents crush their hopes.
“Our team was very young,” Bruce said. “At practice we just kept pushing everyone to give it their all. And I really think when we played teams like Naperville North and those bigger schools, I think they helped us be more aggressive and push ourselves even more. That helped us prepare for other games (late in the season) and the playoffs. I'm proud of how we finished toward the end of the season.”
The return of players like Chrustowski for the bulk of the conference season was a huge late-season boost. And as in her strong freshman season, the upperclassmen helped Chrustowski’s high level of play.
“Each year I have had an amazing opportunity to develop lifelong friendships with our seniors,” she said. “They’ve taught me how to be a leader on this team, and I look forward to doing the same thing for our freshman and sophomore teammates during my last two years at Francis.
“I feel like playing with all the seniors really helped me be a better player on the field and just a better person off the field. And playing with Lauren (Bruce) really helped me see the field, and also helped me see what areas I need to work on in my own game.”
Chrustowski endured a rough month of April being unable to play and watching the Spartans struggle. But her return coincided with a huge, final push.
“Getting everyone healthy was key to our strong finish. Being a young team, it took us a little while longer to gel together this season,” she said. “Also our very tough schedule prepared us to finish strong in our conference.
“Watching while being injured was tough. I never like to sit on the bench. It fueled me to come back strong and support my teammates to win our final games.”
Chrustowski came up huge in the Spartans’ biggest win of 2022, a 2-1 triumph over Wheaton Academy in the regular-season finale. Her free kick goal just 10 seconds before halftime proved to be the difference.
Then in an immediate rematch with the Warriors in the regionals five days later, Chrustowski struck again.
“Claire has an amazing ball to me that I was able to tap in,” she said. “Claire assisting my goal was very special in itself, because she is one of my best friends on the team.”
Unfortunately for the Spartans, that goal came with Wheaton Academy up 2-0 and wasn’t enough to avoid a season-ending 2-1 setback.
“The Wheaton kids play hard,” Winslow said. “They hustle, they defend, and (coach) Maria (Selvaggio) does such a phenomenal job.
“They hustled to get a free ball, and we’re down 2-0. Then we score 10 seconds later and were back in it. We're pushing, get two or three good shots and outshot them, but that's soccer.”
“I think me scoring gave us some hope,” Chrustowski said, “and really made us push ourselves till the very end. Of course, I wish that game went differently. I think we left it all on the field, and we are ready to come back harder next year.”
And the regular-season ending win over Wheaton Academy will always hold a special place in memories of 2022.
“I was really proud of our team,” Bruce said, “because we knew that they were a good team, and we were a very young team. We went into it like 'OK, let's just give it our all and see how it goes.' And I was really proud of how we played.
“Everyone pushed really hard, and we fought hard for the win. I thought it was one of the best games we played all season.”
The win’s impact on the conference race made it especially sweet.
“I appreciated the kids being able to come back from a tough beginning to win a share of the conference championship,” Winslow said. “That was huge. Ultimately with such a young team, unless a lot of things break your way, you’re not getting into the (Class AA) Final Four. So, it was almost better in a way winning Friday night (to get the conference title).
“Wednesday (in the regional rematch) we had good opportunities we didn't put away. If we do, it’s a different game. But the rivalry is intense, so whichever team loses (the first game) you know they'll have a huge chip on their shoulder the next time.”
For the seniors, the roller coaster season of 2022 was just the latest challenge.
“I was upset we didn't have a sophomore year (due to the COVID shutdown),” Bruce said, “because I really thought that team would win state. We had so many good seniors that year. It was unfortunate, but I'm so glad I got three years in and a full senior year.
“Looking back at the three years playing (at St. Francis) I enjoyed it so much. I think it was great, all of the players we had each year. Our team was good, and kept building and building every year.”
After the frustration of 2020, the Spartans moved to an abbreviated but dominant 2021 season with a 13-1-0 season that was ended with a loss to eventual fourth place finisher St. Ignatius in a sectional final.
The ups and downs resumed this spring.
“I appreciate the fact they were willing to make changes halfway through the season,” Winslow said. “The worst part was their sophomore year. We knew we'd be good, and as bad as I felt for that group of seniors that year, those guys had a legitimate shot at the Final Four.
“That's the part I feel bad for, but I'm grateful that they had a great season last year, and this year they ended up coming back and getting a conference championship.”