North Stars, Bartlett settle for soccer draw

Updated: May 12, 2011 10:21PM

While both teams hope to use Thursday’s 1-1 draw from the regular-season finale as motivation for the soccer postseason, Bartlett and St. Charles North have contrasting reasons.

For the host North Stars, ranked No. 5 in this week’s Sun-Times ratings, this is clearly not the way coach Ruth Vostal wants to see her team play.

“I guess I’d rather take this game now than in the postseason,” Vostal admitted. “We just didn’t have any fire or spark, we just played flat. Don’t know if the layoff hurt us. A week ago we came out strong (at Wheaton Warrenville South) but only got 20 minutes in before the weather ended that match. We had some tough practices since, but that’s still different than having an actual game.”

The tie interrupts a string of five straight victories leaving the North Stars with an 11-3-1 ledger while the underdog Hawks view the outcome as further evidence of the type of play that has resulted in just one loss within the last seven outings in an 11-6-4 season.

“This proves that we can compete with them and teams like them,” Bartlett keeper Natalia Grodzki said. “Last year they beat us 3-0, we came out from the start playing hard and finished the match strong to show just how far we’ve come as a team.”

Grodzki would be considered too prejudicial based on the opening 40 minutes as St. Charles North boasted an 8-1 advantage for overall attempts, a 4-1 edge in on-target shots, plus a 5-0 lead in corner kicks.

The North Stars’ prowess in the air was noticeable as Kelly Manski had a header just clear the crossbar while Tess Fischer’s header caromed loudly off the crossbar in two of the hosts’ best attempts. Finally, with 1:41 left before intermission, Alex Gage’s corner kick was headed home from five yards out by sister Sammy, who leads the squad with 12 goals.

While Bartlett clearly went on the offensive in the second half, it was North that almost saw Kenzie Rose hit another header off an Alex Gage corner with 12 minutes left.

But the Hawks’ persistence paid off with 6:54 left in regulation when Alex Cappello’s hit a solid cross that Bartlett scoring leader Nicole Gobbo booted in for the equalizer. The team-high 14th goal of the year for Gobbo boosted her team-best point tally to 30.

“I saw Nicole breaking toward the near post and was able to curve it a little to help stay ahead of a defender and work with it,” Cappello explained. “I was so happy when she finished it; I think my heart skipped a beat.”

It undoubtedly lowered Bartlett coach Heather Thomas’ blood pressure as well.

“It seems like we’ve found ourselves down 1-0 a little too often. Four of our losses this year are 1-0 matches and even our previous match (Tuesday at Waubonsie Valley), it went from 1-0 to 2-0 when we were pushing for the equalizer,” Thomas recalled. “So this was nice to see us come out in the second half and play with so much more composure. Alex (Cappello) may be one of the smallest players on the field, but she made one of the biggest plays of the season.”

Both teams are in the St. Charles North Regional, but neither team would even entertain the thought of a potential rematch.

On Tuesday, the North Stars — seeded No. 3 within the St. Charles East Sectional — have a 4:30 p.m. semifinal against the winner of a Friday prelim between Willowbrook and Glenbard West. In the follow-up 6:30 p.m. semi, No. 11 seed Bartlett battles No. 5 Elk Grove.

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