’Canes come up short in bid for SCC title

Marian Central's Kaitlin Logan heads the ball Wednesday during the Hurricanes' 2-1 loss to St. Francis in Woodstock. (Lauren M. Anderson - landerson@nwherald.com)

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WOODSTOCK – Capitalizing on opportunities recently had been a strong point for Marian Central’s girls soccer team.

But St. Francis’ defense, a wicked wind that wreaked havoc on teams trying to score into the north goal, and a lack of urgency until it was too late combined to ensure that Marian’s Senior Night festivities were the only bright spot Wednesday in an otherwise disappointing finale to the conference season.

St. Francis scored twice in the second half and held on for a 2-1 victory against the ’Canes, wrapping up the Spartans’ first outright Suburban Catholic Conference title and frustrating a Marian team that would have won the SCC title outright had it won the match.

“We knew we had to finish,” Marian senior goalkeeper Mo Foley said. “We were frustrated with how we played in the first half. We had the wind, but we didn’t use it to our advantage, and we knew we had to score. I think when [St. Francis] scored we finally got our sense of urgency.”

The match was scoreless at halftime, and Marian (13-4-1 overall, 6-1 SCC) used an extra five minutes of the break to honor its senior players.

The Spartans (19-2, 7-0) broke the celebratory mood with 23 minutes left in the second half. Foley came out of the goal to stop St. Francis forward Andi Matichak’s shot, but gave up a rebound. Matichak took the second chance and knocked the ball into the left corner for a one-goal lead.

Just as the ’Canes were regrouping, an improbable shot gave the Spartans their second goal. Lauren Szalach scored off a long shot from the far right side of the box that looked as though it was going to go wide, but bent inside the left goal post.

“I know I should have been there; there’s no excuse,” said Foley, who had five saves. “But I really thought it was going wide. The wind might have helped it a little since they had it to their advantage [in the second half].”

The ’Canes found themselves on their heels quickly. A handful of set pieces led to solid scoring opportunities, but Marian struggled to finish until 14 seconds remained in the match.

Senior Kelly Petty headed in the ’Canes lone goal to avoid the shutout off a free kick from teammate Carolyn Piggot.

“Everyone was freaking out after St. Francis went up by two because they caught us so off guard,” Petty said. “We didn’t have a lot of time left to score.”

Sometimes losses late in the season become learning experiences heading into the playoffs, where every match is do-or-die, and assistant coach Mike Golda hoped his players would take the possible positives out of Wednesday’s loss.

“Everyone had their heads down on the sidelines afterward and I asked them, ‘Is your season over?’ ” Golda said. “Losing now isn’t so bad. We’ve got another game [today against Glenbrook North], and then we start the postseason [on Monday against Johnsburg in the Class 2A Marian Regional semifinal]. We’re fine. It’s disappointing to lose conference, but it’s not a bad time to lose a match.”