Spartans blank Warriors to capture senior night victory
By Curt Herron
When a team has only yielded three goals in 14 matches, clearly it's been receiving some great defensive efforts.
St. Francis turned in another gem on Thursday, and that was fortunate considering what was at stake in the contest.
The Spartans bottled up rival Wheaton Academy all night, allowing just one shot which wasn't all the threatening.
Honoring eight seniors on an evening which got progressively worse, St. Francis had some key things on the line.
One was its perfect start to the season, and with its nine wins to close last year, was at 22 straight heading in.
Another was the fine rivalry with the Warriors, who also happen to have been the last team to defeat St. Francis.
The other was this year's Suburban Christian Conference title, which the Spartans would like to claim as their own.
St. Francis needed a win over once-beaten Wheaton to set up a matchup of unbeaten SCC teams on Saturday at Rosary.
While the Warriors did a good job of limiting their chances, the Spartans managed to make the most of one of them.
Early in the final half, Kaity Bucaro put in an attempt following a corner kick from Taylor Bucaro for the winner.
That senior scoring combination was the lone tally in the Spartans' 1-0 victory over the Warriors in Glen Ellyn.
St. Francis improved to 14-0 overall and 8-0 in SCC play while Wheaton dropped to 9-9-3 and 6-2 in the conference.
Senior Jenna DiTusa recorded the winner's 11th shutout of the season while the Warriors struggled to find the net.
Seniors Meghan Wagner, Kate Roback and Taylor Bucaro and sophomore Corky Hill led the Spartan backline effort.
Three others honored before the match were St. Francis seniors Emma Fickle, Sarah Rahman and Anna Vonderhaar.
"The thing that I like the most is that we're playing better now," Spartans coach Jim Winslow said. "We got some consistent practice time in so we played better this week than we did last week. This week was probably one of our biggest jumps.
"Our defense is a team effort. We did a better job up top and in the midfield so the kids in the back are not having to scramble. Those kids have played together for awhile and between that and keeping the ball, you're going to limit what other teams do.
"You could see us starting to break them down more and more in the second half so you kind of knew that it was coming. It was just a matter or not we could put one away and if the weather would affect things.
"I told the kids last week that in every game from now on, we're playing for something. Tonight it was Wheaton Academy, a rivalry game and senior night, but they had to win it to stay in the conference and now we play a meaningful game on Saturday at Rosary."
On an evening where storms were forecast, those concerns didn't materialize. But conditions were far from ideal.
It was alright for a half but a steady rain began at the break and then a strong wind blew in from the north.
The Warriors struggled to make things click before the rain and their hopes faded as they headed into the wind.
Wheaton has been shut out in three of its last four matches and has scored five goals in its last eight outings.
"The thing that we've talked about all season long is that we can't give up silly corner kicks and set pieces," Warriors coach Dave Underwood said. "We feel like we defend well enough in the flow of the game to keep people off of the board.
"That being said, clearly St. Francis had the run of play all night long. They have a real talented group and we again were unable to create anything offensively. They're certainly too good to just try to play kick ball against and hope for something to sneak through.
"Even if we get the shutout, we still have to find ways to score goals since 0-0 doesn't do us any good. But I thought that our girls fought hard and grinded it out. We were having a hard enough time into our attacking third so the wind and rain didn't help."
In the opening half, St. Francis had a few opportunities, but keeper Julia McKee was able to halt each of them.
She started with a deflection on an attempt by Rahman and then stopped efforts from Taylor Bucaro and Fickle.
Shortly after the rains started following the break, Kaity Bucaro had a shot cleared by Gabrielle LaMantia.
Not long after Andrea Ravlin had to be carried off the field following an injury, the Spartans took the lead.
In the 49th minute, Taylor Bucaro sent in a corner kick that was gathered in by Kaity Bucaro, who connected.
Following that score, the wind shifted and blew in from the north, which a Warrior rally appear less likely.
A bit later, Taylor Bucaro was denied on a free kick and then Brittany Douglass was thwarted after a corner.
Wheaton had its best opportunity of a frustrating night offensively not long after the final half's midpoint.
LaMantia sent in a long-distance free kick toward Emily Mascari, who short attempt was gathered in by DiTusa.
Both teams are top-four seeds in the Riverside-Brookfield Sectional. They could meet in the sectional final.
