WHEATON – St. Francis implemented its game plan Tuesday in a 4-1 Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Red Division win over Mother McAuley.

Prior to the match, Spartans coach Jim Winslow said he wanted his squad to control the ball and score first.

St. Francis dominated the run-of-play in the first half and scored unanswered goals by Ellie Bielenda, Paige Chrustowski and Alyssa Suriano. 

“We just did what we talked about before the match -- do a good job of keeping the ball and get the first goal,” the St. Francis coach said. “I was pretty pleased with how we played.”

The second half action was more balanced. Chrustowski added the fourth St. Francis goal. With 13:26 left to play, Might Mac sophomore Calli Edwards ruined Kennedy Karl’s shutout bid.

The Spartans’ ballhandling challenged Mother McAuley (10-10-0, 0-4-0).

“They were doing a really good job at playing the ball through and cutting it back.” Mighty Macs coach Megan McCauley said. “We weren’t communicating and lost our marks a little bit.”
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St. Francis (3-5-2, 2-1-1) took over with its work in the middle of the park.

“We did a very good job of owning the midfield. Nobody was outstanding, but they all were good,” Winslow said. “Olivia (Basel) is kind of our workhorse in there and so is Caroline (Kiesler).”

A gusty wind, mostly out of the west, impacted play. Kuhn Memorial Field’s two-tone blue pitch runs east to west.

“The weird part about today, the wind seemed to switch one way and then another way. It was doing all kinds of strange things,” Winslow said. “Their keeper (Anna Daigler) made a couple saves that were remarkable, simply because one time the ball is going one way and then the next time down the field, the wind was doing something else.”

Mother McAuley played against the wind at the start.

“What it comes down to in the coin toss, you want the wind behind you in the first half. They got it, it worked to their advantage,” McCauley said. “But I also think that they played really well.”

Halfway through the second half, Mother McAuley’s Alina Mannion lined up for a free kick toward the east goal from the near side 25-yard line hash mark. She had to re-spot the ball after a blast of wind blew it away. 

St. Francis opened the scoring when Ellie Bielenda’s boot from the right side of the box bounced over Daigler and into the net.
 
“The ball bounced off a defender back to me. I was trying to hit it back to someone in the middle,” Bielenda said. “I guess I just kind of got lucky with the angle, that the ball went in.”

Chrustowski doubled the lead with 11:37 left in the half. Connecting with an Olivia Basel cross, the Austin Peay commit took a shot from just outside the center of the net. Daigler rejected the shot but Chrustowski corralled the rebound and punched it home on her second attempt.

With 1:22 left in the half, Suriano put the Spartans up three. Bielenda dribbled up the near sideline and crossed the ball to the junior, who blasted it into the left corner netting from 15 yards.

Keeping the ball on Mother McAuley’s side of the pitch for most of the first 40 minutes, St. Francis took nine other shots that either went wide or were stopped by Daigler (six saves).

Despite their four goals, the Spartans feel they need more scoring work.

“I feel like in the in the beginning of first half we struggled a little bit to find the back of the goal,” Chrustowski said.

“We didn’t give ourselves a lot of what I consider high quality shots,” Winslow added. “That’s something we’ve got to clean up a bit. If we can do a better job of managing that, it will help a ton.”

Mother McAuley opened its wind-aided second half with three corner kicks in the first three minutes but was unable to capitalize on the set plays.

Chrustowski notched her brace in the 55th minute on a breakaway. After taking a pass from Macie Schweiner, the senior charged up the middle of the field and smashed a shot into the net from 25-yards.

Chrustowski just missed a hat-trick in the 68th minute on a header 10 yards from the goal. Daigler dived to her right and deflected the shot with her extended right hand.

The Mother McAuley reserve keeper earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor for her play. Daigler filled in for injured starter Lucy Gracy and impressed her manager.

“It was the first time she’s played a whole game with us this season, and I think she just stepped it up,” McCauley said. “Coach Winslow complemented her after the match. He asked me ‘Is she your actual goalie?’ I told him that she’s not our starting goalie. It was so cool to hear him ask that.”.

Mother McAuley broke through to grab its score in the 67th minute.

“We got away from our plan in the second half of it and got sloppy in the middle,” Winslow said. “That’s how they scored their goal. We gave up the ball, and they had a nice counter and scored.”

Edwards drove up the far side and fended off St. Francis defender Elle Wainscott. The sophomore broke free near the right corner of the box and sent the ball across the goal line.

A positional change is deliver benefits for St. Francis. Senior Shannon Brown is quickly acclimating to her new role as a forward.

“We put Shannon up at left wing, and she is really starting to come on,” Winslow said. “Shannon gives us just so much more flexibility up-top. She did a nice job today.”

McCauley, a former Mighty Macs player, saw a plus in her team’s play.

“You can’t be perfect all the time. I think we just didn’t play our best game. But I think these matches are stepping stones you have throughout the season,” she said. “They’re a great team, so it’s fun to have these types of matches. These are ones that you learn from.”

Starting lineups

Mother McAuley
GK: Anna Daigler
D: Patricia Hynes
D: Angelica Marquez
D: Oliva Martin
D: Zoey Martin
MF: Alina Mannion
MF: Grace Desmond
MF: Emily Kovar
MF: Aimee Vega
F: Gabriella DelBosque
F: Cali Edwards

St. Francis
GK: Kennedy Karl
D: Alyssa Suriano
D: Harlee Duraski
D: Maeve McGinn
D: Elle Wainscott
MF: Oliva Basel
MF: Macie Schweiner
MF: Ellie Bielenda
MF: Caroline Kiesler
F: Shannon Brown
F: Paige Chrustowski

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Anna Daigler, jr., GK, Mother McAuley

Scoring summary

First half
SF: Bielenda (unassisted), 19’
SF: Chrustowski (Basel), 29’
SF: Suriano (Bielenda), 39’

Second half
SF: Chrustowski (Schweiner), 55’
MM: Edwards (unassisted), 67’