By Matt Le Cren

 

NAPERVILLE – St. Charles East asks a lot of senior centerback Mackenzie Loomis.

 

The Eastern Michigan recruit is always required to mark the opponent’s top offensive threat. Sometimes she’s expected to score goals.

 

Loomis did both Thursday night. She covered Naperville North star and fellow all-stater Claire DeCook like a glove for most of the game and also bagged the only goal as the Saints beat the host Huskies 1-0 in a Naperville Invitational quarterfinal.

 

St. Charles East, which is ranked 15th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, advances to play no. 23 Benet (10-2-1), a 1-0 upset winner over eighth-ranked Lyons, in the semifinals at 9 a.m. Saturday at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium.

 

Loomis’ goal was her fifth of the season and came on a back post header off a free kick cross from sophomore Tatum Smith with 29:54 remaining in regulation.

 

“It was an outstanding ball, and we had a lot of free kicks throughout the whole game. We kind of fell in our groove with those free kicks,” Loomis said. “Going back post, that was always our target. It depends on where it is if I or Tatum take it (the free kick).

 

“Luckily, Tatum took it, and she found me.”

 

Though they had only one corner kick in the game, the Saints (13-2-2) had a huge number of free kicks, an indication of the physicality both teams brought. Smith took the first restart, which was awarded just 30 seconds after kickoff.

 

Smith teed up a 21-yard free kick from just outside the box on the right wing and fired it wide of the left post.

 

Fifty minutes later, Smith got another chance from nearly the same spot. The attempt from 19 yards faced a two-person wall from the sixth-ranked Huskies (9-3-3). It seemed an ideal time for Smith to put another shot on frame.

 

But she had other ideas.

 

“During the first half I had a similar free kick, and it didn’t really work out. The ball kind of curved,” Smith said. “During halftime we had a talk where we would try to place the ball on the back post so Loomis could get behind the goalie and head it in.

 

“I was thinking on going to take it (on frame), but I saw the goalie shift to the far post. Then I decided to cross in to Loomis.”

 

She headed it home to put the Saints ahead. That turned out to be the final scoring opportunity for St. Charles East, save for a 46-yard free kick from Loomis which Naperville North goalkeeper Olivia Ochsner easily stopped.

 

From then on, the Fighting Saints turned their attention to defending the Huskies’ furious attempts to get the equalizer. Naperville North swapped out a defender for an extra attacker, and it nearly worked.

 

Senior forward Annie Chang was fouled hard in the box with 27:32 to go and stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick. But St. Charles East goalkeeper Sidney Lazenby lunged to her left to make a great save. The rebound skittered out of danger.

 

It was the best, and most vital, of Lazenby’s eight saves.

 

“She had a rough first half, even though she kept a zero up (on the scoreboard),” St. Charles East coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “We have such a high bar for Sid and we expect so much from her, and she does for herself as well.

 

“Sid coming up with that save was huge for us. It obviously changed the game.”

 

Indeed, the save seemed to fire up the Saints’ backline, which was put under increasing pressure, especially in the last 10 minutes. The Huskies had four corner kicks and a dangerous free kick down the stretch and saw a couple shots draw iron.

 

“We were defending for our lives there for the last 10 minutes,” DiNuzzo said. “We kind of anticipated that with them going three in the back and pushing everybody forward.

 

“That’s kind of the recipe that a lot of teams do, but we were comfortable just sitting in there with five in the back for the last 10 and seeing it through. We struggled to clear a couple corners there at the end, but I thought our girls did a good job.”

 

Both sides anticipated a close, low-scoring battle, and that’s exactly what they got. So, the focus was on defensive intensity.

 

“We knew that we had to play defensive, because we knew this Naperville team was very good, very physical,” Smith said. “They know how to play.

 

“We had to play simple, play better in the middle. Our defense did an outstanding job with our forwards and just connected more.”

 

The linchpin, as it often is for the Saints, was Loomis.

 

“We knew they were going to be a solid team so we had to stay organized in the back, especially because we knew it was going to be a defensive game and a midfield game,” Loomis said. “We wanted to work on connecting passes in the midfield, finding our wingers.

 

“I think we improved a lot on that.”

 

The speedy DeCook was limited to only three shots. How did the Saints pull off such an impressive defensive feat?

 

“Georggia Desario played right in front of DeCook,” DiNuzzo said. “She tried to prevent the entry pass.

 

“We fronted (DeCook) with our center defensive mid, who didn’t allow her to really touch the ball as much as she probably would have liked tonight. But she’s a fantastic player.”

 

Chang isn’t too shabby, either, and was the source of some uncomfortable moments for the Saints.

 

“We didn’t want her on the ball as much,” DiNuzzo said. “She looked good on the film, but I didn’t know she was that good.

 

“She caused some problems for us. That’s a talented side and a great program, so getting a result against them here is huge for us.”

 

That’s true. The Huskies don’t often lose at home.

 

“That was a fistfight,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “Vince has got a great group.

 

“Everybody talks about how young they are, but I give them credit. They play super hard. They were super organized; they shrunk space, made it hard.”

 

That was especially true of Loomis.

 

“Their centerback is incredible,” Goletz said.” She did a great job on Claire. She did a great job of boxing her in and making it tough for her to play.

 

“We generated chances, hit the crossbar a couple of times, drew a penalty kick. Those things sometimes go in and sometimes don’t. The goalkeeper is great, made a good save.”

 

Despite the loss, the Huskies have little to be disappointed about.

 

“I told the girls it’s a tough stretch for us, and I’m proud of the effort they played with, I’m proud of the focus they had,” Goletz said.

“Could we have been a little bit better soccer-wise tonight? Yeah. But good teams make you make mistakes and put you under pressure and make you have to be perfect. I think at times we just weren’t perfect enough to generate enough chances to put one past a very good team.”

 

As good as the Saints were defensively, the Huskies, who actually outshot the visitors 11-10, did well to limit a team that has scored 47 goals to just one tally, and that off a set piece.

 

“I’m so proud of us, because at the beginning of the year I think that’s one of the things we struggled with,” Naperville North junior defender Abby Penn said. “I think even though one went in, we did such a great job defending the other ones. There were so many. Just our effort in general was amazing.

 

“We’re going to battle and sometimes we’re going to lose. That’s what Goletz tells us all the time. We just need to keep our heads held high.

 

“It was unfortunate that they got that restart. We played so well the rest of the time. The forwards did an amazing job trying to take their chances and our defensive line, we’re very tough.”

 

At this point in the tournament, every team is tough. All eight quarterfinalists are ranked in the top 23 of the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, so the Saints are thrilled to be through to the semifinals for the second-consecutive year.

 

“This game was a statement piece for us,” Loomis said. “We just want to prove to ourselves and our teammates that we can make it far, farther that we think.”

 

 

Starting lineups

 

St. Charles East

GK: Sidney Lazenby

D: Presley Kannaka

D: Mackenzie Loomis

D: Abbey Petrick

D: Averie Foulkes

M: Georggia Desario

M: Alli Saviano

M: Payton Rivard

M: Tatum Smith

F: Sophia Wollenberg

F: Lilli Margewich

 

Naperville North

GK: Olivia Ochsner

D: Lily Radek

D: Abby Penn

D: Reagan O’Malley

D: Emily Buescher

M: Audrey Hartmann

M: Kelly Wilson

M: Jacey Sturek

F: Annie Chang

F: Rachael Noren

F: Claire DeCook

 

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Mackenzie Loomis, sr., D, St. Charles East

 

 

Scoring summary

 

First half

No scoring

 

Second half

St. Charles East: Mackenzie Loomis (Tatum Smith), 51’