ST. CHARLES — Diego Torres has collected his share of great memories playing the game of soccer, but Thursday night the St. Charles North senior found himself experiencing several things on the pitch for the first time.

Torres had a goal and an assist to lead the North Stars to a 3-0 victory over host St. Charles East in the nightcap of Tri-Cities Night, the annual event that brings four area schools and their respective communities together for two DuKane Conference clashes.

“I think it’s a pretty cool night seeing all four teams coming together especially them staying after their game to watch us and having all the people here is pretty cool,” Torres said. “It’s a pretty good atmosphere, probably the most packed game we’ve had besides maybe playoffs. 

“Honestly, it’s awesome. A way different atmosphere than a Saturday morning game where there are not that many people. Awesome to see people come out. I wish it was like that for every game, but it’s still awesome having that many people here tonight.”

“It was my first time playing here,” Torres said. “So, probably my last time playing East, obviously a good rivalry game and my first goal against East. I really liked it and loved having the fans here too. It’s a pretty good atmosphere.”

The event also serves fundraiser that aids someone in need in the area.

This year, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East and St. Charles North joined forces in support of Haly Barker, an assistant coach with the St. Charles East dance team who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) earlier this year.

The disease is a rare condition which affects the immune system and peripheral nerves. It is potentially life-threatening although most people recover fully, even from the most severe cases.

Barker fell ill this summer, a day after returning from her honeymoon.

“To me, I think the most important part of Tri-Cities Night is that it’s super special to be a part of, and the fact that these four schools get together and do something really good for the community and try to raise some money for a good cause is really important to us,” North Stars coach Eric Willson said. “I think that’s first and foremost.”

Each team contributed to make the evening another great success.

“For us this has always been special since we started this event. It just keeps getting bigger and keeps doing good things, and that’s really awesome to be part of,” Willson said. 

“And to have the younger kids who get to play at halftime and look up to those guys (in varsity uniforms) and say ‘One day I get to wear that jersey and be able to do what they’re doing,’ that’s a really cool feeling. I think it’s fun for all four schools to be a part of.

“And obviously for us to get a win is special, too. It was a good night overall.”

St. Charles North (6-3-2, 2-0-2) wasted little time jumping on the Fighting Saints. In the seventh minute, Diego Torres received the ball right in front of the net with St. Charles East goalkeeper Ivan Campobasso (eight saves) ahead of him.

Torres kept the play alive via a pass.

“I saw the ball that flicked on to me,” he said. “My first instinct was ‘I’m probably not going to score a goal here; I’ll get a flick on and give someone else a chance,’” he said “I thought maybe back post, and then Isaac (Piper) was obviously there to finish it.”

“We had a lot of people there in the box,” Piper said. “And then Diego (Torres) got the flick on it. I wasn’t ’t sure if it was going in or not, but I saw (St. Charles East defender) Abe Leidig and had to make sure it was going to go in, because we had to start the game strong.”

“I’m OK with Isaac (Piper) securing the goal,” Torres said. “I would rather have a secure goal.”

Later, Torres added a goal and the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.

St. Charles East only trailed 1-0 at halftime, but couldn’t find a goal. The shutout was the eighth time in 12 games for the Fighting Saints.

“It’s obviously tough to lose at home, and it’s tough to lose to North,” coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “They capitalized on every mistake we made. Two throw-ins and a free kick – so, they didn’t score in the run of the play. We obviously gave them a lot of opportunities, and we have to clean up the way we defend on dead balls. 

“Hopefully the kids learn from it, because we still have nine games left in the regular-season. We’ll try to turn the page.”

“We struggled with dead-balls today,” Saints senior defender and captain Garrett Melton said. “That was our main struggle on defense and giving up that goal early really set the tone. I think it would’ve been a totally different game if that didn’t happen.”

And it’s occurred too often this season.

“I think we’re letting in a lot of silly goals that just don’t need to happen,” Melton said. “I don’t think we’re a good-enough team where we can do that. We need to keep it 0-0 or get the first goal in order to win. The talent is there, it’s just the youth and inexperience that are bringing us down.”

As someone who helped the Saints win their first sectional title since 2012 last fall, Melton has seen what it takes to be among the elite teams in the state.

“During this Iowa tournament and then Batavia on Tuesday before seeding, hopefully we can find a few results and maybe increase our seed in the playoffs,” Melton said. “I’ve been on varsity for three years and was on last year’s team that went  to supersectionals, so I kind of know what it takes. 

“I’m trying to fire them up, but it’s not really working. We’re disorganized and don’t have the willingness to be aggressive. I think that also comes from the youth and people not having much experience on varsity.”

St. Charles North extended its lead to 2-0 in the 56th minute when senior defender Casey Kriz blasted a free kick from near midfield and Torres turned it into a goal.

“I was just kind of running. You never know if the ball can come to you wherever you are,” Torres said. “I was just there and maybe got a little lucky flick, lucky rebound off to me and then 1-v-1.”

Willson wouldn’t call it luck, but more the result of a player being rewarded for his dominant play overall.

“If you’re talking about Diego (Torres), the captain played really well for us in the middle of the field today and helped us control things,” he said. “He did a lot of little things well, and that was an important part. He got a goal for us, and that was great.”

Cameron Bettini pounced on an opportunity right in front of the goal with 10:14 remaining to end the scoring.

“It was a great team win,” Torres said. “We tied Wheaton Warrenville South (on Tuesday) which was not the result we wanted, but I’m glad we bounced back and scored three goals (tonight). It’s pretty awesome to get in the back of the net three times in one game.”

Piper praised Willson’s pre-game talk for as putting the North Stars in the right mindset.

“Coach gave us a good speech before the game making sure that we play our game. He made sure that we came out strong,” Piper said. “We knew this is our rival. We all know the guys and it’s on their home field, too. We wanted to show them who we are, and that we still got it.”

Not lost in his thoughts was the fact that this was likely his last cross-town rivalry match against St. Charles East.

The North Stars starting lineup featured seven from the Class of ’25: Bettini, Piper, Torres, Kriz, goalkeeper Osman Ahmed, midfielder Cole Weddle and defender Jack Suliman.

“This is a big night,” Piper said. “For most of us seniors it’s our last time playing our friends from the other side of the river. I’ve played with a bunch of these guys on my club team. It’s great to play them again; it’s just a lot of fun.”

Winning is fun, too.

“There were some other teams that weren’t sure how well we’d do this season,” Piper said. “We lost a lot of seniors this past year. We want to prove to the other teams that we’re still a good team around here. We always give it our best.”

After winning a sectional title last year but losing the majority of its roster from that squad, St. Charles East continues to grow.

“It’s obviously tough to continue with a lot of narrow results on our record and a lot of tough teams we’ve played,” DiNuzzo said. 

“I feel like we’re a lot better than the record shows. We’re a lot more competitive than we’ve been showing, but losing is contagious. We have to find a way out of our rut. Hopefully going to Iowa this weekend gives the kids a little bit of a break from the area, and hopefully we can find our identity there.”

DiNuzzo was right, the change helped. St. Charles East (2-9-3, 0-1-2) went west and beat Morton (Ill.) 2-0 Friday, and posted a 0-0 tie against Washburn Rural, the 12th-rated team in Kansas, on Saturday.

Starting lineups

St. Charles North
GK: Osman Ahmed 
D: Casey Kriz
D: Ashton Goethe
D: Cameron Bettini
D: Jack Suliman
MF: Nolan Schoenholz
MF: Diego Torres
MF: Cole Weddle
MF: Wicho DelaPaz
F: Isaac Piper
F: Oliver Longosz

St. Charles East
GK: Ivan Campobasso
D: Giancarlo D’Argento
D: Abe Leidig
D: Tuffick Santamaria
D: Will Wade
MF: Volo Pauchok
MF: Connor Sychowski
MF: Aidan Richbell
MF: Garrett Melton
F: Huxley Kapoor
F: Sam Arville

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Diego Torres, sr., MF, St. Charles North

Scoring summary

First half
SCN: Isaac Piper (Diego Torres), 7’

Second half
SCN: Diego Torres (Casey Kriz), 56’
SCN: Cameron Bettini (unassisted) 70’