St. Francis on a roll at the right time of year

By Gary Larsen

It was a winding, bumpy road through 24 regular-season games, but St. Francis finally arrived there on Wednesday.

“This was the first time we put together eighty complete minutes of soccer,” Spartans coach Chris Payton said. “It was nice to see a complete game, especially in the last game of the season.”

St. Francis scored twice in the game’s final minutes to win 2-0 over visiting Pritzker, and after a season of struggles the Spartans finished the regular season by going 5-1 in their final six games.

“I’d say this was our best game of the year,” senior striker Jamie Pigott said.

Up next? A Class 2A regional opener for the No. 11-seeded Spartans (7-16-1) against the No. 7 seed of the St. Francis sectional, Chicago’s Marine Military Academy.

“We don’t know anything about them,” Pigott said. “But we didn’t know anything about Pritzker, either.”

It’s been a young team working to find its way at St. Francis this year, and that effort was compounded by the loss of head coach Tim Dailey for medical reasons early in the season.

Payton took the reins of a team that struggled to score at the outset. The loss of Pigott for six games to a severe ankle sprain didn’t help.

But as Pigott watched from the sidelines as his teammates failed to score a goal through its first seven games, he wasn’t about to throw in the towel on his senior year.

“We played some good teams and lost some games at the beginning of the year,” Pigott said. “But the guys played hard and it looked like we had some promise. As the games went on and we played some easier teams, their confidence improved.”

“We’ve been scoring and winning, and that just gives you more confidence. It gives us hope for maybe making a run in the playoffs.”

On October 2, the Spartans were 2-15-1 heading into the Rock Island Invite, where they went 1-3 but began to show signs of progress. After failing to win back-to-back games all year, St. Francis reeled off wins against Rock Island, Marian Central Catholic, Guerin, and St. Edward, before dropping a game to Freeport.

And after scoring 20 goals through their first 18 games, the Spartans have posted a 25 to 10 scoring edge over opponents in their final 6 games. Their late-season schedule may have helped, but the uncertain St. Francis team that hesitated at times to fire on net is gone, replaced by a team willing to let the shots fly.

“As that confidence builds, they’re making their opportunities,” Payton said. “Now they’re starting to shoot more. They’re getting that edge.”

Drew Mascari and Adam Fetter did the lion’s share of scoring while Pigott nursed his ankle, and now that the big senior striker is back in the fold, the Spartans are fixing to surprise some teams in Riverside-Brookfield next week.

“I see it not only in our games but in practice, too,” Payton said. “They’re starting to feel confident and they’re starting to play with a chip on their shoulder. I think they want to prove that their better than their record.”

Wednesday’s game for St. Francis also featured a solid team in Pritzker, which boasted speed and skill throughout the contest.

“They force you to play quick, so it was a good game for us to get ready for the tournament,” Payton said. “We couldn’t hang onto the ball because they’d double- and triple-team us, so our guys had to adjust to the quicker play.”

The Spartans flirted with a few scoring chances on the counterattack early on, with Pigott reaching deep territory on the right side for a pair of crosses and a shot sent just wide. Fetter also hit a shot wide on a counter run before halftime.

St. Francis took a different tack in the second half.

“We wanted to try to possess the ball more, and not settle for balls over the top like we did in the first half,” Pigott said. “We wanted to slow it down and possess it, and get more numbers up.”

With seniors Kyle Wood and Danny Wright leading the back line on Senior Night in Wheaton, the Spartans never allowed Pritzker to get in behind, and keeper Ryan Suerte took care of everything else. The sophomore made a fine diving save in the second half to keep the game scoreless.

The ice was broken when Pigott ran onto a perfect through-ball sent from midfield by Dave Kaminky and got behind Pritzker’s boys in back in the game’s 76th minute. Pigott slid a pass to Adam Fetter in the box one minute later, and Fetter buried it from 8 yards out to finalize the deal.

The shutout was Suerte’s third of the season, and Payton was pleased with the way his team defended on Wednesday. “We’re playing full team defense now, where in the past it was ‘you’re the defense, and you’re the offense’,” Payton said.

Perry Poulos has settled into his role on the field, and his play also keyed Wednesday’s win.

“Perry played real aggressive and he is stepping up,” Payton said. “He’s becoming a guy out there who not only wins the ball defensively, but then he’s also distributing.”

“We’ve had him up top and on the outside, and now he’s at the top of our defense, in sort of a stopper’s role. He’s a good-sized kid who wins the ball.”

Fetter was dangerous throughout, Mascari helped steer the ship, Wes Dorman did his job in back, and Payton was particularly pleased with one of his freshman.

“(Jon Mifsud) on the outside,” Payton said. “He distributes the ball so nicely for us. Not just in this game, but in every game he’s been a great distributor of the ball.”

Man of the Match: Jamie Pigott

By Gary Larsen

It was a stress fracture in his sophomore year, then a broken hip his junior year, followed by a badly-sprained ankle to start this season.

St. Francis senior Jamie Pigott has had to be one patient high school soccer player, but he’s running well and ready to help his boys do some damage in the Class 2A postseason.

“We’ve been getting good offense and our defense is holding,” Pigott said. “We held (Pritzker) defensively even though they were very quick, and we played well on offense. It was one of the first times we’ve played a full game.”

The Spartans’ 2-0 win over Pritzker on Wednesday saw Pigott post a goal and an assist, taking a feed from Dave Kaminky and giving one to Adam Fetter.

All the game’s scoring occurred in the game’s final four minutes, after the Spartans spent the game trying to sort out the best way to attack a quick and aggressive Pritzker team.

After counterattacking well through 40 minutes the Spartans tried to slow things down and possess to start the second half.

“It wasn’t necessarily working well early in the second half, but we started to get a few balls down the line, and then Kaminky’s ball was great,” Pigott said.

Kaminky sent a ball ahead from the midfield stripe in the 76th minute, Pigott raced onto it and looked up.
“I saw two guys over my right shoulder, so I just took it right at (the keeper). I cut one way, cut back, and then put it past him,” Pigott said.

The senior broke towards the end line near post on the dribble one minute later and slid a pass back to Fetter, who calmly finished on it.

Pigott also didn’t hesitate to track back behind midfield to help thwart Pritzker’s attack.

“It’s not only on offense,” St. Francis coach Chris Payton said. “If you watch him, even though we’ve got him at a forward position, he helps out in so many games by defending.”

“He deserves (man of the match honors) tonight.”