Spartans' intensity lacking vs. unbeaten Glenbard South

By Gary Larsen

For the first part of the season, the St. Francis mantra has been to play hard for the entire game, and finish strong regardless of the score.

It’s a positive way for a young, inexperienced team to keep its confidence up during what is bound to be some rough times. But on Wednesday night against unbeaten Glenbard South, the Spartans showed that mantra can be hard to uphold as they started slow and finished the same way in a 5-0 home loss.

The Raiders (7-0-1) scored a pair of goals in the opening five minutes, and added three in the second half to close out the Spartans (1-9). The loss came hours after the team learned coach Tim Dailey is taking a medical leave for the remainder of the season.

“Right off the bat we came out flat, and defensively we didn’t find our marks quick enough,” said assistant coach Chris Payton, who will guide the Spartans for the rest of the season. “We just weren’t ready. And to be down 2-0 that early, we just couldn’t dig out of that hole.”

Not that they didn’t try. After giving up the early goals following defensive breakdowns, Spartans goalie Ryan Suerte kept his team in the game with a series of saves in the final 10 minutes of the half.

Suerte, who finished with 11 saves, made two stops on point-blank headers two minutes apart and then came up with his biggest of the night, turning aside a penalty kick in the 36th minute. Raiders forward Kevin Miller took the shot, but couldn’t beat Suerte.

“I just read his eyes and I knew where he was going with it,” Suerte said. “We didn’t come out hard enough today. We needed to come out like we did against Wheaton Academy (in a 4-1 loss Monday). We didn’t come with that intensity. Today was a tough one.”

The Spartans showed some energy to start the second half, but that didn't translate into goals. Adam Fetter put a pair of shots on goal in the opening seven minutes of the half but came away empty.

His first shot – the Spartans’ first of the game – was easily turned aside by Dylan Milkent on a free kick from 32 yards out in the 45th minute. But two minutes later Milkent was forced to stretch just high enough to tip a Fetter bullet off the crossbar and preserve his shutout.

“That would have given us a lot of momentum because we would only have been a goal down,” Fetter said. “And that was right at the start of the second half, so it would have been pretty much a restart to the game. But some (things) just don’t go your way.”

The Raiders survived that threat before putting the game away with three goals in a 19-minute span, including two in four minutes.

“One thing about our team is we always have fought until the end,” Payton said. “But it seems like Glenbard South wore us down. From start to finish they just played a great game.”

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