North Stars throw scare into Lyons Township

By Curt Herron

Just one week after upsetting highly-regarded Lake Zurich in the Barrington Classic, St. Charles North nearly duplicated that feat.

Competing in Saturday's pool play of the Pepsi Showdown in LaGrange, the North Stars battled host Lyons Township for nearly 95 minutes.

And just as it had done against Lake Zurich, North relied on its defense and fine goalkeeping play to slow down a dangerous opponent.

As a potential shootout grew more and more likely, the Lions finally found the net with 5:14 left in the second overtime to win 1-0.

While LT needed to win the match in order to advance to Thursday's quarterfinals, the North Stars were merely playing for pride.

That's because North lost 3-1 at Providence on Thursday and the Celtics beat Rolling Meadows on Saturday dash the North Stars' hopes.

North keeper Tyler McEnery made numerous saves against the Lions, which included three stops during the two overtime periods.

But on the match's final play, McEnery stopped a shot by Chris Meingast, but Horacio Sanchez put in the rebound for the game-winner.

So despite seeing his squad go 1-2 in pool play, coach Eric Willson liked how his North Stars battled against the talented Lions.

"They were a good side and it certainly was a battle and guys were competing out there and that's what you ask for," Willson said. "We were happy with the energy level and how we defended until that last play.

"Our goalkeeper Tyler made some great saves and kept us in it. So it's just disappointing that he makes a great save at the end and we're not there to back him up so hopefully we learned something from that.

"If we take anything from this week it's that you have to fight hard together and you have to do that every game out. We love playing in this tournament since it gets us battle-tested for the playoffs."

McEnery has been sharing time in the net with Zach Hosler, who turned in a similar performance in the 1-0 victory over Lake Zurich.

Just as was the case in Barrington's third-place match between North and Lake Zurich, the North Stars had few chances against Lyons.

Noah Anthony provided most of those, which included a few free kicks that were hauled in by LT's Sully Fox, who posted the shutout.

2009 North Stars Schedule