Qori Strotkamp’s early strike helps send St. Charles East past Geneva to regional title

ST. CHARLES – Qori Strotkamp is already in possession of the record for assists by a freshman at St. Charles East.

But sometimes you just gotta take the shot yourself.

[ Photos: St. Charles East vs. Geneva ]

Strotkamp did just that, giving the Saints an early lead in the 17th minute of Friday’s Class 3A St. Charles East regional championship. Anika Dodrill added a goal four minutes later and the Saints prevailed over Geneva, 2-0.

St. Charles East (19-6-2) advances to Tuesday’s Glenbard West Sectional semifinal where the Saints will play either St. Charles North or Batavia, who play Saturday.

“I made a run and I don’t remember if it was Sophia (Wollenberg) or whoever it was who played me the ball, but I had it and I saw the goal,” Strotkamp said. “Honestly, I just smashed it as hard as I could have with my left foot. I just thought I got defenders (near me), and that’s what I like to do so I just made my run and hit it as hard as I could.”

Injuries have slowed the Saints down a bit recently, but they look to be healthier and recharged now for the post-season.

“We had a few setbacks with injuries going into rough games, but honestly, like as a team altogether, we have come out of it,” Strokamp said. “We’ve come out of it together, just resting, and being confident in our ability just going into this postseason.”

Dodrill was flanked by Geneva junior defenders Maggie Anderson and Ella Howard but was able to elude the duo in the 21st minute, sneaking in her shot near post, hanging tough despite absorbing contact.

“I could have gone down,” Dodrill said. “I could have fallen or stayed on my feet, but I thought I could get it. I tried to keep that balance and everything. It’s just like a split section decision. I mean, I could go either way. There wasn’t really a bad option there so I just did what my gut told me, I guess.”

Geneva (5-12-4) had lost to the Saints at Norris Stadium, 2-1, during their DuKane Conference match on May 8.

“They obviously scored a goal against us last time so I think it was important we did a good job of keeping the energy high and letting everyone play,” Dodrill said. “We knew we didn’t want to drop our energy.”

Still, the third goal proved elusive.

“I think that kind of dictated the way we played in the second half,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “Obviously, Geneva came out with a lot of energy, which credit to the coaches and the kids, they came out and played very hard. They didn’t make life easier for us in the second half, but we did have a couple of opportunities to kind of finish the game off and get that third one, and we just couldn’t find it.”

The Vikings threatened a few times in the second half but Saints goalkeeper Sydney Lazenby was there to clean them up.

It was the final game for a small group of Geneva’s seniors, including starters Alyssa Houk, Elle Larsen and Riley Pryor.

“I know it was a tough season for them because we were just so young and we faced a lot of adversity, and there was just a lot of, you know, bumps in the road,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said .”But they kept working, they kept us focused. They showed up each and every day for their team.”