St. Charles North snaps 3-game skid with shutout victory over Batavia

BATAVIA — St. Charles North’s Emmy Skidmore thought that she could escape the goal in her junior season.

After spending each of her first two seasons as a backup on the junior varsity team, she entered her third season hoping to focus on playing as a midfielder.

But when the North Stars’ starting keeper Lauren Korioth got a red card in their loss to Naperville Central, she knew that she would not only have to play in net for the rest of that game, but also in Thursday’s matchup against Batavia.

“It’s just kind of crazy since I was thrown in kind of last minute,” Skidmore said. “There was definitely a lot of stress at first, but Lauren helped me out all week in building up confidence, and I had the full support of my team backing me up.”

That confidence was put on full display when game time arrived.

Skidmore helped keep the Bulldogs out of the net, and a goal from freshman Madi Shanahan in the 29th minute helped the North Stars secure a 1-0 victory.

“Our program has always had a next-up mindset when it comes to situations like that,” North Stars coach Brian Harks said. “Our back line really stayed disciplined throughout the game, and she stepped up huge for the team both by being willing to step in between the pipes, but also the saves she made were fantastic.”

Skidmore finished the game with six saves in net, with one of the more important ones coming in the 28th minute, when she charged to the top of the box to make a challenge on the ball against Batavia junior Emma Wecker.

“At first, I half-committed to getting out of the net, but then realized that I was fully into the play,” Skidmore said. “I just got out there. And the feeling of tackling and getting the ball out was nice.”

The tackle proved to be crucial, as the North Stars (4-4, 1-1 DuKane Conference) would launch a full on counter attack, which ended with senior Keira Kelly getting a cross to Shanahan, who sank it into the back of the net with 11:35 left in the first half.

“Our midfielders did a great job of keeping possession and switching the fields, and it paid off [by] Kelly getting a cross to Shanahan, who was ready to get it into the net,” Harks said. “It was exactly what we needed.”

The Bulldogs (3-4-1, 1-1) didn’t give up easily, especially in the second half. With the wind to their back, the Bulldogs spent the majority of the half in North Stars’ territory, itching to get the game-tying score.

But thankfully for Skidmore, the defense helped make sure that the ball wouldn’t find the back of the net.

“I could not have asked for a better defensive line,” Skidmore said. “All of them are so qualified and they work so hard. I would not have gotten a shut out if they weren’t in front of me.”

Batavia thought it had taken the lead in the 19th minute of the game after junior Reece Recker connected on a cross from sophomore Leah Zimberoff to find the back of the net. However, the goal was called back after Recker was called offsides.

“It was unfortunate, but we knew we had to pick our team back up because everyone kind of dropped their heads,” senior Alexa Schorr said. “But I think after that, we played really well. It was just that the counter attack happened, which was unfortunate.”

Despite being on the losing end, the Bulldogs only allowed three shots on goal during the contest. Their one goal allowed was the least amount they’d given up in a game against the North Stars since 2019.

“Coming in, it felt like there was a sort of stigma that St. Charles North was going to come in and beat us down,” senior defender Hannah Hickman said. “So coming in we wanted to make sure we were playing intense. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get back in time for the counter attack. But after that, we made sure to pick it back up and made sure it didn’t happen again.”