WHEATON – As the daughter of a sportswriter, Rebecca Oberhelman knows how to start a story.

Her Wheaton Warrenville South teammate Morgan Schwerin is just as good at finishing one.

Oberhelman, a senior defender, scored her first varsity goal Saturday to open the scoring. Schwerin added two goals in the second half, including one with one second remaining, to lift the host Tigers to a 3-1 win over crosstown rival Wheaton North at Red Grange Field.

With the victory, WW South (13-7, 5-3 DuPage Valley Conference) captured the Wheaton Cup for the second straight year. It was an especially memorable win for the seniors, who were playing the final home game of their careers.

“I thought it was a fitting end to the season and my soccer career as a Tiger,” Oberhelman said. “It was just really amazing having everyone support me and being able to do this with the team is just amazing.”

Oberhelman, whose father, Dave, covers high school sports for a local daily newspaper, headed home Allie Anderson’s corner kick with 24:41 left in the first half.

“That was appropriate how she just rose above [everyone] and she’s good with her head,” WW South coach Guy Callipari said. “She didn’t do a lot with it, just kind of directed it.

“It was purposeful on the perfect day against the perfect team.”

The Tigers dominated the first half, outshooting Wheaton North 12-1. But Northwestern recruit Paige Miller had two shots hit the crossbar and Wheaton North goalie Ava Lynch made three saves to keep the visitors close.

The Falcons (4-13-2, 2-5-1) turned things around after intermission. Defender Jaden Trometer scored on a 35-yard free kick to tie the game 1-1 at the 26:02 mark. North had a chance to take the lead with a corner kick 14 minutes later.

But the Tigers counterattacked off the corner kick, with Audrey Siebert making a 50-yard run up the middle before being forced into the left side of the box. Lynch cut off Siebert’s cross but dropped the ball and Schwerin pounced on it to tally the go-ahead goal with 12:06 remaining.

“I was following [Siebert] and I just told her to keep going to goal and take it all the way,” Schwerin said. “Then she got forced outside and forced to slot it in and then I just got a foot on it. I was at the right place at the right time.”

The Tigers, who snapped a three-game losing streak, had some anxious moments in the final minutes. North put some pressure on and had one open shot sail high.

“We played a horrendous first half and we were fortunate to be down 1-0,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “That’s we talked about at halftime – look, there is no reason for this game to be close, you have to take it as a blessing, and I thought we played a completely different second half.

“Jaden’s goal was a fantastic goal for us and we had lots of other opportunities. But we should know by now that it’s not just one half that’s going to win you a game against quality competition and South has got some very dangerous players.”

One of them is Schwerin, who punctuated the win by taking a pass from Claire Kiple and ripping a shot into the net with one tick left.

“I didn’t expect to score,” Schwerin said. “We were just trying to get the ball to the corner and keep it there so they couldn’t score.

“But then I had the open shot so I took it. It was a really exciting way to end my last game on Red Grange Field.”

And a fitting way for both teams to end their final game in the DVC. The match was originally scheduled to begin the league slate on April 3 but was postponed twice because of the weather.

“It was almost appropriate that this game got pushed back twice to the last game because we needed a little bit of a momentum-seeker going into the playoffs,”Callipari said. “I’m very pleased with the result.”

As was Oberhelman, who will not be following her dad into the newspaper business, choosing to major in chemistry instead.

“It was just really satisfying,” Oberhelman said. “It’s just great to have a team like this who push through the entire way, even when times get tough like in the second half.”