Averie Foulkes was tired of having her season end at the hands of her crosstown rival.

The St. Charles East junior defender had both her freshman and sophomore seasons come to an end against St. Charles North. And in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal, it was looking a tad bit familiar with the teams going into overtime.

But with just 45 seconds remaining in the first overtime, she made sure that the same team wouldn’t be ending her season this time round.

“There was no other option,” Foulkes said. “We had to win this game. This was the game we had to win. I did not want to lose to St. Charles North again.”

Foulkes grabbed a rebound off a blocked shot and slunk the ball into the back of the net for the game-winning goal, helping the Saints secure the 2-1 victory in overtime over the North Stars.

“There’s just no better feeling taking them down,” Foulkes said. “To finally put an end to the losing streak in the playoffs to them, it feels so good, and I’m so excited.”

The top-seeded Saints (20-0-5) will go on to face second-seeded Wheaton-Warrenville South, who won its sectional semifinal over third-seeded Glenbard West 5-0.

Neither team managed to find the back of the net until the 73rd minute, when Lilli Margewich took a pass from Mya Leon from 20 yards out and sent it into the top-far corner of the net to give them a 1-0 lead.

“That was the most great feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Margewich said. “After halftime, our coach (Vince DiNuzzo) told me that if you could score, you might as well try from a bit out. We just wanted to beat them so bad, and to help my team out, it was just something really special.”

The North Stars (9-7-3) refused to settle. Just three minutes later, Laine Griswold pushed the pressure in the Saints’ box and after a scuffle, resulted with senior Kaitlyn Nudera with the ball at her feet and a wide open net, tying the game at 1-1 and forcing the contest into overtime.

“Griswold’s pressure has been amazing all year,” North Stars coach Brian Harks said. “And the composure of Nudera to tap it in was an awesome response. When some teams would have thrown in the towel, they didn’t.”

Despite their first loss to the Saints in the postseason since 2022, Harks was proud of the resilience of his girls, who had lost to their crosstown rival 3-0 back on May 5.

“I have so much pride in the way that our girls went out there and battled for all 100 minutes,” Harks said. “They have absolutely no reason to hang their head, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their effort all game long. They just refused to lay down and quit.”

The Tigers (15-1-5) took a different approach to winning their sectional semifinal, with four of their goals coming in the second half to pull away for the title.

Kelsey Clousing gave WW South the advantage early into the contest, finding the back of the net for the first time after just 1:30 into the contest, which proved to be the lone goal in the first half.

“It was just a relief, but we knew we couldn’t let down,” Clousing said. “After getting a few more goals in the second half, it just showed we could play better.”

The Tigers started off the second half in a similar fashion, with Lucy Jethani finding Dayami Arias in the middle for a goal in the 43rd minute. Clousing and Jethani would add on goals over the next 10 minutes, before Sarah Alman closed the scoring in the 69th minute.

“We’ve had trouble in the past beating teams that we felt we should beat by a few goals,” Jethani said. “I think this game really did make a statement, and proved that we can beat these teams by five or six goals and get multiple goals.”

The Tigers will be looking to defend their sectional title from last season. The two teams opened up DuKane Conference play against each other back on April 9, which resulted in a 2-2 tie.

“It’s going to be a matter of controlling the midfield and making them play defense all day,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. “It’ll be tit for tat in terms of our kids up top versus theirs, and we’ll see who can be more clinical in the final third.”

Meanwhile, the Hilltoppers (10-10-3) struggled in the final third in the second half of the contest. The loss marks the second straight season that their journey ended at the hands of the Tigers.

“We had an inauspicious start, and those types of goals can take the wind out of your sails,” Hilltoppers coach Adam Szyzsko said. “After the first goal we competed and created some chances, but after the second one you could tell it sapped our energy. I’m proud of the kids for continuing to battle against this team.”