Naperville North defeats Geneva

Naperville North seemingly did everything wrong.

The Huskies celebrated Senior Night full-out, taking photographs when they should have been warming up, playing seniors in new positions, altering their starting lineup and substitution pattern and generally playing care-free soccer.

They might try it more often.

Naperville North pulled out a 2-1 victory against a strong Geneva team Thursday in Naperville to finish their regular season 12-5-1.

“That was just fun,” Huskies senior defender Kirsten Anderson said. “(Coach Brent Terada) told us from the beginning it was going to be chaotic because he wanted to give the seniors a chance to have fun, so everybody kind of knew they had to buckle down and not get frustrated.”

Geneva, which has one last regular-season game Saturday against St. Francis, is 10-5-4.

“I don’t think it was our best game,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “I think we came out flat. I think it took us 20 minutes into the game to wake up.”

Naperville North scored the first goal early, Christa Szalach chest-trapping a long Anderson free kick with a defender on her back near the Geneva penalty spot, then spinning and driving a shot where no goalkeeper could get it.

“She’s very good, and the thing that helps her is she’s a two-footed player so she could turn either way,” Terada said. “As a defender that’s a nightmare where you’ve got a kid inside the 18 who can turn both ways and hit it accurately and with a little bit of pace. That’s a tough thing to defend really.”

Geneva fought back, tying the game in the 24th minute on a goal almost as nice as the Huskies’, Catherine Allon heading a cross from the right side just inside the far post.

“It was nice to see that we responded, we came back and we equalized,” Owens said.

But the Huskies could not be denied their celebration. Less than two minutes after halftime, Anderson put a long throw-in into the Geneva goalmouth, and the Vikings couldn’t clear it. It went as an own goal.

“A little bit of luck went their way,” Owens said. “It deflected off somebody and bounced in when we tried to clear it. They just managed to find the back of the net tonight and we couldn’t.”

“Whenever we can get that chance in, and even though it might ping-pong around or a while, as long as it finds the back of the net it really doesn’t matter how it gets in,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to aim for pretty much the awkward spot where the goalie doesn’t really know what to do, if they should come out for it or not. That’s where our three main ball runners try to hit that spot. If I can just get it in that mix, somehow it will go in hopefully.”

The victory should give Naperville North a lot of confidence going into next week’s regional, considering the Vikings just clinched the Upstate Eight Conference River Division championship.

“When you look at our team and you look at all the freshmen and you look at all the people who kind of doubted our ability to have a strong season after losing seven tremendous seniors last year and taking seven freshmen, a lot of people didn’t think we’d be able to hang with some of the great competition we’ve faced,” Owens said. “I think that kind of motivated my kids. They really played hard.”