Naperville N., Waubonsie Valley battle to tie

It’s difficult to figure out which has been harder to stick with this season: Naperville North sophomore Abbie Boswell, or when and where the Huskies would face Waubonsie Valley during Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

Boswell scored late in the first half, but the Warriors answered with the equalizer to earn a hard-fought draw during Friday’s contest, which ended up being played on Metea Valley’s artificial surface.

“Obviously, Waubonsie is a great team and they have some phenomenal players,” Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. “They moved the ball very well on us. Did they have the majority of possession? Absolutely, but I thought we did a good job of minimizing their true dangerous chances.”

This match was originally scheduled as part of a double dip along with a Neuqua Valley-Naperville Central contest on March 21 at North Central. Poor weather forced a postponement to Friday at Waubonsie Valley. Unfortunately, weeklong rains made the Warriors’ field unplayable, so the contest was moved to Metea Valley, while the Naperville Central-Neuqua Valley match up was pushed to 5 p.m. Saturday at Naperville Central.

“I told (Waubonsie Valley coach) Julie (Bergstrom) that we were really excited to play today because you get to see what you’ve got,” Goletz said “It’s a playoff atmosphere early and the girls got a nice taste of it, took some things away and will get ready to play at 1:30 (on Saturday).”

Boswell found the back of the net with just 6:27 left before halftime to give the Huskies a 1-0 advantage. She’s now scored 10 times this spring.

“It was just Jenna Romano marking me,” Boswell said. “They got the ball to me and I did a tick tock to the left and dove to shoot the ball. It just went into the side corner and I was really excited.”

Waubonsie Valley (6-1-1) was the stronger team with possessions, but nearly ran out of time before forcing a tie.

Romano booted a beautifully executed 38-yard free kick with less than seven minutes remaining but Naperville North keeper Fiona Baezinger made a tremendous diving save to bat the shot attempt out of harm’s way.

She wasn’t as fortunate, though, with 5:38 left.

Sophomore Morgan Kemerling found a Rachele Armand corner kick and headed it over the defense, as well as Baezinger, to make it a 1-1 contest.

“I was kind of like, just get a touch on it because I know someone will finish it,” Kemerling said. “It just ended up going in. It was a very intense moment.”

While it appeared like Mother Nature would keep this match from being played, the teams ultimately were able to sneak the contest in, despite a few postponements and having to find a third and final site to play at.

“I was up for playing because we’re always up for this kind of competition,” Boswell said. “We both had a great game and Waubonsie is a great team.”