Naperville North cranks up the pressure
Naperville North wasn’t very happy with the first half of Tuesday’s DuPage Valley Conference boys soccer game, but the Huskies grew to enjoy the second half a little more.
The Huskies took a 3-1 victory away from Glenbard East despite a first half in which it led 1-0 only because of a Rams own goal.
“We definitely were lacking in the first half,” the Huskies’ Alec Thompson said. “Our only chance was an own goal by them. Our coach really comes in (at halftime) and tells us you guys really need to step it up. The second half we came out, we wanted it, I guess. We wanted to give ourselves the opportunities because once we go downstate, we’ve got to start putting opportunities away. We kept pushing hard.”
The Rams (3-7-1, 0-4) were more content being behind just a goal at halftime after being outshot 11-3.
“Those things happen in the game of soccer at some point in time,” Rams coach Josh Adler said. “It’s not the way you want to start off the game, but I thought we rebounded really well from it. It’s real easy to kind of drop your heads and not find a way back into the game. But to keep it 1-0 through the rest of the first half, I was really pleased with that.”
The Huskies (8-2-1, 3-1) took a 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute when Grant Borg stepped up and scored an unassisted goal.
“That’s two in a row for Grant,” Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. “Grant’s a kid who’s our defensive midfielder, does a lot of the dirty work, and it’s always great to see him rewarded. A two-game goal-scoring streak for him is something that’s pretty cool. Especially as a sophomore, he’s really stepped up in the last couple of games.
“We’re really happy with the way he’s playing. He works super-hard, he’s gotten better on the ball, keeping it for us, even offensively. You can see some of that as he’s getting into the attack and getting chances to score.”
Glenbard East didn’t give the Huskies time to enjoy the goal, scoring just a minute later when Sam Ayala collected a loose ball and put it in the net to cut the lead to 2-1.
“It gives you a little sense that you can find a way to get back into the game, that you can find a way to score a goal and get an opportunity,” Adler said. “For us it’s important to realize that no game is out of reach and you can find a way to compete. I thought we did a good job of competing and we did a good job of making a game of it.”
The Huskies got a little insurance in the 76th minute when Zach Peterson scored his fourth goal of the season off a Chris Ensign assist.
“I wish we would’ve had even more than three to show for it, considering the amount of possession we dominated and the chances we had, but in the DVC a win’s a win, and we’ll take it and move on,” Goletz said.
Follow Orrin on Twitter @orrin_schwarz