Naperville North stops Batavia's streaks

Eventually, Batavia was going to give up a goal or two, even lose a match. Naperville North was happy to notch both of those firsts against the Bulldogs.

Naperville North scored twice in the final 18 minutes of Thursday's nonconference boys soccer game, first breaking Batavia's streak of four straight shutouts to start the season, then handing the Bulldogs their first loss fo the season, 2-1.

"Let's be honest," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "We weren't going undefeated all year. We weren't not giving up a goal all year. So for me it's - and I told the boys this - it's a learning process. Let's see, how did you react after you gave up the goal? Because we haven't seen that yet. How did you react? Did you keep playing? How did you react after you gave the second one up? How did we react after the first loss?

"So we can build and then improve from there. No state titles won here today. Gotta keep playing, gotta keep improving."

One area Batavia (4-1) wants to cut down on is the number of set pieces it allowed. Naperville North (4-3-1) offered a barrage of throw-ins and corner kicks, finally tying the game in the 62nd minute when Connor McBride tucked away a Chris Ensign throw-in to tie the game at 1-1.

The same players paired up again in much the same way for the game-winner in the 78th.

"I was just at the right spot at the right time," McBride said.

"I thought the boys played well enough to earn it," Huskies coach Jim Konrad added. "The last few games we struggled to create chances to score. ... We scored off of two, they weren't really beautiful restarts, but I think we do do a nice job with those. The kids run them well."

The Huskies also had a shot go off the Batavia post and a couple of shots saved off the goal line by a defender.

"I wish we would have tucked one of those in because the boys need the confidence of we can score through the run of play," Konrad said. "We haven't been successful with that."

Gianfrancesco again was impressed by his back line, Nathan Carey, Joe Jorgenson, Nick Konopacki and Daniel Zagoren.

"By and large I think our back four have done a very good job," he said.

Batavia took the lead in the 17th minute when senior Ian Larson was taken down in the Huskies' penalty area. Larson then converted the penalty kick.

"After they scored we kind of shut down a little bit after. We got our mind boggled, but then we got our head back," McBride said.

Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz