Hipp scores twice for Naperville North
Senior defender turned striker Brandon Hipp certainly took his chances in attack, grabbing 2 goals in Naperville North's 4-0 DuPage Valley Conference win over Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Huskies' first three goals, which included Hipp's brace, were the products of unrelenting set-piece pressure, as Naperville North (6-4-2, 2-0-1) took advantage of its size and strength against a smaller Tigers team.
"It's kind of a running joke around here, 'Naperville North just defends and scores on restarts.' Which we're happy with," said Huskies coach Jim Konrad. "It's something we're very proud of. We work a ton on our restarts and it's something that the boys have really dedicated themselves over the years and it pays dividends."
Not only were corner kicks and free kicks a big part of the night's result, but so were long throws from senior forward Chris Ensign. Hipp's first goal came off an Ensign throw, which plagued the Tigers back line the whole night.
The play of the Huskies front three - thanks to the insertion of Hipp, who was flanked by Ensign and Chris Sullivan - flourished just as much.
The trio was free flowing, interchanging, constantly making runs through the channels, always looking for one another and taking defenders on 1-on-1.
"In practice we worked on being more dynamic and I think in this game we did exactly that," Hipp said. "We just kept moving around, interchanging, and I think that helped put the defense on their toes and I think it helped us get the chances that we did."
After absorbing the first 10 minutes of the Tigers' attack, Connor McBride put away a low corner from Sullivan to put the Huskies up 1-0. Hipp then added his brace to end the half 3-0.
A goal from Victor Ramirez in the second half put the score line to 4-0 for Naperville North.
Defensively, the Huskies' center back pairing of seniors Wesley Wong and Nick Carballo were strong in the air. Holding midfielder Grant Borg did a nice job protecting the back four, as well as distributing the ball to the front three.
The Tigers (4-7-1, 0-2) had a really tough time defending set pieces, and they struggled to put together any sort of counter attack.
"You have to give credit where credit's due …," said Tigers coach Guy Callipari. "I thought we came out with the right attitude. I think we just fell into a little rut and I think we gave away like seven corners away in the first 30 minutes. It's like, c'mon, how long can you hold on with our size."