This time Naperville Central, Lake Park are even

It hasn't taken long for Lake Park and Naperville Central to establish a DuPage Valley Conference rivalry on the soccer field.

Last year the Lancers ruined Naperville Central's Senior Night with a 2-1 victory but got revenge, finishing on the other end of that same score in the Class 3A third-place game.

The teams battled for a full 80 minutes and then two 10-minute overtimes on Tuesday in Roselle, but neither squad could find the back of the net, and they settled for a 0-0 tie.

"I think the DVC loss probably hurt a little bit more and they wanted to get back at us," Lancers coach Anthony Passi said. "I think we tend to play to the competition a little bit and we tend to rise for DVC soccer ."

Naperville Central (8-1-5) created more scoring chances than the Lancers, getting shots from Nick Coon, Jordi Heeneman, Noah Hey, Jordi McCormack and Daniel Poole in the second half and overtimes, but the Redhawks were thwarted by Lake Park goalkeeper Michael Jasiak.

"I thought we had the better opportunities if you look at the whole game," Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. "We couldn't find a way to put the ball in the goal. We're at a point right now where we can't produce the number of goals we need to produce a win."

Jasiak had a lot to do with the Redhawks' struggles as he made several crucial saves, included a few quick rebound attempts from point-blank range.

"He played a phenomenal game and kept us in it," Passi said. "Our back line held their ground. They were strong."

While the Redhawks hit a post in the first half, it came well before the game was on the line.

The same cannot be said for a shot from Lake Park's Oliver Horgan with 3:03 left in the first overtime. The speedster broke free, but his shot caromed off the right post. He tried to follow it in with a rebound attempt, but Naperville Central goalkeeper Joe Kallidadan just beat him to the loose ball.

"I thought I had it," Horgan said. "We knew we weren't going to have many chances so we had to put away any chance we got. That was my best one and I just missed it."

Lake Park (11-1-4, 0-1-2) didn't have any other near-misses.

"We felt that we played well enough to win, but they probably feel that same way," Jasiak said. "The ball just didn't bounce our way."