Boswell, Naperville North find a way to score against Metea Valley
Metea Valley did everything it could to keep Naperville North senior Abbie Boswell from scoring. It still wasn't enough.
Boswell scored 2 goals sandwiched around an Olivia Stapleton score, and the host Huskies collected a 3-0 nonconference girls soccer victory Friday in Naperville.
"It was a little tough with the wind," Boswell said. "They're a real physical team. They're really good, and props to them. They caught us a little off-guard. But we managed to be physical too, and we pulled off the win, so I'm excited."
With a strong wind at their backs in the first half, the Huskies held a great advantage in possession time, and they outshot the Mustangs 11-2 through the first 40 minutes.
Boswell tried everything to score, shooting from distance, even retreating back into the Huskies' defensive half of the field to win the ball and go forward.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs (4-2-3) got several outstanding saves from goalkeeper Amy Ahern to frustrate the Huskies until Boswell finally broke through in the 39th minute off an assist from freshman Shania Dudas.
"I feel like we should have gotten one or two more in that first half, but it's OK. You miss some," Boswell said.
"We were going into a really strong wind in the first half, so clearing the ball wasn't really an option so much as just trying to play the ball on the ground out of the back," Mustangs coach Chris Whaley said. "It's tough when you're playing against a physical opponent. But the girls actually did a pretty good job the whole first half of sustaining the pressure they had on us. They got one with a minute and a half left, which really took the wind out of our sails from having what I felt was a really strong half defensively.
"The second half we really got away from what we wanted to do and weren't able to get the ball forward enough and get some opportunities in the attacking third."
The Huskies scored again in the 43rd minute after an Ahern save that the Mustangs couldn't clear. Stapleton, in a crowd of players, put the ball in the back of the net from 6 yards.
Boswell finished the game with a 77th-minute goal that Boswell scored from the right side off a Maddie Krecji assist. It was Boswell's sixth goal in seven games for the Huskies (6-1), Stapleton's first.
The Huskies earned their fourth shutout of the season for goalkeeper Fiona Baenziger, who needed to make just 1 save.
"Morgan Krause as a sophomore tonight, she played phenomenal in the back as a center back," Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. "She was always in the right spot, came across the box a couple of times in the second half and cleared a couple of balls. ... It was just a great game from her individually but also another great game from our back four (Emily Wilhelm, Jen Fortman, Ashley Santos). Another meaningful shutout against a good team."
"I think we're really beginning to really unite as a team, and I think this just shows we have some really good potential out here and we can go pretty far," Boswell added.
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