Metea Valley's Severson makes the most of her minutes vs. Naperville Central
Metea Valley's Abby Severson only played the first seven minutes of Tuesday night's DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville Central.
But that was all the Mustangs needed from her.
Severson scored her fifth goal of the season at the 33:03 mark of the first half and host Metea Valley rolled to a 3-0 victory. The senior forward tweaked her knee on the 17-yard shot and sat out the rest of the game.
"It's always tough coming off of the field with an injury," Severson said. "But watching my team even from the sidelines, it was pretty awesome just to see the confidence that we had on the ball and our ability to work off of each other."
Senior Emily Lindblom and freshman Nicole Dawson also scored for the Mustangs, who snapped a two-game DVC losing streak. Like Severson, they converted their only shots of the game.
It was the first goal of the season for Lindblom and the first high school strike for Dawson, who capped the scoring off a feed from Maeve Riordan with 38 seconds left in the match.
But the decisive tally came from Severson, who a minute earlier had watched Naperville Central goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler tip a 20-yard rocket from Jade Eriksen-Russo over the crossbar.
Severson found herself a couple yards closer and also went top shelf.
"I didn't have much time," Severson said. "They were pressing us pretty hard.
"I had got a nice ball from Sophia Senese and then I just kind of turned around and I picked my head up real quick. I noted where the keeper was and then tried to place it as best I could."
Naperville Central (4-4-2, 1-1) actually outshot the Mustangs 12-9 and had more of the possession for a stretch in the first half, but the hosts were always in control.
Metea (5-2-2, 3-2) did it despite playing without Michigan-bound midfielder Nicki Hernandez, who was resting a minor injury.
"Nicki is a great player and she makes us better," Metea Valley coach Chris Whaley said. "But we've got 24 girls on the roster and every one of them is capable of being on the field and doing good things."
Dressler made 6 saves to keep the Redhawks close, but the Mustangs scored against the run of play with 31:50 left in the second half. Sophia Majher dribbled 50 yards up the middle on a counterattack before dishing to Lindblom, whose shot was deflected by a defender but went inside the right post.
"I was screaming my head off," Lindblom said. "I really wanted the ball.
"I try to make a couple of those runs every game. Usually I'm not the one that gets on it, so that was lucky that she played a perfect ball through and I was able to finish it."
Amy Ahern made 5 saves to record Metea's third shutout. It was the fourth time the Redhawks, who have yet to win consecutive games, were blanked.
"We had too many girls that didn't play well enough to win a DVC game," Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. "The only one on this team that I feel sorry for is our goalkeeper because the 10 girls that were playing in front of her, no matter which 10 it was, they hung her out to dry the whole time today."