Naperville Central earns win No. 400 for Watson

Scoring never used to be this difficult.

Then again, the girls soccer competition in the area, especially in the DuPage Valley Conference, is much tougher than it was when Ed Watson began coaching at Naperville Central.

Watson picked up his 400th career victory - a detail that was kept quiet until longtime assistant coach Barry Baldwin made it known - as the Redhawks edged visiting Waubonsie Valley 1-0 in Thursday's match in Naperville.

"One of the girls from our first team, who we see every year when we go down to Belleville (Jessica Wiehrdt), brought out a scrapbook from my first year and we were flipping through it and looking at some of the victories we had, the teams we played and the scores, and it was much easier to win games and score goals back then," Watson said. "It's not so easy anymore, but that's also what makes it more enjoyable because the game has evolved to the point where there are just so many good players in the area."

It was anything but easy to score in this battle, but Meredith McGuire finally broke through with 19:30 left in the second half. Her shot caromed slightly off the right post but got enough of the inside to squirt into the back of the net.

"Meridith Hannan was able to take it into the corner and then pitched it to Caroline Reedy, who made a great run to take players on," McGuire said. "She found me and gave me a great opportunity. I got a decent touch on it and the keeper was there, but I was able to find the net."

Naperville Central (5-4-2, 2-1) was coming off a difficult 3-0 loss to Metea Valley on Tuesday.

"I thought we created more opportunities as the game wore on," McGuire said. "Waubonsie is a good team and all Naperville teams are good competition. We just tried to work hard and kept attacking and looked for opportunities, and then once we scored, we just had to be smart, keep our composure and hold on."

Waubonsie Valley (5-4-0, 2-2), which was coming off a tough 2-1 loss to Neuqua Valley on Tuesday, was shut out for the first time this year and the first time in almost a year.

The Redhawks blanked the Warriors 1-0 in overtime on April 14, 2016.

"I thought we've played amazingly this week," Warriors senior Sarah Griffith said. "We came out against Neuqua a little slow and then it was tough coming back while battling some injuries and a tough Naperville Central opponent. They always have good players, but I thought we played well and worked hard until the end."

Griffith nearly sent the game into overtime with 65 seconds left when she broke free and took a shot, but Naperville Central goalkeeper Kinzly Dresser snagged it to secure win No. 400 for Watson.

"All that really means is that you've been coaching a long time," he said. "And it means you've obviously coached some great players."

One of those is Hannan.

"She did a nice job sliding in the defensive mid spot for us," he said. "She was a positive and our center backs continue to be solid like they have all season long. We're still trying to get our younger players to understand the expectations we have for them to be varsity players and we saw some signs of them taking steps in the right direction."