Girls soccer: Neuqua Valley, Naperville North keep it even

Neuqua Valley wouldn't budge. Neither would Naperville North.

Would you expect anything less from arguably the top two teams in the DuPage Valley Conference, as well as in the entire state?

The two teams battled for 100 minutes, which included a pair of overtimes, but neither could penetrate the strong defense of its opponent, so they settled for a 0-0 tie during Tuesday's DVC match in Naperville.

"I wouldn't call this an escape for us. It was two great teams playing great and everybody had their chances tonight," Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. "In the first half with the wind, they took it to us for a little, but I thought we did a nice job defensively, and in the second half we had some great chances, but we didn't finish."

With the wind at its side, Neuqua Valley (6-2-3, 3-0-1) had chances to pull ahead of the Huskies in the first half but failed to take advantage.

"They took us out of our game a bit and we started playing balls in the air, and we won't be as successful in the air as we are on the ground," Wildcats coach Joe Moreau said. "I think (the Huskies) played to that advantage and then in the first 10 minutes of the second half we were more successful and more into our rhythm."

Naperville North (11-0-2, 3-0-1) was blanked for the second time this season, although the Huskies have also held their two opponents scoreless during those two games.

"You can't say you're super happy when you don't score a goal, but the kids battled and worked hard and now we move to another tough opponent in St. Charles East on Thursday," Goletz said. "I told the kids that win or lose we're happy as long as their effort is there and their attention to detail defensively is something I'm happy about."

Both teams denied anything relatively close to a scoring opportunity, especially as the game wore on.

Morgan Lockridge's header in the final two minutes of regulation was off target for the Huskies, while the Wildcats had two solid corner kick chances in overtime that they weren't able to pounce upon to break the deadlock.

"It took us a while to click as a team but we've going it going now," Wildcats goalkeeper Yanel Ortiz said. "We have some confidence now if we play them again. They're a really good team, but I know we'll be ready to play them again."

Naperville North goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk recognized the importance of the game but was left dissatisfied with the end result despite getting the draw.

"We knew this game would be for the DVC championship, but we knew it wasn't going to be pretty and it didn't end like we wanted," Cablk said. "We knew it would be a tough, a physical grind, and every year it's like this with Neuqua Valley. They're one of the toughest teams we play and we hope to see them again."

That could happen this weekend in the Naperville Invitational.