Girls soccer: Naperville North ready for West Aurora
You can never overlook an opponent, especially when you get to this part of the postseason.
Naperville North senior Ashley Santos made sure that she and her teammates didn't do that during Tuesday's Class 3A Lockport sectional semifinal against West Aurora, as the Huskies earned a hard-fought 2-0 victory.
The Huskies will face a familiar foe - either Metea Valley or Neuqua Valley - in Friday's sectional championship; those two teams will battle on Wednesday.
"I knew West Aurora was coming off one of their best seasons ever so we had to respect that," Santos said. "We knew this should be our game to win, but there was no way to overlook them. I knew they'd be tough and they earned being here as much as we did. So we set the tone early but still were 0-0 heading into the second half."
Naperville North (19-2-3) wasted little time after halftime to break the deadlock, getting a goal set up from Morgan Krause to Santos just 2:08 into the second half.
"We had to be patient and we knew we had opportunities in the first half, but something we struggle with is scoring," Santos said. "It took one or two plays, but Morgan was able to fight through it, everyone worked and we grinded out a win especially in the (rainy) conditions."
Huskies coach Steve Goletz wasn't the least bit surprised to see the underdog Blackhawks give his team a battle for 80 minutes.
"That's a very good West Aurora team," he said. "I thought our girls played well and I thought we controlled the game for the most part. They made it very difficult on us to score and (West Aurora) had a couple of good scoring chances."
The Blackhawks (18-4-2) finally started to click offensively midway through the second half, which included a few corner kick opportunities.
They nearly netted the equalizer in the 54th minute but Katharine Stephens' missile of a shot was batted away by Huskies goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk.
"After going down 1-0 I thought we played really well offensively for about 15 minutes," Blackhawks coach Laura Wagley said. "We couldn't finish, and if we would have finished one it could've been a different ballgame."
Cablk's big save seemingly awoke the Huskies. They created plenty of scoring chances afterward, including getting an insurance goal from Carolin Weiss with just 14:47 remaining.
Santos took advantage of the wind and saw her long shot carom slightly off the crossbar and find Weiss, whose header rebound made it 2-0.
"I thought it was going in," Weiss said. "I was in the right place at the right time. It came off the crossbar and I happened to be there. There's nothing better than to get another goal. We already had one, but this one solidified the game."
Despite seeing their season come to a close, the Blackhawks walked off the field with their heads held high. Their season may have ended, but they had an unforgettable one loaded with great memories and accomplishments.
"I'm really proud with how we played," Stephens said. "I'm speechless. We won so many games and we competed against the No. 1 team in the state. I couldn't ask for anything better other then them scoring so early on us in the second half."
Wagley will miss Stephens and the rest of the seniors.
"This game doesn't define our season," Wagley said. "What these seniors did for four years is they turned the program around."