Girls lacrosse: Platou leads Naperville North past Benet

A casual Friday night with good weather (finally) was anything but ordinary for the Naperville North and Benet girls lacrosse teams.

The nonconference contest, under the lights at Benedictine University with a festive crowd, was a showdown between two of the top offensive threats in the area, Naperville North's Lauren Platou and Benet's Anna Schuster, both seniors.

The two battled each other for the better part of 50 minutes and both showed off their scoring prowess, with Platou tallying six times and Schuster four.

But thanks to a 6-0 goal spurt midway through the second half, including a pair from Platou, the Huskies won 15-8 to improve to 4-5 overall.

Platou and Schuster don't know each other well, but they got to know each other a lot better Friday. Guarding one another will do that, especially when Benet switched to man defense in the second half.

"It's really good to play against her because she's obviously superfast, so we could keep up with each other," Schuster said. "And she's really good with both hands so I had to work on my defense on both sides. When she was guarding me, it was harder for me to go to the goal, so I really had to look for my teammates to pass to."

The feeling was mutual.

"I actually haven't played against her in club, but it's a good battle," Platou said. "I've known a couple of girls on this team and it's kind of fun playing against them. Even some of the girls you don't talk to, you make conversation on the field, get to know them a little bit."

Schuster came out of halftime blazing, driving down and scoring off the opening draw to pull Benet (3-5) to within 7-5.

But then Naperville North took over. Senior Cristin Culbertson scored from about 7 yards out on the left side at 19:35 before Platou deposited a ball under Benet sophomore goalie Audrey Moran's stick at 16:31.

The Huskies were just getting started. After an open-net penalty-shot goal by sophomore Kelly Jacobs, it was Platou again, taking a pass coming down the crease from freshman teammate Kate Burritt and piercing the net at 13:13.

Then came a pair of goals from junior Rachel Goff, including a zig-zaggy shot as she moved right to left at 12:39.

By the time Benet junior midfielder Josephine Napolski scored in a scrum at 7:11, Naperville North was up 13-6 and never looked back, though Schuster and sophomore midfielder Caroline Covey made it interesting with a pair of goals under six minutes to go.

"I think our communication was key," Goff said of her team's second-half spurt. "We were talking a lot, settling the ball and just controlling it."

Naperville North won 15 of 23 draws this night, which is something Benet coach Caitlyn Delaney is going to emphasize this week in practice. That, and groundballs and transitions.

"This was definitely our toughest game we've had so far this season, but the score should been a lot closer than it was," Delaney said. "Groundballs and transitions, we've been working on them this week, but we're still struggling with those."