Naperville Central 1, Naperville North 0

Last year, Naperville Central needed Hannah Oppenheimer to be a defender.

This year she's needed as a goalkeeper -- and on Monday she filled her latest need to great effect.

She kept cross-town rival Naperville North from scoring.

A goal by the Redhawks' Casey Short provided all of the night's scoring in the game's 10th minute -- and Oppenheimer came up big in the second half of the DuPage Valley Conference girls' soccer game in Naperville.

"Hannah played very well," said Redhawks coach Ed Watson. "She did everything that she is capable of doing. Unfortunately, we made her have to play way too much."

Oppenheimer made 4 quality saves in the second half to preserve the 1-0 win, and she had to stay on her toes throughout the second half.

"There are always two sides to that," Oppenheimer said. "You'd rather be bored because that means your team is winning but again - you get bored, so it's nice to have some action."

The Redhawks got on the board when Short barely skirted an offside call and fired a shot from 12 yards out in open space that tore inside the far post.

"There was a (defender) back, so I'll take it," Short said. "I just stayed calm and tried to put it in the corner."

The Redhawks (5-3, 1-0 in DVC play) had the better of play through 15 minutes before the Huskies (0-3, 0-1) quickened their step and evened out play.

The second half settled into a typical North vs. Central contest -- two teams slugging it out up and down the field, but giving away very little in terms of decent scoring chances.

"I wouldn't expect the game to be any other way," Watson said. "Of the 55 or 60 games we've played one another, I think there have only been three games that weren't decided by only one goal."

"It would have been silly of me to think it was going to be any other way."

Morgan Alberts and Taylor Heatherly sent a pair of shots wide from long-range for the Redhawks in the second half, and Emily Homan and Kathryn Meyer tested Oppenheimer with a pair of good looks on net.

"I really thought we created a lot of opportunities," said Huskies coach Brent Terada. "This is the first time that I think we're starting to see who we are as a team. I'm very happy with how we played."

Terada applauded the play of Meyer and Jessica Arabia in teaming up to help slow down Short, and pointed to Kodiak as a key component in the Huskies' ability to attack in the second half.