Naperville Central Redhawks hang on
Twice previously in this young soccer season, Neuqua Valley had come back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to win and stay undefeated.
Naperville Central wasn't having it. Not a third time.
The Wildcats got a goal in the second half, but the Redhawks fought their way to a 2-1 win in the title game of this year's Best in the West tournament in Naperville.
"When they scored that goal, we got together as a team and said 'we've got to pick this up. We can't let this happen to us'," said Redhawks senior Jerry Maddi. "We had to pick it up."
In a battle of unbeaten teams, the Redhawks (7-0) grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Maddi and Art Garza. The Wildcats (5-1) cut the lead in half with a second-half goal from Bryan Dosch, but never found an equalizer.
"Any time you beat a great team, it's good for the program," said Redhawks coach Jay Konrad.
The Redhawks didn't allow the Wildcats a single shot on frame through 40 minutes, while sending 6 shots in on Neuqua goalkeeper Jack Turancik.
Turancik made a trio of top-shelf saves in the first half, twice tipping perfectly-placed free kick blasts from the Redhawks' Tim Zimmer over the crossbar.
"He kept us in the game," said Wildcats coach Jim John. "Jack played his heart out."
Maddi's goal came in the 37th minute when he settled a ball 22 yards out, touched it to his left and fired a low shot inside the post. Chris Prince forced a Turancik save two minutes later, but Garza crashed net and buried the follow-up shot near the goalmouth.
Neuqua Valley came out with urgency in the second half, with Bryan Ciesiulka forcing a save from Redhawks' keeper Tyler Kelley to start the second half.
Dosch ran onto a long serve towards the goalmouth and volleyed it home in the 48th minute, as the Wildcats better protected Turancik in the second half while sending 7 shots in on Kelley.
"We had opportunities," Johns said. "They just wouldn't go in for us. But we fought hard."
"In the first half, we did a nice job of finding our targets and keeping possession of the ball, which didn't allow them to get in a rhythm," Konrad said. "In the second half, that wasn't the case."
Konrad applauded his back line and credited attacking players Chris Prince and Art Garza for picking up their games even higher when Maddi left the game with a foot injury.
The win gave the Redhawks their first pool-play tournament title in four tries.
"We've been waiting three years for this, and we didn't want to lose," Maddi said. "Nineteen of the twenty-four players on this team are seniors, and we didn't want to let that happen again," Maddi said.