Naperville North, Wiest up to task in win over Naperville Central
On a night when Naperville North looked back at its recent victory milestones, the Huskies went out and added a memorable triumph to the list.
The unbeaten Huskies survived a 1-0 battle with archrival Naperville Central to stay unbeaten on the year and also took giant steps toward a DuPage Valley Conference title and a top sectional seeding.
Prior to the contest, coach Jim Konrad was honored for his 100th career victory, while at halftime Naperville North honored its past coaches after the program recently notched win No. 500.
But few of those past wins could match Thursday's thriller as Huskies goalkeeper Mike Wiest played the game of his life in turning away 13 shots on goal to pick up his eighth shutout of the fall and his sixth straight. The Redhawks (7-3-1, 1-2), led by senior forward Chris Prince, not only threatened numerous times but even appeared to have tallied the equalizer midway through the second half only to have the officials rule that Naperville North defender Chris Boswell cleared the ball before it had crossed the goal line.
"Here's the thing," Central coach Jay Konrad said afterward when asked if he felt Prince had evened the score on the scramble in front of the Huskies net. "What does the scoreboard say? It was not a goal. And Mike Wiest did an awesome job for them."
Wiest thwarted a pair of mini-breakaways, handled numerous dangerous crosses and made a diving save to rob Colin Rook with 4:15 left to play and the Huskies (9-0-4, 3-0) hanging on for dear life to their 1-0 lead.
"It was amazing, seriously, to shut out Central," Wiest said. "It's incredible. I played one of my best games of the season and I had to."
After a scoreless first half in which the Redhawks outshot the hosts 7-6 in an opened-up affair, Prince and Art Garza led a pair of threats for Central early in the second half only to have the Huskies strike on a quick counter attack. Sophomore Evan Trychta scored his 12th goal of the year with 32:28 left in the half, and thanks to Wietz and Boswell and the rest of the defense, that goal stood.
While Prince said his shot was "clearly in," Boswell would only go so far as to say he was glad he cleared the ball quickly enough to preserve the shutout.
"Let's just say the score tells what happened," Boswell said. "We were lucky we got it out."
Huskies coach Jim Konrad wanted to talk most about his goalkeeper, who put on a show with Bowling Green State University coaches on hand to check out his game.
"Today has got to be about Mike Wiest," he said. "He did a really nice job of handling all the pressure. I would take Wiest over anybody, anybody in the state."