Waubonsie, Naperville Central play to draw

It's too early in the season to have bragging rights anyway.

Naperville Central and Waubonsie Valley fought to a 1-1 draw Wednesday in their District 203 vs. District 204 rivalry girls soccer game at North Central College in Naperville.

Both schools are among the best in Illinois again this season, making the matchup a good early-season test for them, and both did well. Waubonsie Valley, however, put more pressure on the Redhawks' goal, outshooting Naperville Central 15-3 for the game.

"They had the better of play," Redhawks coach Ed Watson said. "They had the better chances. However, we showed moments, and the moments came more often in the second half."

Waubonsie Valley earned the first big moment when senior midfielder Vanessa DiBernardo collected a Hannah Klancic through ball on the run and sent a blast into the Redhawks' net in the 15th minute.

"Hannah was running and I made the back run behind their defense and they couldn't see me and she slotted a great ball through and I just touched it," DiBernardo said of her third goal this season. "Perfect ball."

"She made a great run on the outside and she's a goal scorer, so we should have watched that," Naperville Central senior Hillary Scott said of DiBernardo. "We knew she was running in there."

It was the kind of play the Illinois-bound DiBernado makes regularly.

"Jill's talented, and she had no chance on the goal that they scored," Watson said of goalkeeper Jill D'Amico. "Not only was that a great ball played through, but people don't understand, novice fans don't understand how good a run Vanessa made to get lost."

The Redhawks (2-0-2) bounced back in the 26th minute off a restart. Alex Coon's free kick found Scott's head about 5 yards from the Waubonsie Valley goal, and Scott put the header in a perfect spot.

"I actually thought I was way too far back from the goal, but it ended up hitting off my head pretty good," Scott said of her second goal of the season, both headers. "It seemed like slow motion, but heading is my favorite thing, so I like getting goals like that."

"We're lacking the height this year," DiBernardo said. "We're missing (graduated 6-foot-1 defensive midfielder Rachel Bostick). "But it was a nice header to the corner. Nothing we could have done."

Both teams will take time off for spring break next week, then jump into the thick of the season.

"It's a good start for the beginning of the season," DiBernardo said. "We played pretty solid against this team, which is probably one of the higher teams."