Naperville North stuns Lyons

Perhaps Naperville North has a horseshoe tucked away somewhere that's giving the Huskies good luck.

But even with good luck it takes players to make game-winning plays, and a couple of players tucked in the back helped the Huskies survive a wild finish and beat Lyons Twp. 3-2 in double overtime in Tuesday's Class 3A Hinsdale Central supersectional.

Naperville North (21-2-2) had a 2-1 lead in the final minute of regulation against Lyons Twp., but the Lions were repeatedly challenging the Huskies in the final minutes with attempts to score the equalizer. Time didn't run out for the Lions as senior defender Austin Wolff scored with 21 seconds left to force overtime.

“I really thought when they got that goal that the boys would have to pull out a miracle,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “Because (the Lions) have got that swagger and they're the defending state champs.”

Undoubtedly, the Huskies were stunned.

“I was about to cry,” Naperville North junior forward Evan Trychta said. “I thought they had all the momentum going into overtime.”

But giving up a late goal and having to battle back isn't something new for the Huskies. They just experienced it in last Saturday's victory over Neuqua Valley in the sectional title game.

“We just kept our heads up,” Naperville North's Max Auden said.

Auden's head was certainly up just 46 seconds into the second overtime. On a throw-in from Trychta, Auden headed in the game-winner to propel the Huskies to the state semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday against Libertyville. The game will be played at North Central College in Naperville.

“We knew we needed a restart to take the one chance we got and finish it,” Konrad said. “We scored three against the defending state champs. I couldn't be happier.”

Trychta saw the Lions goalkeeper hesitating, so he attacked him with the throw-in.

“I just played it in to the keeper,” Trychta said. “He was hesitant coming out early in the game.”

And Auden was there to finish it for just his second goal of the season.

“Unbelievable,” Auden muttered. “It's a dream come true. The feeling still hasn't set in. But we're still not done yet. We have two more games and then we can celebrate.”

Jimmy Butler put the Huskies ahead with 34:25 remaining in the contest, but the lead was short-lived as less than 10 minutes later, Peter Kralovec-Kirchherr delivered a nice pass to Kyle Kurfirst, whose header made it 1-all.

Trychta showed some nice footwork a little more than one minute later when his athletic moves caused a defender to fall and opened the door for his goal with 23:45 left in the game. It was one of the few times Trychta could break free against the hard-nosed and physical Lions.

“They are so athletic in back and (Trychta) can normally beat guys,” Konrad said. “He's scored a goal in every playoff game and the assist (tonight) to win it. I don't care if he sits on the ground for seven or eight minutes. If he scores a goal in the last few minutes, that's fine.”

And now the Huskies find themselves at state for the first time since 2002.