Neuqua Valley is best of the best
By running the toughest gauntlet in Illinois’ girls soccer regular season, Neuqua Valley proved beyond a doubt it deserves its spot atop the rankings.
The No. 1-ranked (No. 2 nationally) Wildcats defeated Lyons Twp. 1-0 Saturday at Naperville Central to win the Naperville Invitational championship.
It’s not the tournament championship the Wildcats (17-0) want most, of course — that one will be awarded the first weekend in June elsewhere in Naperville — but they’ll take it with pride. They earned it the hard way, handing Sandburg and Conant their first losses of the season, not to mention defeating pretty tough competition in Naperville Central, Geneva and Lyons Twp.
“That’s why we play in this tournament,” Wildcats coach Joe Moreau said. “We want to play as tough of teams as we can. We don’t want to play cupcakes.”
“It’s really been one game at a time because it’s been one big, tough game after another and you can’t look ahead and you play today,” Lions coach Bill Lanspeary added. “Every game has been a test.”
The goal came in the 31st minute when the Lions (14-3-1) cleared the ball out of their penalty area. It came to a rest at the feet of Neuqua Valley sophomore Hope D’Addario, who took a couple of touches in space and let loose a 32-yard shot that hit the crossbar, dropped and went in the goal off the back of Lions goalkeeper Maggie Orlowski.
“I had the opening up the middle and yesterday (a 2-0 semifinal win against Geneva) I didn’t take it as much and today it was open so I just had to take it,” D’Addario said of her second goal of the season. “It was on my left foot. I’m not a lefty, but I wasn’t going to take the time to take it to my right foot, so I just blasted it and luckily it hit the inside of the crossbar and went down.”
“We gave a kid too much space,” Lanspeary said. “We knew they could hit from distance. We just didn’t close it early enough.”
It was about the only mistake either defense made all day. Neuqua Valley outshot the Lions 10-7, but all the shots came from distance. Getting a shot off inside the penalty area proved as difficult as an invitation to the royal wedding.
“They’re obviously a very good team,” Lanspeary said, “but our defense has been great all year and nothing different today.”
D’Addario, a defensive midfielder, had nothing but praise for the Wildcats’ defense also.
“Even with three defenders in the back, I think our defense is one of the strongest,” she said.