Goralski, Neuqua Valley connect for win

There’s no denying that it’s difficult for opposing defenses to catch up to the speed of Neuqua Valley’s Zoey Goralski.

Trying to slow her down from long-range apparently isn’t very easy either.

Goralski connected from about 30 yards out midway through the first half and added an insurance goal in the second half to lift the Wildcats to a 3-1 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in a Naperville Invitational girls soccer match at Naperville Central.

“I’ve been practicing a lot with my left foot to get off a nice shot, so I was pretty proud of that,” Goralski said. “Scoring the insurance goal was big because finally we could feel less pressure.”

Wheaton Warrenville South (4-5-2) certainly applied a lot of pressure, namely because of the presence of seniors Kate Fowee and Lexi Peterson.

“We thought that we had some opportunities tonight to really step up our attack,” Peterson said. “We didn’t come out on top, but this gave us some motivation for what we can do the rest of the season.”

Neuqua Valley (10-3-2) gave itself some breathing room when sophomore Katie Ciesiulka scored with 27:29 left in the second half.

“We lost intensity after our first goal, so it was nice to pick it back up again and score,” she said. “We just weren’t connecting as well as we should’ve been, and I got a nice opening there.”

Instead of pulling away, the Wildcats allowed the Tigers to loom around as they surrendered a goal just 50 seconds later as Peterson’s cross was beautifully met by Fowee to make it 3-1.

“We’ve done that far too many times this season,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “It definitely changes the momentum.”

The Tigers had a few opportunities to score the equalizer before Goralski connected from 15 yards out with 6:16.

“I thought we pressured them and had some chances at the end,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. “But you have to give credit to Neuqua. They’re so disciplined and well-coached.”