Naperville North powers into state semifinals

NORMAL — Although his team controlled the game’s tempo offensively from start to finish while also holding Collinsville at bay, Naperville North girls soccer coach Steven Goletz couldn’t help but feel the pressure lift when his Huskies scored a pair of goals within a span of 43 seconds late in the second half to put the finishing touch on a 4-1 win in Tuesday’s Class 3A Normal Community supersectional.

“As a coach, that was a huge sigh of relief,” Goletz said. “We stepped up and made a couple of great plays there, and that’s what you have to do in the playoffs. We’re going to need that same kind of effort and people to step up and make some big time plays coming up here this weekend.”

The victory earned the Huskies (22-1-2) a spot in Friday’s state semifinals and moved them a step closer to a goal of avenging a defeat in last year’s title game.

They’ll face Glenbrook South at 5 p.m. Friday at North Central College.

With this being his first year coaching Naperville North, Goletz was not around for last year’s championship game loss to Granite City. Junior midfielder Christa Szalach was and she said the sting of the defeat is still on her mind.

“It’s still a sore subject for me and I’m sure a lot of other girls, too,” Szalach said. “I’m excited to get a chance to go to the semifinals on Friday and redeem ourselves from last year.”

The Huskies were leading Collinsville 2-1 on Tuesday with just more than 12 minutes remaining in the game when Szalach took a pass from Cora Climo and scored on a header. Less than a minute later, junior forward Zoe Swift scored her second goal of the game and 23rd of the year to ice the win.

Swift also scored on a header with 11:05 remaining in the first half. Kayla Sharples had earlier put Naperville North on the board with a goal at the 24:45 mark.

Collinsville’s only goal came on a free kick by standout forward Kat Roe that caromed into the net off the right post and pulled the Kahoks to within 2-1 at halftime. The goal, her 20th of the year, kept alive Roe’s streak of scoring in each of the Kahoks’ postseason games.

She also nearly tied the score with 17:40 remaining in the contest by drilling a shot on goal that was swatted away in a diving stop by Naperville North goalkeeper Allison Hitchcock.

“(Roe’s) a great player and we tried to take away space from her,” Goletz said. “She made a great shot but (Hitchcock) made a better save.”