Boys soccer: Naperville North slips past Metea Valley
Naperville North had a few excellent scoring chances in the opening 10 minutes of Tuesday's Class 3A Naperville North sectional semifinal against DuPage Valley Conference foe Metea Valley.
The Huskies didn't convert any of those opportunities, but they scored early in the second half and added an insurance goal about 10 minutes later in a 2-0 victory.
With the win the Huskies advance to Friday's sectional title game against Naperville Central, the only team to defeat them this season.
"You always worry that an early-game chance doesn't go in and comes back and bites you," Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. "(Metea Valley) battled and it was still 0-0 at the half so if we give up a bad goal we could've been gone."
Naperville North (23-1-1) wasted little time finally taking the lead in the second half with Jack Barry scoring just 1:12 after halftime.
"That was great," Barry said. "The more you let teams hang around, especially in a big playoff game with that atmosphere, the more they have a chance to come back and score in any situation. We just tried to get on them early in the second half and separate ourselves."
Metea Valley (15-8-2) saw that separation turn into a 2-0 deficit while watching its excellent season begin to slip away when Ian Guppy scored with 29:57 remaining.
"That was a huge morale boost for us," Guppy said. "I took a touch with my right foot and just saw the goal and hit it with my left. I saw an opening on the back post and just took my chance. I had one shot in the first half and just wanted to test the goalkeeper even more, and he's a great keeper."
Guppy had nearly scored less than two minutes into play off a corner kick redirected by Colin Iverson but was just off target. Iverson proceeded to hit the crossbar twice as well in the opening few minutes.
"We made them earn it and they did," Mustangs coach Joshua Robinson said. "If you would've told me we'd hold them off the board on set pieces, I would've felt very good, and in a lot of ways I do, but credit to them for getting those finishes. They came out hard and the first goal makes it hard and we tried to regroup but that's hard to do."
The Mustangs, who were held scoreless for the first time since Sept. 12, became the 17th team the Huskies have shut out this season.
"Our back line and midfielders did a great job of matching up and adjusting to their attack," Konrad said. "Colin Iverson was absolutely spectacular as was Ty (Konrad) up top and the rest of the guys all battled."
Despite the loss the Mustangs completed a historic season, setting a program record for wins, finishing 6-2 in the DVC and winning the Warrior Invite and a regional title.
"Unless you win state, the finish stinks so it's always the journey," Robinson said. "So we talked about the big wins. Today time was up a little bit and we ran into an opponent we couldn't come back from."