Girls soccer: Naperville North advances past St. Charles East to invite semifinals

Alyssa Siebers and the Naperville North girls soccer team knew exactly what they wanted to do against St. Charles East: be aggressive.

The Huskies hoped being assertive early on would lead to a quick goal.

It nearly paid off.

Naperville North applied pressure from the opening kickoff and forced a turnover, with Megan Benmore hitting the post just 1 minute, 30 seconds into the match.

"We just wanted to let them know how badly we wanted to win this game," Siebers said. "It was really important to get the first goal."

Unfortunately for Siebers and the Huskies, St. Charles East found its footing and scored first in the match.

Fortunately for Siebers and the Huskies, they rallied for a 2-1 win in the Naperville Invitational quarterfinals.

The Huskies advance to play Barrington in the tournament semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Naperville Central. The teams tied 2-2 in the season opener March 12.

Neuqua Valley meets New Trier in the 5 p.m. semifinal.

"It was a bummer (to go down)," Siebers said. "Sometimes it's hard to go down a goal and come back. I thought we fought really well."

Naperville North's (10-2-3) early onslaught caught St. Charles East by surprise.

"We were uncomfortable in the first five, six minutes," Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said.

Luckily for the Saints (9-4-3), they quickly found their footing and hit Naperville North with a rapid counterattack.

Rose Stackhouse collected the ball on the left wing, charged into the 18-yard box and crossed the ball into the middle, where a Naperville North defender handled the ball. Sydney Daeschler scored the ensuing penalty kick, slipping her shot just past goalkeeper Maddie Hausmann's right hand and giving the Saints the lead with 17:56 left in the half.

"I'm pretty confident with penalties," Daeschler said. "I felt like we needed it because our half was not starting off strong. Being up 1-0 definitely helped us get a little momentum."

Naperville North kept its composure. The Huskies earned a free kick on the right wing, where Leah Shumate played in the ball into the box and Katelynn Buescher headed it in for the tie.

"We felt good," Huskies forward Hannah Martin said. "It was back to even where we wanted to be and we knew we could put another one in later in the game."

Naperville North went into halftime with confidence.

"I told them at half, 'I really don't have much to tell you, because I think you've done a good job,'" Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. "I believed in our kids to come back, even down 1-0. Obviously, it reaffirms it when you get the goal and you go back tied at halftime rather than the pressure of chasing it."

The Huskies started the second half with the same intensity as they did in the first half. Just 36 seconds into the half, Martin had a shot go wide of the goal. Naperville North continued to pepper the St. Charles East net, but wasn't having luck pushing a goal past Grace Griffin, who had 5 saves.

"We just knew we had to keep our foot on the pedal," Siebers said. "We knew we had to just beat their spirits down and keep pressing. If we kept in their half we knew we had the confidence. We wanted to dominate."

Then with 27 minutes left, Martin collected a pass from Shumate on the right wing and hit into the far corner to give Naperville North the lead.

"It was perfect," Martin said. "It felt really good. I was just didn't know if (Griffin) was going to be able to get a hand on it, but she didn't and it was good."

Daeschler nearly tied it 10 minutes later. The senior midfielder collected a loose ball from 35 yards out and ripped a shot that Hausmann pushed over the crossbar.

"I thought it was going upper-90," Daeschler said. "I know I can shoot from far out, so I wanted to one-touch it, but (Hausmann) had a good save. I definitely give it to her."

The Naperville North defense bent at times in the second half but never broke and held on for the win.

"I mean it was nerve-racking, but we knew that we have a great goalie and we have a great back line," Siebers said. "We were just trying to stay lucky and keep talking back there. That's all you can hope for."