Girls soccer: Naperville North wins cross-town game

There's always plenty of fervor, emotion and energy when Naperville North and Naperville Central battle on the soccer pitch, and Huskies senior Shaina Dudas has been a part of it these past four years.

Conversely, it was a new experience for Redhawks freshman Sullivan Schubel, who didn't even know she was going to be in the starting lineup.

Both players delivered for their respective teams, but it was the host Huskies who finally turned away the resilient Redhawks 4-3 during a windy DuPage Valley Conference game on Tuesday in Naperville.

"That was definitely one of the craziest games I've been involved in," Dudas said. "They really got themselves back in it, and we made some mistakes, but we owned up to it and did something about it. I had a chance, I took it and it worked out for us."

After the Redhawks (7-10-1, 1-4-0) had rallied to tie the game for the third time at 3-3 on Hannah Bradley-Leon's nifty goal with 14:48 remaining, Dudas answered with the game-winner with just 3:48 left.

"Once I scored we were all really excited, but we also knew we couldn't take the foot off the pedal because we saw how they got right back in the game," Dudas said. "We wanted to make sure we had it for real this time."

The strong winds played a huge factor, making things difficult for both teams and certainly helped the squads combine for 7 goals.

"You throw the records out every time we play, and the wind tonight changed the game," Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. "It changed it not only when you had it, but when you were going into it with weird bounces hanging up. There were just a lot of different things that happened tonight."

Leah Shumate put the Huskies (12-3-3, 5-1-0) ahead early in the first half, but the Redhawks responded with a penalty kick from Maddie Redeker with 12:01 left in the first half. The Huskies took advantage of a loose ball in the penalty area with 4:28 left and Katelynn Buescher buried it for a 2-1 advantage.

"If it's 1-1 to halftime we would've been feeling pretty good," Redhawks coach Ed Watson said. "But from the run of play when (the Huskies) found opportunities, they buried them. Our girls battled though and that was our No. 1 priority, that we were going to come out and compete and I thought we played pretty well.

Emma Irle's shot caromed off the crossbar but narrowly found its way into the net with 34:39 left in the second half to knot the game at 2-2 but the Huskies answered just three minutes later when Dudas connected with Megan Benmore who got in deep and forced an own goal.

"Dudas was outstanding," Goletz said. "She was what you would expect from a four-year starter and a senior captain."

The newbie on the other side was awfully good too.

"Imagine starting your first varsity game as a freshman and it's against Naperville North," Watson said. "And she doesn't know she's starting until I tell her to go stand in line because I didn't want her to freak out before the game."