Boys soccer: West Aurora becomes No. 1 Naperville North's latest victim
The challenges keep coming at No. 1 Naperville North, and the Huskies keep handling them.
West Aurora was the latest to give Naperville North its best shot Friday night in the championship game of the Class 3A Geneva sectional, and the Huskies were up to the task.
Colin Iverson scored in the sixth minute assisted by Ty Konrad and the Huskies never looked back in a 5-1 win that advances them to Tuesday's supersectional, now just three wins away from another state title.
"I thought we played very well," Iverson said. "West Aurora obviously is a great team, they had us on our back foot for a lot of time. I thought we stayed fairly organized and our midfield worked their butts off."
Huskies coach Jay Konrad credited Zach Smith's play in the midfield as the key to the win.
"I asked Zach Smith to chase their best kid tonight and defend and that's why we won," Konrad said. "Obviously, Ty (Konrad) was great, Colin was great, but Zach just ran and ran and ran."
Naperville North, the No. 1 team in the state, improved to 23-0 and will play Lyons on Tuesday in the Lewis University supersectional.
After Iverson's goal, Ty Konrad scored in the 29th minute and Myles Barry (assisted by Konrad) in the 30th minute for a 3-0 halftime lead.
Konrad said his goal was similar to a long run he made and converted Tuesday against Batavia.
"They (West Aurora) are a really good team," Konrad said. "We just capitalized on opportunities. It (sectional title) means a lot but it's not the goal."
Barry converted the goal that gave Naperville North a 3-goal halftime lead.
"We usually try to target Colin," Barry said. "I just came in more near post and I was able to hit it on goal and was able to give us another goal. It was key to be up 3-0 at half."
West Aurora finishes the season at 18-4-1.
"They are a very good team and then you put Ty (Konrad) up front where he runs like a gazelle," West Aurora coach Joe Sustersic said. "That goal he scored was out of this world. Naperville North is stacked. They are not ranked No. 1 in the nation by accident. It's a very talented group. They are a great team. Let's give credit where credit is due."
In the second half, Iverson scored his second goal on Konrad's third assist of the game for a 4-0 lead.
"You can't coach height," Sustersic said. "Our tallest kid is 6-1 and we're going up against 6-5, 6-4. They are athletes. Iverson is a monster. He really is. I thought we had a nice plan but you can't do much when he goes near post, far post. He's not going to the same spot every time."
In the 65th minute Monoj Chuwan scored West Aurora's only goal before Jacob Vrankin ended the scoring in the 80th minute.
"We fought," Sustersic said. "At times we possessed well but we didn't connect on our fourth pass or fifth pass. We had three sophomores back there against an All-American.
"If you would have told me we would score 88 goals (this year), get to a Sweet 16 with eight kids who are world relief kids who a year ago weren't even in this country? What our kids did was outstanding. I'm proud of them."