Girls soccer: Naperville Central shuts out Metea Valley
Senior midfielder Maddie Mills and her Naperville Central girls soccer teammates are bringing more offensive confidence this season.
Such was the mentality Tuesday when Mills was encouraged to take the Redhawks' penalty kick in the midst of a scoreless tie against Metea Valley.
"Actually, some of my teammates were like, 'Do you want to take it?' " Mills said.
"I have actually struggled with taking them in the past, but I've kind of just been trying to envision (the ball) going into the goal. The hardest part is getting over the nerves."
Mills put her shot into the bottom left corner of the net with 35:21 remaining and the Redhawks held on for a 1-0 victory in Naperville in the DuPage Valley Conference opener for both teams.
Playing its first game since March 20, Naperville Central (4-1-1) was awarded the penalty kick after junior forward Sarah Scoles' shot went off a Metea defender's hand in the penalty area. Scoles moved quickly after receiving a dangerous cross from sophomore Sullivan Schubel.
"I was trying to get a shot on the goal and it kind of bounced off her hand. It was definitely a jumble in there, but we were working hard so the chance was coming," Scoles said.
"It feels awesome (to win). It really does. We've been improving throughout the season so it feels great."
This is the Redhawks' first victory of the season by shutout after winning their first three by 2-1 scores despite allowing the first goal each time.
Senior goalie Amber Hunter, who has been platooning with junior Sophie Epelbaum, provided a solid 80 minutes with 5 saves, including one off a left-footed blast in the 75th minute by junior defender Paige Buranosky, who moved up late to provide the Mustangs (2-4-1) more attacking punch.
"That's a team victory right there," Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said.
"We played very well. I thought that we had some things going in the second half and then after the goal, especially, we had probably another (strong) five or six minutes."
Metea led 14-8 in overall shots, and each team had 5 on goal and both had three corner kicks. The Mustangs controlled most of the first half, but Hunter stopped Kiley McKee's shot from right wing and even an early cross that became dangerous when it deflected off Mills' foot.
"That was pretty even, back and forth," Metea coach Chris Whaley said. "We definitely had some good chances in the first half. A little unfortunate with the penalty kick, but the girls have been playing hard. We've been challenging them to play more physical, and they did that today. We were in it all the way until the end."
Defensively, Watson praised the work of senior Grace Anderson in the center with freshman Sophia Skoubis. Anderson missed the latter half of the 2018 season after tearing her right ACL two games back from stress reactions in both shins.
"My recovery was like it took forever but I'm so glad to be back," Anderson said.
"I'm so excited. We've been working really hard and the goals we've been giving up have been so simple, just mark your girl but then someone always loses someone. I'm finally glad that we got (a shutout victory), especially with our DVC game."