Girls lacrosse: Naperville North defeats Benet in barnburner

Audrey Johnson had a rough week, but she ended it on a high note.

Johnson, a senior attacker on the Naperville North girls lacrosse team, fought the flu this week and missed most of the week's competition, losses to St. Charles and Loyola.

But on Friday night, she was back and helped the Huskies overcome deficits of 6-3, 8-4 and 9-6 by scoring on a penalty shot with six-tenths of a second in regulation, and then the game-winner with 1:48 to go in overtime.

They were her only tallies in an 11-10 victory that helped bring Naperville North back to .500 at 3-3.

"We had a few tough losses - we faced Loyola and St. Charles, both amazing teams, so we knew this game, going into next week, that we really needed to get our hopes up and now that we got the win, we'll be pumped up for next week," said Johnson, who was also a big reason the Huskies outdrew the Redwings 16-5.

Junior Mary Catherine Craig scored the go-ahead goal for the Redwings with 1:06 left in regulation, making the score 10-9. Naperville North tried to respond on a shot by sophomore Kate Burritt from dead center and a penalty shot from freshman Ella Marschitz - both saved by Benet junior goalie Audrey Moran.

But Johnson finally broke through with 0.6 seconds on the clock on a penalty shot that tied the game 10-10 and sent it to overtime.

There was no time for jubilation, however. Benet put itself in position to win the game with 2:14 left in overtime. Sophomore Karly Keating blasted a penalty shot that bounced up and off the crossbar, though it appeared to be in.

"If I hear the post, I'm just hoping that it didn't bounce in the goal," Huskies goalie Catie Sciabica said. "I heard it dink off the post."

Naperville North cleared the ball and less than 30 seconds later it was over. Johnson got the ball and curled from behind the left side of the net to the center and fired a shot top shelf past Moran.

"The defender slid over to Kelly (Jacobs), so I was thankfully wide open in the middle, so I caught it in my left hand and I took the shot really quick to get the goalie off guard, because she is a really good goalie, Audrey," Johnson said.

Johnson's coach, Jessica Hogan, was glad to have her back.

"She played two minutes at St. Charles, she didn't play Loyola at all," Hogan said. "She came to practice yesterday and wasn't allowed to run. I think she overcame a mental hurdle, too. The first shots she was taking were hard bounce shots and she was really overshooting the goal. She got down on herself as all good athletes do, but she really came back, ending on a high note."

Burritt led the Huskies with 3 goals, while Johnson, junior Isabella Taylor and sophomore Bella Caputo each had 2.

It was a hard-luck finish for the Redwings (3-2), though they got 13 saves from Moran and 3 goals from Margaret Snyder and 2 apiece from sophomore Karly Keating and junior Natalie Sweeney.

The good news, though, is that Benet plays today against Neuqua Valley, so there is little time to lament the loss.

"Main thing is every play matters," Moran said. "You know what, we took advantage of some of the plays and we didn't capitalize on it. They made mistakes we should have totally used, but it didn't work. Next game, we have to try and give it all, because every play does matter."

Added junior Caroline Covey, who scored a first-half goal: "I think we get up by 3 at halftime and I think same as any team, you get a little cocky … we did this right and this right and this right. And they started coming back and instead of building off of it, we start to break down a little bit."