Girls soccer notes: Naperville invite quarterfinals feature top-notch matchups

Thursday's Naperville Invite matches are set and they include some dandies in the state's most impressive tournament of the season. They include St. Charles East at Fremd, St. Charles North at Naperville Central, Loyola at Barrington and New Trier at Naperville North.

"It's probably the best tournament in the state," St. Charles North senior Sophie Kirsten said. "You're playing the best teams in the state so you know it's going to be the toughest competition."

Teams have reached the point in the spring where conference races are heating up and there's talk of the upcoming state series.

"It comes at an awesome point of the year where you're back from spring break and you kind of have an idea of what you have as a team and now you have a chance to play in some environments which are like sectional finals, supersectionals and state weekend games," Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. "I think if you can run the gauntlet you're doing something really special. It's a great opportunity for great players and there's great coaches with a ton of pride. It's a great measuring stick for what to work on for the next month for the best chance for playing deep in the postseason."

Goletz himself wasn't sure exactly what he had at Naperville North this spring after losing 16 seniors and 9 of 11 starters. The arrival of freshman Claire DeCook (14 goals, 5 assists) has certainly been a huge one for the defending champions of this tournament.

"We have a super young group, but we've been blessed with senior leaders and the younger girls continue to impress," he said. "We still have our ups and downs with a young group, but it gives me hope the girls will perform when it comes down to crunchtime."

Geneva wasn't fortunate to advance to the championship bracket, but the Vikings won insights while affording the girls a great opportunity to compete, receiving particularly notable performances from defender Cami Bishop and forward Rilee Hasegawa.

"We love playing in the Naperville tournament because the tough competition helps expose what your team needs to improve upon as the postseason approaches," coach Megan Owens said. "With each tough game, the girls are gaining confidence and improving as a unit. Playing so many top teams is really helping us to improve because you just can't match that intensity, physical play, speed of play and game experience any other way."

Eagles soaring at Jacobs:

Jacobs (9-4, 3-1) is enjoying an impressive plus-24 goal differential and are riding a three-game winning streak into this week.

"We have become much better defensively in the last couple games and will keep improving on our attack," Eagles coach Colin Brice said. "We are looking forward to some good conference matchups to end the season to get us ready for the playoffs."

Gabby Wojtarowicz has scored 16 goals already and also added 6 assists while Delaney Roimiser has 11 goals and Bella Mickey has 6 assists.

Raiders eye Upstate 8 title:

Through April 23, Glenbard South is at the top of the Upstate Eight Conference standings at 5-1. West Chicago (3-0-2) and South Elgin (3-0-1) remain undefeated while Elgin (3-1-1) and Bartlett (2-1-1) aren't far behind while the remaining five conference teams have three more losses apiece.

The Raiders (6-5 overall) still have to play West Chicago, Elgin and Glenbard East. Their lone loss was a 1-0 decision to South Elgin on April 19.

"We have yet to have 100% health and I lost Lauren Price to a head injury in the South Elgin game," Raiders coach Kevin Berner said. "That's the game that got away from us. I'm excited for the West Chicago game and I think we will be healthy for that one."

Berner and assistant coach Bill Hiles have been making frequent adjustments to accommodate inconsistent attendance while Emma Seaman has been a constant in the middle.

"She's been the difference-maker," Berner said. "An incredible midfield player this senior season."

No time to celebrate:

Last Thursday York edged Naperville Central, 1-0, to remain undefeated. The Dukes would only remain undefeated overnight as they dropped a 3-0 game to Geneva on Friday. Sending a team to its first loss of the season in late April, the Vikings had to quickly turnaround the next day to face the Redhawks who rebounded with a 3-1 win over Geneva.

"We definitely had one of the toughest groups in the Naperville Invite and despite being short-handed with injuries and illness (down two starters, one season-ending injury) the girls played with a lot of heart and gave their best effort," Vikings coach Megan Owens said. "We played extremely well against York handing them their first loss of the season. We played great and dominated in stretches against Naperville Central, but the weather and having such a tough game less than 24 hours before, we had a few mistakes that they pounced on, as good teams will. It was a great battle though."

This week doesn't get any easier for Geneva (10-3) with games against St. Charles East, Oswego East and Benet. York (8-1-1) doesn't catch a break either with Hinsdale Central (8-3-2) on Tuesday before games against St. Viator and Oswego East.