Boys soccer: Naperville North's Radeke named DuPage All-Area Captain

Proudly wearing No. 7 this season, Naperville North junior Noah Radeke went out and dished out nearly seven times as many assists as he did a season ago.

He also more than doubled his scoring output and was more than just a presence in defending. Radeke used his size and skill to eliminate threats from the opposition to help lead Naperville North to state for the first time since 2018 as the Huskies returned home with the Class 3A third place trophy.

For his fantastic contributions in scoring goals in the clutch, whipping in pinpoint crosses to his fellow Huskies and impeding attacks from opponents with his energy and athleticism, Radeke has been named the Captain of the 2023 Daily Herald DuPage All-Area Boys Soccer Team.

"Honestly, I didn't have the season that I wanted last year," he said. "I was kind of sick after coming into the season so I expected to be better this year. I just put in a lot of work this off-season and I knew I would definitely improve and get better. I kind of expected and wanted (the season) to go like this and as the games went on, it did."

It most certainly did. Radeke had a goal or an assist in Naperville North's first 13 games and had multiple goals or assists in nine of those games, including a hat trick of assists against South Elgin and a hat trick of goals against Naperville Central while winning the Best of the West championship game.

Midfielder Hindo Allie, the lone senior who started regularly for the Huskies, was amazed by the things Radeke was able to do this year to help them finish 23-2-3.

"He's so talented and, obviously, we're so lucky as a team to have a player like that, that can assist and also scores goals," Allie said. "He's big in the air and he'll finish the ball if we need him to, so just having him up there means so much. His ceiling is huge. He's going to continue to improve and I'm excited to see what he does next year and in college."

Radeke scored or had an assist in 20 of Naperville North's 27 games. The only time this season that he didn't contribute to those offensive categories and they also lost was in last Friday's 1-0 Class 3A state semifinal game against Lyons.

Blessed with the opportunity to not only play varsity as a freshman, but to have older brother, Cam, as a teammate, Radeke came into his own in his third year on the squad. He had three goals and an assist in 2021 before scoring nine times and contributing three assists last year.

This season he became the first 20/20 goals/assists guy at the school since Jon Hall, who is a Naperville North Athletics Hall of Famer, did it in 1985.

"Noah realized that he and (Jaxon) Stokes had to take a step up and take the reins," Konrad said. "Noah was fantastic as a freshman, struggled physically with a serious cold/virus as a sophomore and this year made a statement and played hard every single game while being unselfish and taking on a leadership role."

Stokes more than doubled his scoring output from a season ago, getting on the other end of plenty of passes from Radeke to go from a 13-goal sophomore season to falling just a goal short of 30 this fall.

"The coaches had a very high standard for me and Noah and had really high expectations for us coming into the season," Stokes said. "The first game (loss to West Chicago) was kind of iffy, but then we started to work off each other. If Noah wins a header I run behind, give and goes. And we've just been playing off each other, and a lot of my goals Noah has assisted and I've assisted some of his goal, too."

At 6-foot-3, Radeke wasn't just the biggest kid on the field, but often the most dangerous.

"I think that first going from sophomore to junior year is a big shift in a guy," Konrad said. "He's super athletic and able to battle anyone for the ball. He's one of the biggest guys on the field and this really is just his commitment and realizing in the off-season that he could be a top tier kid who's getting interest in big schools. I told him up front that he has to be one of the guys this year and he accepted the challenge and proved it."

It wouldn't be surprising if he and the Huskies are even better next year.

"As good as he is, he wants to be better," Konrad said. "Obviously, he's a tough kid to handle and he's still pushing to be one of those top tier kids. His best is yet to come."