Boys soccer: DiClutch kick gives Naperville Central to sectional championship
Aidan DiClemente is so clutch that his Naperville Central teammates call him DiClutch.
On Friday DiClemente excelled under the pressure of another shootout to beat West Aurora to win the Class 3A Naperville North sectional championship Friday.
His penalty kick gave the Redhawks a 4-2 advantage in the shootout round after neither team scored.
“At practice, sometimes they’ll be calling me (DiClutch),” he said. “It started last year when one of the older guys that graduated came up with nicknames.”
He sent his shot to his right, burying it just inside the post.
“I honestly decided at the last second,” DiClemente said. “I try to take it as far as I can and shoot it as hard as I can.”
Naperville Central (16-4-4) advances to Tuesday’s Class 3A Normal Community supersectional against Edwardsville thanks to its third straight shootout win.
Senior Eli Jarrell converted his shot to open the shootout. Senior goalkeeper Connor Waite then dove to his left to stop West Aurora senior Pas Ndayishimye’s attempt.
“I feel probably less nervous and more confident when it comes to PKs,” Waite said. “The first one is important. It lets your team know (I’ve done my) job and we got to do our jobs now and we know we can do it. We’ve done it multiple, multiple times and it comes from the hard work we put in.”
Michael DeFalco and Michael White followed Jarrell with successful shots while Pedro Delgado and Diego Munoz answered for the Blackhawks.
Blackhawks goalkeeper Luis Garcia went full out to his right to deny Naperville Ryan Lafferty’s in the fourth round, but they missed their ensuing attempt at drawing even.
“We didn’t play our best soccer and still haven’t played our best, but I’ll tell you what, when the work rate is there we just find a way and we trust our defense so much,” Lafferty said. “Cal (Bohan), Bryce (Dodsworth), Ryan (Gervase) and Jay (Larson). I trust them completely and when the attack is not there I know they’re going to be back there so I’m always confident.”
West Aurora (19-5) was vying for the program’s first sectional title.
“It’s a cruel sport,” Blackhawks coach Joe Sustersic said. “You go to PKs and it’s a crapshoot. Naperville Central played well. They had their opportunities and we stopped them, and we had our opportunities and they stopped us, and after 100 minutes we still had zeros.”