Boys soccer: Naperville North pulls out thrilling win for state championship, its fifth in school history

Naperville North senior Eddie Zoeller had never scored a high school goal before Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game against St. Laurence.

Magical things happen when you’re have a magical season.

Zoeller, who didn’t see the field until the second overtime, didn’t even realize that his conversion had given the Huskies a 5-4 victory in the seven-round shootout, lifting them to a thrilling 3-2 victory in cold and rainy conditions at Hoffman Estates.

“To be fair, I didn’t know I scored the winner so I started walking back,” he said. “But then (goalkeeper) Jack (Bouska) runs over and jumps on me and then everyone starts running. Honestly, I didn’t know.”

It was the fifth state title in program history for the Huskies (25-0-4) and first since they completed a three-peat from 2016-2018.

Who could’ve imagined that Zoeller would become the latest hero? Fellow senior teammate Andrew Hebron wasn’t surprised.

“As a player, he always works hard, does the right thing, always does what he’s told, which is good and what you always want, and obviously you guys can tell he always brings humor,” Hebron said. “He’s joyful, brings the spirit up for practice and stuff and games.”

Players struggled with the frigid conditions and it limited the options for the shootout.

“The strategy was who could walk,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “That really was. Who could still move, obviously, because the boys were frozen, it was tough. They were fighting through it on the field and they were dragging and you could see the cramping. To step up and say I want to take that shot with the state championship on the line, and we talk about courage and we value that very much in this program and these boys stepped up and are true examples of it.”

After Bouska made the first of his three saves in the shootout, Josh Pedersen converted his opening try for the 1-0 advantage in the shootout.

“I mean it’s all mental,” Bouska said. “I always have an idea where I think they’re going to go, always try to read the penalty taker and got to just commit to a side where you got to go, can’t second guess because if you second guess you will be caught off guard. So just got to commit to the shot and to put a piece of my body on it and tip it will stop it from going into the net and when you save it, it’s an adrenaline rush you can’t even describe it, it’s like a forever moment that will forever be cherished for me.”

Kalan Gaccione scored with 6:44 left before half and the Huskies held onto that lead until the Vikings rallied for a pair of second-half goals, the first allowed by Naperville North in the postseason.

The Huskies sent the game into overtime with 1:23 left when Hebron scored, sending in a rebound off the crossbar.

“I just stuck my leg out there and I think it went between a guy’s legs and then I saw it going in the back of the net and it was exciting,” Hebron said. “It feels great. It’s finally over, but I’m happy for the ride, glad we got the job done.”