Girls lacrosse: Siska, Naperville North start fast in DVC title win over Naperville Central
As a midfielder in lacrosse and a center in ice hockey, Naperville North senior Helena Siska likes to be in the middle of the action. She did just that on Wednesday night from the very beginning of the Huskies’ 14-5 win over rival Naperville Central to claim the first DVC Tournament title at Neuqua Valley.
Siska scored the game’s first two goals less than 2 minutes into play, then came away with a steal that set up teammate Merian Giese as North claimed a quick 3-0 lead that grew to 6-1 after one quarter and 9-2 by halftime. Siska finished with 4 goals as the Huskies improved to 10-6 on the spring one week ahead of the sectional seedings.
“I’m proud of us,” said Siska, who helped her team rebound from a tough 12-10 loss Monday to Glenbard West. “I feel like we played really well. We came out strong, and it was really important to jump on them from the start.”
Siska has been a key contributor for the Huskies’ balanced attack, but she’s not used to scoring as much as she did in Wednesday’s win.
“Today was a little extraordinary. I don’t score four in a game usually,” said Siska, who will play hockey next year at College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. “That [first Central] game was pretty close. We just won by 4 goals. It definitely was not our best game, so it was good to come back strong and beat them by a little more this time.”
Five different North players tallied goals in the first half and seven all told in the win. Giese, who has been one of the team’s top scorers all spring, had 3 goals against the Redhawks.
“This is a really fun game for us. I know there’s a crosstown rivalry, but a lot of these girls play club with girls from Central,” said North coach Jessica Hogan. “There’s no bad blood. We just always want a good game between the two schools, so it’s kind of fun.”
The Redhawks, who are having one of the program’s best seasons ever under first-year head coach Brandon Moriarty, started four freshmen in the DVC Tournament final including goalie Giselle Sevilla, who stood tall against constant pressure.
“We came off a tough loss yesterday to Downers Grove North, a good program,” said Moriarty, whose team is now 13-5 with two regular-season games left. “And Anna Schatz was out, one of our leading goal scorers. When we faced this team the first time, it was 0-0 after one quarter … it’s a long season. We need to work on building up our stamina, but I couldn’t be prouder of the girls.”
The Redhawks goals were scored by Emily Moran, Raquel Iampaglia, Tessa Williams, Kendall Albertini, and Brooke Liska.
In the third-place match, the Waubonsie-Metea Valley team jumped ahead 7-0 after one quarter and hung on to beat the host Wildcats 16-9. Ella Guzaski had 5 goals to pace the winners and Sydney Shield and Katie Madden each added four scores. Neuqua Valley got 4 goals apiece from Addison Tedrow and Kaylie Gilmartin.