Girls soccer: Naperville Central survives scare from Benet, wins 3A sectional crown
It was much more stressful than most games this season, but also the most rewarding outcome to date.
Top-seeded and unbeaten Naperville Central (20-0-1) weathered a strong early push from Benet Academy and squeaked out a 1-0 victory in the Class 3A sectional championship played on the Redhawks home field Friday.
Next up for the winners is a St. Charles North supersectional matchup Tuesday against Wheaton Warrenville South, which knocked off top-seeded St. Charles East 2-0.
“Definitely in the first 5-10 minutes I was getting a little bit worried because they had possession and it was in our defensive half a lot, but I feel like we kind of grew into the game, which is good,” Redhawks senior forward Malia Shen said. “It was a very stressful score but it was fun.”
The Redwings (19-3) applied pressure from the get-go and almost took an early lead. Kasey Glynn put a shot off the post and then after a scramble in traffic, a Benet rebound shot was barely cleared away from the line by Natalie Liesch to keep the game scoreless, which is how the first half ended.
Naperville Central picked up its play in the second half and eventually scored the game’s lone goal on a penalty kick by Emerson Burke less than three minutes into the half. A great ball from Shen sent Burke on her way to a possible breakaway in the box before she was taken down by a Redwing defender.
Burke calmly drilled her 37th goal of the year just inside the right post for what proved to be the game winner.
“I feel like I got past her and that was her only option, to foul me,” said Burke, who has tallied at least one goal in every game this year. “I feel like I’ve had a couple of those (plays) this season where I haven’t gotten the calls and so I was fortunate to get that one. PKs are just placement and confidence.”
Shen, who shifted back to defense late in the game to help preserve the 1-0 lead, always expects Burke to be in the right place at the right time.
“I just kind of let the pass to me go through my legs and I turned and I saw Emerson,” Shen explained. “She’s so good at making weakside runs so I played to her. I think it was a good foul on their part because Emerson is very good in the box. She would have scored I think.”
Redwings keeper Giada McGlynn made a pair of dazzling saves in the second half to keep her team in the game, robbing Nicole Sacek of a golden opportunity on one sequence.
“I mean compliments to Benet. They’re a top five, top four team in the state. It’s just unfortunate that our sectional is jammed,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “We knew you had to play two or three really good games to get out of our sectional. You can’t have an off night and advance on. And I thought the girls did a very good job today of matching the intensity of Benet and then showing some composure at times.”
Adams singled out sophomore defender Emily Tilton for a strong game in which she did her best to limit the chances for Redwings star Annie Fitzgerald.
“Defenders don’t get credit unless they score but she marked 10 most of the game, by design, unless 10 went into the midfield and Nicole Smith picked her up,” said Adams. “That’s two or three girls in a row that she’s marked that I would consider top talents. The maturity we’ve seen from freshmen year to sophomore year as a defender is outstanding. She’s legit as an outside back.”
Fitzgerald, who will play at Loyola University next year, was proud of how well her team played on Friday, as well as all season long.
“Obviously not the result we wanted but I just told them in the huddle that I have absolutely no regrets with how the season went,” Fitzgerald said. “In the end I’m super proud of how we battled. This whole season was so much fun. I didn’t play last season so I was on the fence about returning, but I’m so incredibly happy that I did because these girls just made my senior year experience an absolute blast.”
Tilton was not about to take all the credit for her team’s shutoff of a potent Redwings attack.
“They’re all very good players. I had to stay on them and try and stop them. Not even win it sometimes, just stop it from going forward, advancing on toward the goal,” the Redhawks defender said. “Our communication as a team really helped us all do well on defense and come out with no goals against us. Being on this team, we have a lot of very good people up top. It’s just supporting them and making sure we do our job in the back.”
Benet coach Gerad Oconer loved his team’s fight on Friday, but didn’t care much for losing on a penalty kick.
“We weren’t going to back down to anything today. We were going to fight and make them work for everything they got,” he said. “That’s exactly what we did today. That’s a terrible way to lose. But again, you go toe-to-toe against one of the best teams in the country and we were right there. That’s all you can ask from them.”