Girls soccer: Naperville Central’s perfect season roars on
Freshman Jenna Laga came soaring toward the goal during Naperville Central’s 5-1 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in Tuesday’s Class 3A St. Charles North supersectional.
Laga’s header attempt in the waning seconds of the first half was just off the mark but sophomores Paige Connelly and Natalie Liesch had already been on target, giving the Redhawks a 2-0 lead at halftime with their scores in the final 4:05 of the half.
Naperville Central (21-0-1) now soars into Friday’s state semifinal against Warren at 7:30 p.m.
“I told the girls that I think our sectional was the deepest in the state and just getting here is a huge accomplishment,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “I don’t want to diminish that and focus on the next one. To get to where we’ve gotten we’ve had to beat four really good good teams and you have a 15-20 minute stretch where you give up a goal and then you’re chasing…I’m just really pleased with how composed we’ve been.”
Tigers goalkeeper Lauren Buchalski was able to redirect a shot from Liesch, but the carom worked toward the opposite post where Connelly was in line to easily finish it for the 1-0 advantage with 4:05 left in the first half.
Liesch was surprised she was able to take the ball from near midfield, collect herself in the box and fire in a shot that Buchalski couldn’t deny this time with just under a minute left in the half to extend the lead to 2-0.
“I didn’t think I was going to have so much time,” Liesch said. “Coach (Troy Adams) says to not hesitate from taking chances so I took it.”
Adams said anytime Liesch can go 1-on-1, she should go 1-on-1.
“She’s very explosive but has such good ball control and can break you down,” he said. “Emerson (Burke) is Emerson, but Natalie is probably our second most dangerous on 1-on-1.”
Wheaton Warrenville South (17-2-5) saw its opportunity to rally continue to diminish early in the second half when Burke earned a penalty kick and converted it with 36:52 still to play in the game.
“I don’t think 2-0 is necessarily, it’s over,” Tigers senior Lucy Jethani said. “I think at halftime we were very positive. We knew we still had a chance, but that the game wasn’t over yet. We still had 40 minutes. We still thought we could make a change.”
It’s the second straight year the Tigers have come up a victory short of a state bid. Last year they lost to Naperville North at Streamwood.
"This team broke offensive records, where I thought last year’s team was very offensively built, but then this year we got here through our defensive posture,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. “It didn’t unfortunately show today in the last four minutes of the first half.”
Nicole Sacek extended the Redhawks’ lead to 5-0 after scoring twice in another four-minute span.
The Tigers broke the shutout with 9:58 remaining when Kelsey Clousing fought off defenders before blasting a 20-strike inside the near post.