Naperville C. keeps Falcons on edge

Their coach had been questioning their work rate, and the Redhawks gave him a pretty good answer on Thursday.

Naperville Central's 2-0 win in boys soccer over Wheaton North was built on effort, and that effort translated to the kind of quick step and hustle that Jay Konrad has been waiting for from his squad.

"Much better," Konrad said after the DuPage Valley Conference win. "The first 60 minutes of the game I thought we did a great job of keeping possession and moving forward."

"Work rate and attitude - that's what coach has been stressing, and we tried to bring it out tonight," said Redhawks senior Dave Mallett.

Naperville Central (12-2-1, 4-1) kept Wheaton North (8-2-4, 2-2-1) on its heels throughout the first half, winning 50-50 balls and playing well to feet.

"They played with a lot of pace tonight," Falcons coach Bryce Cann said of the Redhawks. "We made two mistakes on restarts, and they made us pay twice."

The Redhawks went up 1-0 in the 28th minute, when Jerry Maddi sent a free kick in from 50 yards out. Redhawks defender Dave Mallett located Maddi's kick near the far post and poked it into net from 8 yards out.

"It bounced around a little bit, and luckily I turned around and was able to take a crack at it," Mallett said.

"Dave Mallett has been Mr. Consistent for us. We talk about getting more of a blue-collar effort, and he is consistently our blue-collar player," Konrad said.

Nine minutes into the second half, Art Garza took a ball on the left side and popped it over the top toward the far post, where Chris Prince settled it and calmly tucked it inside the far post from 10 yards out.

From there to the end of regulation, the Falcons picked up their intensity in chasing a 2-0 deficit. Trevor Bushhouse sent a head shot on frame that Redhawks goalkeeper Tyler Kelley made a leaping stop on at the post, and unlike the first half, Wheaton North was able to establish a presence in its attacking third.

"We did things better in the second half, but we have to learn some things," Cann said. "We have to learn that we can play with a team like Naperville Central and that you can't take minutes off."

Konrad, meanwhile, hopes to see his Redhawks build upon the effort they put forth Thursday.

"What it translates to is us winning the ball 40 yards from the goal, instead of having to win it on our defensive end," Konrad said. "I'll give our work rate a B-plus tonight."

- Gary Larsen

Larkin 1, Waubonsie Valley 0: Larkin senior Danny Hinterlong didn't really expect teammate Carson McFadden's cross to make it through a crowd of players in front of the Waubonsie Valley goal box.

But it never hurts to be prepared just in case. So when the ball did find its way through to Hinterlong, the Royals midfielder buried a shot past Waubonsie Valley goalkeeper Sean Elvert to break a scoreless tie early in the second half. Hinterlong's tally ended up holding up as the only goal of the night in Larkin's 1-0 Upstate Eight Conference victory in Aurora.

"It was a surprise it got through," he said of McFadden's cross which had followed a free kick by Raul Sandoval set up by a Warrior foul. "But it was a good ball by Carson and I was able to put it in."

After a scoreless first half in which the Royals held a 4-3 edge in shots on goal, Larkin (13-1, 4-1) applied a little more pressure in the second half while the Warriors (5-8-1, 3-3-1) were guilty of a few too many fouls. Warriors coach Angelo DiBernardo, whose team was without injured star Nik Patel, felt his squad may have tired some after playing a solid first half against a strong Larkin club.

"Neither team created a lot of great chances but in the second half we got a little fatigued and we started to foul more which gave them some chances," DiBernardo said. "They took advantage of their chance."

Larkin coach Ken Hall would have loved an insurance goal or two but still felt pretty good once Hinterlong put his team on the board.

"We didn't play at our pace tonight," Hall said. "But I have good faith in our defense. We haven't allowed too many goals and we played solid on defense tonight."

Freshman Ryan Soloman started at sweeper in place of Patel and played well for the Warriors, but the hosts couldn't get on the board against goalkeeper Raziel Somarriba and the Royals defense.

Hinterlong's third goal of the year was the game-winner, but he agreed with Hall that it would have been nice to tack on a little more after the initial score.

"We felt good after the score but maybe we laid back too much," Hinterlong said. "An insurance goal would have been better but we got the outcome we wanted."

- Stan Goff