Naperville C. sees effort rewarded

Naperville Central was desperate for a win.

So was Waubonsie Valley. The Warriors would've loved to get another one, especially after finally getting their first one of the season on Saturday.

Only one squad left Aurora pleased after Thursday's first-ever DuPage Valley Conference match between the two teams.

The visiting Redhawks broke a five-gave losing streak, receiving a pair of second-half goals to earn the 2-0 win.

"We talked about two things: work rate and the relentless aspect that needs to go into it," Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. "It can never stop. We talked about how fast we can link with our teammates and when we played well, I thought we were doing that. The five or six minutes that we stopped, (Waubonsie Valley) had the better of play."

Naperville Central (5-7-0, 1-4-0) created plenty of chances for Colin Bradley-Leon, Noah Canlas, Kyle Crawford, Matthew Egan, and Chris Schwaiger in the first half but didn't jump ahead until Jimmy Kalkofen converted a pass from Nate Zain less than three minutes into the second half.

"Nate's a very good player and he always looks for the ball and has hit a lot of crosses this year," Kalkofen said. "I tried to get on a couple of them but didn't at first. He's always looking for me, and he finally got me one and I saw an easy ball coming in. It was perfect and easy for me to get."

Waubonsie Valley (1-8-1, 0-3-0) just can't seem to get going offensively. The Warriors are competing hard, and got a few dangerous chances from Leo Mendoza and others but just keep coming up empty.

"Getting past that midfield and their offensive third and into the net has been our challenge all season as it was (on Thursday)," Warriors coach Jose Garcia said. "We're still adjusting, though, and trying to mesh, but give them credit. I think (Naperville Central) wanted this one more."

The defense also suffered one big breakdown for the Warriors, in particular with about seven minutes left when John Rudolph scored for the second time this season to make it a 2-0 game.

Rudolph pounced on a ball that bounced around for a while on the right side of the penalty area. The Warriors proved unable to clear it and Rudolph seized the opportunity, lining in his shot just inside the right post.

"We were talking about shooting the whole game, so as it came to me in the box I knew I had a good chance, and took it," Rudolph said. "This was nice. We needed to end the losing streak. We didn't start the season how we wanted so we're focusing on building the team and peaking by the playoffs. This is a good start."