Girls soccer: Naperville North earns return to state
Naperville North hadn't advanced to the Class 3A girls soccer semifinals since winning the 2013 state championship. That's a long time to a successful program like the Huskies'.
"Coming into this game, this is all I've wanted for three years, and I just feel amazing and I'm so excited to share it with the seniors that I've been with for four years and (coach Steve) Goletz," Huskies co-captain Katelynn Buescher said.
Stopped at the supersectional the past two seasons, the Huskies finally are headed back to state. They defeated downstate Belleville West 1-0 at Tuesday's Lewis University supersectional.
Naperville North will play Barrington at 5 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville. The teams played to a 2-2 draw in the season opener in March.
The game's lone goal came in the 57th minute. A Leah Shumate free kick bounced wound up in front of the Maroons' goal after Huskies defender Reilly Riggs headed the ball toward Buescher. Buescher beat sprawling Belleville West goalkeeper Bailey Redden to the ball and poked it into the goal.
"We know their goalie is really good so I had to make sure I was the first one there, and she got her hands down and pushed it out and she caught it in her legs and it was just about being stronger and getting it in the goal," Buescher said.
Did Redden get her hands on it?
"No, she did not have it, I promise," Buescher said.
By that time it was starting to feel like the first goal would win the game.
"You look at their center backs, their goalie, insane, they're so good," Buescher said. "But I think we were just better and I knew our back line could handle anything, so it was really about putting our one chance away. We've had a lot of shutouts (17), so it was just about keeping that and getting that one goal in."
Naperville North had the bulk of the possession throughout the game, giving up some to the Maroons late in the first half and at the start of the second. Belleville West managed just 4 shots. Belleville West earned its best scoring chance in the 42nd minute when a header off a corner kick hit the crossbar.
"I thought the first 20 minutes of the game we had a ton of chances and couldn't put it away," Goletz said. "I kind of started having flashbacks to last year where we had the better of play and coudn't find a way and it went into a shootout and everybody knows what happens then. These girls have been so focused on trying to get back here."
The goal only seemed to give the Huskies more momentum, and like they did at the start of the game, they pushed the action toward Redden's goal. Redden made 9 saves to Maddie Hausmann's 2, a function of the Huskies' advantage in possession and a stalwart back line.
"They were outstanding," Buescher said of the defense. "Jessie Siebers, outstanding. She took (all-state Belleville West forward Taylor Mathenia) out of the game. And then when there were balls that went over and got past Jessie, there was (Riggs, Alyssa Siebers and Sarah Stokes) there to clean it up and Maddie if she had to. They were outstanding."