Smith fitting in with Naperville North

Zach Smith acknowledges that he misses the lush, green, pristine grass at his former school, Kaneland.

But he undoubtedly loves his new home at Naperville North, the two-time defending Class 3A champions.

"I do miss that grass field, that's for sure," he said. "But the good comes with the bad."

Plenty of good came from Smith's right foot during Tuesday's Best of the West Tournament game against Oswego as Smith scored twice in a 3-1 victory.

Smith's goals were his first as a Huskie. He moved to Naperville this summer.

"I had a lot of pressure coming in because I knew so many of these guys from club," he said. "They know what to expect from me, so I feel they have high expectations for me, but I'm really pretty optimistic of what we can do the rest of the season if we keep working hard."

Ty Konrad's corner kick set up Smith for his first goal with 27:19 left in the first half, and it held for a 1-0 advantage at the half.

"I ran in kind of toward the back post and kind of waited there," Smith said. "It bounced out and I got a nice volley and put in the back in the net. I didn't have to do too much. It was pretty simple."

Konrad's picturesque pass to a sprinting Smith allowed the Huskies to increase their lead to 2-0 with 30:50 remaining in the game.

"That was a beautiful ball," Smith said. "I only had to one-touch it. That was great work by (Konrad) getting that to me."

It was more than enough offense for the Huskies, although they added another insurance goal from Colin Iverson with 14:07 left.

"It was a very even game and we were fortunate to get the 3 goals," Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. "Oswego has been on fire the last couple of games so we were nervous coming in, knowing they had firepower and a couple of our kids play with their kids in the club system so we know them pretty well. Scoring that early goal really helped."

Oswego (1-1-1), which is coming off a 15-win season and undefeated conference schedule, has standout players, including Omar Carreño, but the Huskies frustrated him and the rest of the Panthers.

"Oswego impressed me," Jim Konrad said. "They're not a team I'd want to see in the playoffs. Fortunately our back line did a really good job and were clean back there, and (goalkeeper) Tommy (Welch) takes some stuff away in the air. Still, we need to keep working to get better, but it's a long season and we're just a few games in."

After playing for just 58 seconds, the game was delayed by over an hour due to lightning.