Boys soccer: Naperville North 'grateful' for another chance at state semifinals
Being the new guy on the Naperville North boys soccer team, Zach Smith hasn't won a state championship or two.
But after Tuesday night's 1-0 victory against Lyons Twp. at the Class 3A Lewis University supersectional, Smith is going to get a chance to experience the state semifinals.
"It's special, definitely special," said Smith, a sophomore transfer from Kaneland. "There's not a lot of words to describe it, I guess. It's not something I've done before. A lot of these guys have done it twice."
Even teammates who have been there and done that are happy to get another chance, however, to go for a third consecutive state championship. The Huskies (24-0-0) will meet former DuPage Valley Conference rival Lake Park in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates.
"We're very grateful," Huskies junior midfielder Cesar Recendez said. "All of the hard work has paid off. And pretty much all of our team is from our club so we're all like brothers. We've been together a long time and it's just that chemistry that we have."
Still, the Huskies are trying to take it in stride as well.
"I just take every game like it's the same, I guess," Smith said. "If you come with the same mindset every game it doesn't matter. You're going to play the same way. So whether you're playing the first game of the season or the state championship, you're playing the same way and doing your thing. It doesn't really matter."
What mattered in Romeoville on Tuesday was the goal Recendez scored in just the third minute of the game following a Christian Romano throw-in.
"Christian does what he does," Recendez said. "He throws it long. Colin (Iverson) flicked it. I was just at the right place at the right time, but I've got to give credit to Colin for the flick. It's all Colin and Christian."
With the goal in the bank, the Huskies could rely on their brick-wall defense. The Huskies notched their 20th shutout of the season. They've still allowed just 5 goals.
"The back line was perfect today and so was (goalkeeper Tom Welch)," Recendez said. "Tom, I don't know, he's amazing. Our back line - Myles (Barry), Christian (Romano), Colin and Cam (Ferus) - played great today."
Not that it was easy.
"Historically, Lyons and us are similar programs, similar teams, similar styles," Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said, "so we knew we were going to get it all. They were going to run at us, hit us in the mouth, play hard all game. And they did that. They did a really good job of transition to the midfield and pushing the pressure.
"Obviously, I'm thrilled with our back line. Our outside backs did a great job of stepping and putting pressure and our center backs did a great job of covering. And then poor Zach, Cesar and Nata (Rojas in the midfield) just had to run and run and run the entire game. They went 18 to 18."