Boys soccer: Naperville North escapes Lake Park, advances to state final
No team is invincible, but Naperville North is making a case for it.
The Huskies continued their incredible run, beating Lake Park 1-0 in double overtime at Friday's Class 3A semifinals at Hoffman Estates.
Ty Konrad was taken down in the penalty area with 6:15 left in the second overtime and fellow junior Patrick Koenig buried the ensuing penalty kick, and the Huskies advanced to Saturday's state championship game where they will attempt to win their third consecutive title.
Naperville North (25-0) advanced by earning its 21st shutout of the season and by winning for the ninth time this season by a 1-0 score.
The Huskies, winners of 44 straight games, will play Libertyville (22-0) at 7 p.m. in a clash of undefeated teams and a rematch of last year's epic title game.
"It's nerve-wracking to constantly be in 0-0 and 1-0 games," Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. "Obviously, with Tommy (Welch) in net, we have great confidence in our goalkeeper and the back line has been fantastic limiting chances, even against a great Lake Park team our back line was always in the right spot."
Lake Park (21-4-4) was only awarded a single corner kick to Naperville North's 8 and was outshot 18-5 but still found itself close to forcing the game to be decided in a shootout.
"It's unfortunate that the goal came the way it did given we defended like crazy and stopped chances through the run of play," Lancers coach Sean Crosby said. "I couldn't be more proud of (defender) Thomas Zakic and (goalkeeper) Christian Lekki and our entire roster for the effort they gave. I'm just disappointed it ended the way it did."
Koenig saw one of his shots carom off the post less than seven minutes into the action, and it proved to be a night of missed opportunities and narrow misses for the Huskies, but they got the one they needed just in enough time.
"I just kept getting chances and they were coming to me," Koenig said. "I thought eventually I could get one and I hit the post twice so I thought I'd go for a third one and get one, but just couldn't get one, but finally Ty (Konrad) drew the foul and we got the PK."
While the Huskies have punished teams with their prowess to score off set pieces, the Lancers took that part of their game away, including shutting down Colin Iverson, Naperville North's leading scorer.
"I think a lot of it comes from my aggressiveness," Zakic said. "I also play basketball, so I'm able to run and jump and win headers over guys. I'm obviously not scared from playing basketball. I think that's where I have advantage over other guys in winning headers and I play against Matteo Costa, Franco Presta, Jesus Juarez, phenomenal players on my team, so I was prepared for a great player like Iverson."
The Lancers had one solid scoring chance after falling behind, but Welch overcame a partial collision with teammate Myles Barry and cleared the ball with 3:56 remaining.
"They play very hard and they've got an edge to them which matches our edge," Jim Konrad said. "Things that we're good at, they're also good at, which negates it to some level."
Lake Park, which took fourth place in 2013, will play Collinsville in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Saturday.