Girls soccer: Naperville North breaks through, downs Fremd
One year removed from a third-place finish at the Class 3A state tournament, Naperville North's girls soccer team found itself winless in its first two games of the 2019 season.
Wednesday night in Palatine, the Huskies (1-2-0) playing their third-straight high profile early season opponent, watched Leah Shumate net a key penalty kick attempt 14 minutes from time to claim a hard-fought 1-0 victory over host Fremd.
"We opened the year losing to state champion Barrington (2-0) then a very good St. Charles East team by the same score, then tonight it was (Fremd), who beat St. Charles East," said Huskies head coach Steve Goletz. "So to have three quality opponents right away, and with seven starters off to college, there's so many new players on our roster and plenty for us to sort out.
"It was a great game to watch, and one that had a little bit of a playoff feel to it. Regardless of what the result would have been, I was very proud of all of the girls tonight."
The nonconference contest at Hildebrandt Field had a little bit of everything for soccer fans including an ebb and flow which each club would enjoy at times all throughout an exciting 80 minutes of action.
"It was a good game just to watch. We had the run of play, I thought, for the first half of the second period, creating some chances but you could sense something might happen when we had our troubles getting the ball out of our own end then bam the foul in the box and PK," said Fremd coach Steve Keller, whose Vikings fell to 2-1-0.
Both sides defensively were stout and near airtight, with Huskies keeper Amanda Johnson called into action a few more times than Jennifer Norris on the other end of the park.
Johnson made a brilliant late save on a near unstoppable 40-yard free kick from Liz Prigge in the 18th minute, one of a handful of well-struck attempts from Prigge on the night.
"Liz is dangerous whenever we have a free kick opportunity, but we also need to create more chances from the run of play," admitted Keller.
The visitors would respond well to the Vikings' close call, and it would be the dynamic duo of Shumate and Maddie Schlecht who, with some neat and creative play in the midfield, would provide the inspiration in the Huskies attack.
"Getting Maddie back from club was really good for us and along with Leah, who has grown so much as a player since a year ago, those two have helped our midfield play plus our attack in just three games," said Goletz.
Sophomore Palak Khera rattled the bar off Prigge's free kick at the half-hour, which could have given the Vikings the advantage at the break.
Schlecht sent Emily Dulik through just after the intermission, and the Huskies bench argued Norris played Dulik instead of the ball on a hard tackle inside the box but the referee correctly ruled otherwise, which would bring some wide open play for the next 10 minutes.
With North keeping the Vikings under pressure, Dulik found herself free inside the box then suddenly on the turf with the referee pointing to the spot.
"That's a tough call to make, and not one that I would want an important game called against me but you take it when it comes and Leah made sure of it with a great strike on her PK," said Goletz.
"There was such a long delay before I took the PK so I just stayed calm when the referee and Fremd coach were talking," said Shumate, who buried her attempt with cool, composed finish.
The Vikings would also play a man down for the final 14 minutes when they had a player given a red card following her conversation with the referee.