Girls soccer: Naperville North books another trip to state semifinals
Naperville North's road to state hasn't been entirely smooth sailing.
The Huskies lost their first two games of the season. They only had modest success in the prestigious Naperville Invitational. They were upset by Metea Valley. There were injuries. There were offensive dry spells. There was awful weather.
All of that was part of the journey that apparently the Huskies needed as it ultimately has resulted in a trip to state as they rallied for a 2-1 victory over upset-minded Minooka on Tuesday evening in the Class 3A Lewis University supersectional.
They will face Lyons in the first state semifinal at 5 p.m. Friday. The Huskies beat Lyons 2-1 on April 20.
"I challenged them," Huskies coach Steve Goletz said. "I told them you guys have come too far with the schedule we played, the games and the ups and downs to get where we are to not put forward you best effort. In the second half the wind helped, but the effort was completely different. We could've scored 6 goals in the second half."
They only scored 2 - mainly because of the fantastic play of Minooka goalkeeper Isabella Alessio - but that was all they needed.
Naperville North (13-5-4) needed just 48 seconds after the halftime break to tie the game at 1-1 as senior Katie Murphy met Leah Shumate's corner kick and buried it.
"Leah always plays a great, consistent ball," Murphy said. "It was just designed for Reilly Riggs to knock it back across and I got a second ball. It was great. We've worked all season for this and every practice give our best. It's not about us as a team who scores, but that we get it done."
Sophomore Emily Dulik then etched her name into Naperville North lore with her goal with 20:58 remaining that held up and ensured that the Huskies will be playing in June at North Central College.
The game-winner originated on a cross from Hannah Martin.
"We talked about trying to crash the near post the whole week at practice because we knew if Hannah got into the channel they didn't do a great job of marking the backside," Goletz said. "Dulik was exactly where she needed to be and finished it."
Dulik made it sound like she didn't have to do much in punching in the clincher.
"Hannah played a great ball in and I knew I just had to get goal side and try to get anything on it to tap it in the goal," she said. "That's just what I did and luckily it went in. It definitely gave us a boost of confidence."
Minooka (15-9-2) played the part of underdog well, taking a 1-0 lead into halftime after Mia Alessio scored with 18:53 remaining.
It wasn't a pretty goal, but it did the job as Naperville North junior defender Emily Magee just couldn't catch up to it and bat it away.
"I was about a foot away from it, but the wind just took it, so it was just unlucky," Magee said. "We scrambled in the beginning because their top two players kept switching and we struggled communicating. Eventually we figured it out."
Just like they figured out how to get back to state, where they last won it all in 2013.