Girls soccer: Naperville North scraps its way into title game
It's not easy to keep this Naperville North team down.
"We really have such a fight in us," Huskies senior goalkeeper Amanda Johnson said after Naperville North advanced past Lyons Twp. in a Class 3A girls soccer semifinal with a 4-2 result in penalty kicks. "We don't stop. We never quit, even when we're down. When we're down one we fight back one, or we fight back two. And that's kind of the story of this team, we've really had a fighter's mentality."
Johnson wasn't describing teammate Hannah Martin's game-tying goal in the 65th minute, but she could have been. That goal, on which Martin simply outscrapped the Lyons Twp. defense to win possession about 12 yards in front of the Lions' net, sent the game to overtime and eventually penalty kicks tied 1-1. There Johnson showed how tough she is, making some key stops in overtime, then two saves in the shootout.
"Today I didn't have a whole lot of knowledge on the people that were shooting so I pretty much went right every time unless they gave me a cue not to," said Johnson, a senior. "We've been practicing PKs every single day in practice when playoffs started, so we had our reps, myself and our shooters. We just had to go in with confidence like we've been doing in practice, and we did it."
The Huskies (14-5-4) will play Barrington in the Class 3A championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium at North Central College.
Barrington beat Naperville North 2-0 in the first game of the season.
Leah Shumate, Katie Murphy, Emily Dulik and Martin converted their penalty kicks, and Johnson's second save sealed their chance to play for a state championship.
"It's insane," Johnson said of the decisive save in just her second shootout of the season. "It's the best feeling ever."
Martin had to feel pretty good about her goal, which coach Steve Goletz described as coming out of a "scrum."
"No. 13 like fell on it, so I just kept kicking at it and I think their goalie came out and it just happened to slip in," Martin said. "We knew this game was going to come down to just the dirt. It's not even technical. It's just a fight out there and it's just who's willing to work that hard."
Lyons Twp. (18-3-1) took the lead just before halftime when Olivia Wirtz knocked in a corner kick.
"I told the kids - it's even hard for me to say without breaking down a little bit - that this group's in the state championship," said Huskies coach Steve Goletz, who led the Huskies to state titles in 2012 and 2013, "because you never would have expected that. I always hoped for it. We always play for it.
"But I know how hard it is to get here, and for this group to go through what they went through with injuries and with losing so many kids from last year's team and kind of having everybody be overshadowed and still come out here on top and get a chance to play for a state championship tomorrow night is something that I'm forever indebted to this group for getting us back here for what is a storied program."