Boys soccer: Barba save sparks Naperville North past Naperville Central

There's no denying that Naperville North goalkeeper Jason Barba was in a vulnerable position with the Huskies clinging to a one-goal lead with 25 minutes remaining against cross-town rival Naperville Central during Tuesday's DuPage Valley Conference boys soccer game.

Naperville Central was on the cusp of tying the game with Owen Jerrell lining up to take a penalty kick. But Barba guessed right, by diving to his right. He redirected the shot high into the air where it was quickly cleared by his teammates.

Barba saved the game, seizing the momentum the Redhawks had just obtained by scoring less than two minutes earlier. The Huskies then capitalized on Barba's huge play by adding goals from Cesar Recendez and Zach Smith to prevail 4-1.

"They definitely had us on the ropes there," Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. "We didn't do well with a couple clears that kind of put us under pressure and then they got the goal when we mismarked on a restart, which was a great goal, but we should've been tighter on him. So we needed Jason (Barba) to make that big save and then we finally were able to fill with air a little bit, and I think the game changed again."

In a rivalry game between these two proud programs, the game is truly never over until the clock reads 00:00.

"They punched us in the mouth getting that one (goal) and then almost getting the second," Barba said. "Thankfully I was able to make the save and then we were able to jump right back on them and get the third and fourth goals and put the game away."

Naperville North (7-2-2, 2-0) had already beaten Naperville Central (6-2-3, 0-1-1) earlier this year, 2-1, to win the Best of the West Tournament on Sept. 7.

This time the Huskies jumped ahead 1-0 almost midway through he first half when freshman Alex Barger delivered his first of two assists in the game, finding Nata Rojas with 22:40 left before the break.

The Huskies then extended their lead just before time ran out in the half as Smith's shot from in close found the body of a Redhawks defender who couldn't clear it as it caromed off him and into the back of the net for a 2-0 advantage.

Opportunities to extend their lead and break the game open were there for the Huskies, but they couldn't finish their chances, which gave the Redhawks faith that they could come back. And they narrowly pulled it off.

"It's tough to have a two-goal swing in 60 seconds, which is basically what that was, which is very unfortunate," Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. "I thought for the most part in the second half we had the ball in their half more than they had it in ours, but unfortunately things like that happen in soccer sometimes. I don't know if they're three goals better than us, but they were better than us tonight."

After Barba's huge save, it didn't take the Huskies long to feed off the energy it created. Barger once again found a teammate on the other end of a corner, this time locating Cesar Recendez who was beside himself just minutes earlier because he was responsible for the penalty kick.

"The PK against us was because of me so I felt bad to do that to my team because I wasn't able to help them defend it," Recendez said. "Luckily Jason came up big and saved the PK and then our forwards and midfielders got us the corner kick and we ran our set piece and I just put my head on it."

The Huskies scored again with 11:49 left when Ty Konrad got the ball on the side, made a little move and then spun before floating the ball into the box for Smith to finish.

Naperville North now owns a 13-5 record against the Redhawks during the past 10 seasons.