Boys soccer: Radeke, Naperville North flip result on Redhawks
Amongst all the great moments he's had this season, Naperville North junior Noah Radeke hasn't forgotten one of the worst ones he experienced last season, losing to Naperville Central in last year's sectional final.
With a chance at redemption, Radeke pounced on the opportunity of reversing the outcome against the Redhawks during Saturday morning's Class 3A Plainfield North sectional title.
Limited for the most part behind a tremendous defensive effort from defender Patrick Bohan and the Redhawks, it took the poise of Radeke to follow his shot that was batted back by goalkeeper Dylan Scott, sending in the rebound with 4:47 remaining to lift the Huskies to a 1-0 victory.
Naperville North (21-1-3) advances to Tuesday's Class 3A East Aurora supersectional to take on Collinsville (14-6-1) with their first trip to state since winning three straight titles from 2016-2018 on the line.
"Patrick is a great defender," Radeke said. "He went hard all 80 minutes and in the last five minutes I finally slipped through and got a chance. I felt like I was motivated after losing last year and seeing all of my teammates go out hard, and I wanted revenge and to just win for our program."
Naperville Central (10-6-7) may have played its best game of the season, yet still came up short.
"Not much else you can ask your kids to do and not get a result," Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. "In the first half I thought we absolutely played one of the best halves of the year."
The Redhawks threatened on numerous occasions.
"If you don't find a way to bury it in the back of the net you're going to be in trouble at the end, and that was really the difference," Adams said. "Both teams played hard, but I thought we played about as well as we could play. We just couldn't find the back of the net."
It was the third time the teams played this season with the Huskies winning 5-0 before the teams tied 1-1 when they met in their DVC matchup.
"I'm glad this one is behind us," Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. "It's always an emotional deal, and Troy and I are friends. And I know last year he was happy he won with his sons (Carter and Chase Adams) and I was crushed. I was done with Ryan (Konrad). Now this year he's done. Obviously I wanted to win but my heart goes out to Troy. The last game coaching your kid. That's a tough, tough thing."
Great teams got great efforts from their top players so the game went down to the buzzer as expected.
"(Against Bohan) it's like playing against six guys and (Patrick) Berrryman is amazing, too, and he had a great game," Konrad said. "If (Bohan) would've pulled out a cape I wouldn't have been surprised."
He certainly wasn't surprised to see Radeke deliver again, just like he did in Wednesday's semifinal win over Romeoville.
"I'm so proud of Noah," Konrad said. "He had a hard game because Bohan is just a load and gave him fits and fits. I told him it takes one time to get a break. Scott makes a fantastic save and Noah finds the second ball and has the composure to tuck it in."