Waubonsie Valley upsets Naperville North
Warriors stun no. 2 Huskies with 2-goal 2nd half
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley star Sarah Griffith barely touched the ball in the first half and didn’t take a shot until the 69th minute of Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville North.
That had to be good news for Naperville North, right?
Wrong.
As she has done throughout a brilliant senior season, the Purdue-bound Griffith put the Warriors on her back, assisting on one goal and scoring another as host
Waubonsie Valley pulled off the most shocking upset of the season.
The Warriors’ 2-0 victory dealt a possibly mortal blow to the Huskies’ DVC title hopes and has to give Waubonsie Valley’s possibly playoff opponents pause.
Is it too early to write off the young Warriors, who have struggled to avoid their first losing record since 2001?
“It’s always too early to count Waubonsie out,” said Griffith, the team’s lone senior starter. “I think we always had it in us.
“We’ve just had some unlucky games, but it’s not like we started the season today. We’ve had it in us the whole time.”
Certainly Griffith, a four-year starter, has had it in her. She leads the team with 16 goals and eight assists and has tallied at least one point in 12 of her team’s 16 games.
But the Warriors (8-8-0, 4-3-0) figured to be big underdogs against second-ranked Naperville North (13-2-3, 4-1-2), which needed a win to stay in the DVC race behind Neuqua Valley.
The first half proved that the Huskies have more talent as they limited the Warriors to just two shots and had most of the run of play.
But the first 40 minutes also proved that North’s recent offensive struggles are no fluke. The Huskies had more than their fair share of dead ball opportunities, but leading scorer Morgan Krause came up empty on a trio of free kicks in the first half and also just missed the post on a follow-up shot after Waubonsie goalie Sarah
Young punched out one free kick.
Fellow senior Jeanine Valera had North’s best scoring chance before intermission, but her 30-yard rocket in the 27th minute was saved high on the right post by Young, who finished with five stops to record the Warriors’ sixth shutout.
Waubonsie had a slight wind at its back to start the second half, but still the Huskies controlled play. Young stopped two shots from Chloe Kotrba in the 43rd minute and then dove to her left to knock a drive from Katelynn Buescher around the post.
That gave the Huskies the first of their eight corner kicks. Not only did the Huskies not score on any of them; they didn’t even get a shot off.
Even so, midfielder Ashley Santos barely missed breaking the ice when she uncorked an 18-yard liner in the 48th minute. The shot, however, skimmed the top of the crossbar.
Given the reprieve, the Warriors drew first blood with 25:36 remaining on the first of two nifty goals.
Metzger ran onto a ball from Griffith in the left corner. After her path to the endline was cut off by a defender, the junior cut back into the box and launched a curving shot over the head of North goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk and off the underside of the crossbar for her 11th goal of the season.
“I cut it back and then I hooked it up top with the right foot,” Metzger said. “It got us started, and I think it was really good for us because we needed that little bit of energy to get the rest going and to help us win the game.
“You’ve got to come out with confidence and the ability to win, and that’s how you’re going to do it.”
Indeed, rather than fire up the Huskies, Metzger’s goal seemed to put a charge into the Warriors, who began to take over the game.
The hosts iced the big win when they fooled the Huskies on a 27-yard free kick. Instead of putting a shot on frame, Natalie Massa chipped the ball over the defensive wall to Griffith, who had timed her run perfectly and lofted the ball over the oncoming Cablk.
“We just came out with so much energy,” Griffith said. “We were like, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose. We’ve got to win this game.’
“I think we’ve always been a good team throughout all of our games. It just really clicked tonight, and we always take it to North.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Elizabeth Cablk
D Emily Wilhelm
D Alyssa Siebers
D Jessica Siebers
D Morgan Lockridge
M Ashley Santos
M Katelynn Buescher
M Morgan Krause
M Jeanine Valera
F Jessica Lapnow
F Chloe Kotrba
Waubonsie Valley
GK Sarah Young
D Hailey Newman
D Emma Puls
D Tara Todd
D Carolena Lund
M Sarah Griffith
M Jessica Wallace
M Natalie Massa
F Kennedy Metzger
F Rachel White
F Grace Setter
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Sarah Griffith, sr., MF, Waubonsie Valley
Warriors stun no. 2 Huskies with 2-goal 2nd half
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Waubonsie Valley star Sarah Griffith barely touched the ball in the first half and didn’t take a shot until the 69th minute of Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville North.
That had to be good news for Naperville North, right?
Wrong.
As she has done throughout a brilliant senior season, the Purdue-bound Griffith put the Warriors on her back, assisting on one goal and scoring another as host
Waubonsie Valley pulled off the most shocking upset of the season.
The Warriors’ 2-0 victory dealt a possibly mortal blow to the Huskies’ DVC title hopes and has to give Waubonsie Valley’s possibly playoff opponents pause.
Is it too early to write off the young Warriors, who have struggled to avoid their first losing record since 2001?
“It’s always too early to count Waubonsie out,” said Griffith, the team’s lone senior starter. “I think we always had it in us.
“We’ve just had some unlucky games, but it’s not like we started the season today. We’ve had it in us the whole time.”
Certainly Griffith, a four-year starter, has had it in her. She leads the team with 16 goals and eight assists and has tallied at least one point in 12 of her team’s 16 games.
But the Warriors (8-8-0, 4-3-0) figured to be big underdogs against second-ranked Naperville North (13-2-3, 4-1-2), which needed a win to stay in the DVC race behind Neuqua Valley.
The first half proved that the Huskies have more talent as they limited the Warriors to just two shots and had most of the run of play.
But the first 40 minutes also proved that North’s recent offensive struggles are no fluke. The Huskies had more than their fair share of dead ball opportunities, but leading scorer Morgan Krause came up empty on a trio of free kicks in the first half and also just missed the post on a follow-up shot after Waubonsie goalie Sarah
Young punched out one free kick.
Fellow senior Jeanine Valera had North’s best scoring chance before intermission, but her 30-yard rocket in the 27th minute was saved high on the right post by Young, who finished with five stops to record the Warriors’ sixth shutout.
Waubonsie had a slight wind at its back to start the second half, but still the Huskies controlled play. Young stopped two shots from Chloe Kotrba in the 43rd minute and then dove to her left to knock a drive from Katelynn Buescher around the post.
That gave the Huskies the first of their eight corner kicks. Not only did the Huskies not score on any of them; they didn’t even get a shot off.
Even so, midfielder Ashley Santos barely missed breaking the ice when she uncorked an 18-yard liner in the 48th minute. The shot, however, skimmed the top of the crossbar.
Given the reprieve, the Warriors drew first blood with 25:36 remaining on the first of two nifty goals.
Metzger ran onto a ball from Griffith in the left corner. After her path to the endline was cut off by a defender, the junior cut back into the box and launched a curving shot over the head of North goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk and off the underside of the crossbar for her 11th goal of the season.
“I cut it back and then I hooked it up top with the right foot,” Metzger said. “It got us started, and I think it was really good for us because we needed that little bit of energy to get the rest going and to help us win the game.
“You’ve got to come out with confidence and the ability to win, and that’s how you’re going to do it.”
Indeed, rather than fire up the Huskies, Metzger’s goal seemed to put a charge into the Warriors, who began to take over the game.
The hosts iced the big win when they fooled the Huskies on a 27-yard free kick. Instead of putting a shot on frame, Natalie Massa chipped the ball over the defensive wall to Griffith, who had timed her run perfectly and lofted the ball over the oncoming Cablk.
“We just came out with so much energy,” Griffith said. “We were like, ‘We’ve got nothing to lose. We’ve got to win this game.’
“I think we’ve always been a good team throughout all of our games. It just really clicked tonight, and we always take it to North.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Elizabeth Cablk
D Emily Wilhelm
D Alyssa Siebers
D Jessica Siebers
D Morgan Lockridge
M Ashley Santos
M Katelynn Buescher
M Morgan Krause
M Jeanine Valera
F Jessica Lapnow
F Chloe Kotrba
Waubonsie Valley
GK Sarah Young
D Hailey Newman
D Emma Puls
D Tara Todd
D Carolena Lund
M Sarah Griffith
M Jessica Wallace
M Natalie Massa
F Kennedy Metzger
F Rachel White
F Grace Setter
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Sarah Griffith, sr., MF, Waubonsie Valley