Neuqua Valley writes new
chapter with win over Metea Valley
Wildcats 'D' leads way to 1st sectional title in 10 years
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Neuqua Valley defender Sophia Moreau knows a lot about her school’s soccer history. That's because she has witnessed most of it.
She was a 6-year-old when her father, IHSSCA Hall of Famer Joe Moreau, came to Neuqua Valley as an assistant coach in 2003 after a brilliant run as the boss at St. Charles, which won five-straight state championships from 1996-2000.
She was there when the Wildcats won their first state tournament in 2005, and she was there when her father took over the program the following year.
And Saturday night Moreau was there when the Wildcats won their first sectional title since the 2005 championship season by beating Metea Valley 2-0 in the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional final.
The senior led an outstanding defensive effort that stymied Metea Valley’s potent offense while fellow four-year varsity performer Kiley Czerwinski scored the game-winning goal for the Wildcats (17-3-2), who extended their winning streak to nine and advanced to Tuesday’s Lewis University Supersectional against Hinsdale Central.
“It’s a huge deal because it’s the first time me and Kiley have gotten here, first time in a long time [for Neuqua],” said Moreau, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match. “We’re the last team at Neuqua standing in the playoffs, last team in Naperville, so it’s a big deal, not just for [her dad] but for everyone.”
The Wildcats had advanced to the sectionals eight times under Joe Moreau but had been unable to win what is traditionally the toughest sectional in the state.
Ironically, this year’s team was not considered one of Neuqua’s strongest squads and was seeded fifth, but Joe Moreau felt confident this group was capable of winning it.
How did they do it?
“I think it was just working hard at practice and working on things that we’ve been asking them to do; plain and simple, solid defense,” Joe Moreau said. “I thought our back line played a great game against a pretty strong offense. I don’t know if they had a shot on goal.”
Metea Valley (15-8-3) did not have a shot on goal and just five shots total, including only two in the second half when they had a strong wind at their backs.
Mustang stars Jade Eriksen-Russo and Alena Sidwell never got the ball in dangerous spots and their teammates were unable to generate any consistent offense as Neuqua Valley routinely broke up passes and stifled every thrust.
“We studied some game tape,” Sophia Moreau said. “I know a lot of us before the game were on YouTube watching the NC17 (Naperville community television) highlights and before we left (for the game) we were on the whiteboard looking at what they do, so we kind of knew exactly the kind of offense they like to play.
“We tried to shut down the ball to the forwards because usually they lay it off and try to play a through ball. So we had to make sure we cut off that pass and once we did that, we knew they weren’t going to be very dangerous.”
The Wildcats were so dominant that goalkeeper Hannah Parrish went saveless while recording her sixth shutout during the current winning streak and 12th of the season.
Seniors Moreau, Dannah Williams and Tatiana Espinoza and sophomore Nicole Mondi, who overcame a hamstring injury suffered in Tuesday’s 3-2 upset of top-seeded Naperville North, were so good that they surrendered only one corner kick, which Sidwell headed harmlessly over the crossbar with 10:55 left in the second half.
“When they’re on, we’re tough to beat,” Joe Moreau said. “I thought Sophia played fabulous. Dannah did not have her best game but Sophia picked her level up. Nicole, coming off a hamstring issue from Tuesday, I thought our trainer did a great job of getting her ready, because she was a game-time decision.”
But it wasn’t just the defenders who stifled the Mustangs.
“Our outside mids, we talked about pinching way in on the weak side to take out their second attacking mid, and I thought Veda [Tappin] and Jamie [Goralski] and when Taylor [Sparbaine] went in, they did a great job on that,” Joe Moreau said. “They like to use that second attacking forward. We kind of shut that down.”
That was no easy task. Metea Valley had scored at least two goals in 18 games this spring and been shut out only twice, so to see his team unable to put a ball on frame was a new experience for first-year Metea Valley boss Chris Whaley.
“I’ll give a lot of credit to them,” Whaley said. “They were organized and played hard, and we weren’t able to settle into the game and play our game.
“Obviously in the first half going into the wind you’re trying to get out of it [unscathed] and kind of look forward to the second half a little bit, but we still weren’t able to settle the ball down.”
But Neuqua Valley seemed settled from the outset. Czerwinski broke the ice in the 14th minute when she sent a ball from the right wing that skipped between a defender and Metea Valley goalie Amy Ahern and bounced into the net.
“I just wanted to get anything on it for me to finish or for someone else to finish,” Czerwinski said. “I know this is a slick surface, so if it bounced off someone or if it went through players, I [didn’t mind].
“I just wanted something on it. It found its way so I was really happy.”
The Wildcats would have been even happier to go into intermission with more than a one-goal lead but Ahern came up with three of her six saves before the break, including a diving effort to parry Czerwinski’s 25-yard rocket around the right post with 9:13 remaining.
“We weren’t satisfied,” Sophia Moreau said. “We wanted two, three, four goals. Soccer is kind of unpredictable so we needed to be up as [much] as we can.
“But I don’t think we were nervous because we knew we had the better of the play. We were confident in ourselves because we worked as hard as we could in practice to get to where we are.”
That hard work paid off in the second half as the Wildcats completely dominated the action despite attacking into the wind. They forced five corner kicks and scored on one of them when junior Anna Toersloev fired out of a crowd from 15 yards out and tallied her third goal of the season with 29:12 to go.
From there it was just a matter of waiting for the minutes to melt off the clock on a surprisingly cold night for the 30th of May before Neuqua Valley secured its third sectional title.
“Honestly it means everything,” Czerwinski said. “These past four years that I’ve been on this team we’ve always had a talented team, and we’ve never given up.
“When we went down against Naperville North twice we never gave up. We kept pursuing. It’s pretty amazing how far we’ve come. I’m just so happy for my teammates right now.”
So ended the Cinderella run of sixth-seeded Metea Valley, which reached its second-straight sectional final by stunning third-seeded Waubonsie Valley and second-seeded Plainfield North. Few envisisioned that type of success at the start of the year.
“There were so many new kids on the roster and so many young kids,” Whaley said. “I knew we’d get better over the season and I knew as kids were coming back from injuries that we were going to compete and be tough, but predicting that we would beat the three-seed and the two-seed, that would have been a tough call.
“It’s a great group of girls. They had a lot of fun out here and they didn’t want it to end this way, but at the same time I think they’re proud and we’re proud of what they’ve done this year.”
The Mustangs tried to win the first sectional title in a team sport in school history but came up just short. Sophia Moreau can empathize with them.
“That’s why it’s called the 'Sectional of Death' because it is so hard to get out,” she said. “But [doing so] feels so, so good.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK: Hannah Parrish
D: Sophia Moreau
D: Dannah Williams
D: Tatiana Espinoza
D: Nicole Mondi
M: Anna Toersloev
M: Lauren Ciesla
M: Veda Tappin
F: Jamie Goralski
F: Alyssa Bombacino
F: Kiley Czerwinski
Metea Valley
GK: Amy Ahern
D: Megan Morris
D: Marisa Grassi
M: Sophia Senese
M: Alena Sidwell
M: Cailin LaRocque
M: Abigail Severson
M: Miranda Williams
F: Madie Sandberg
F: Jade Eriksen-Russo
F: MaKenna Schoolman
MVP of the Match: Sophia Moreau, D, Neuqua Valley.
chapter with win over Metea Valley
Wildcats 'D' leads way to 1st sectional title in 10 years
By Matt Le Cren
AURORA – Neuqua Valley defender Sophia Moreau knows a lot about her school’s soccer history. That's because she has witnessed most of it.
She was a 6-year-old when her father, IHSSCA Hall of Famer Joe Moreau, came to Neuqua Valley as an assistant coach in 2003 after a brilliant run as the boss at St. Charles, which won five-straight state championships from 1996-2000.
She was there when the Wildcats won their first state tournament in 2005, and she was there when her father took over the program the following year.
And Saturday night Moreau was there when the Wildcats won their first sectional title since the 2005 championship season by beating Metea Valley 2-0 in the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional final.
The senior led an outstanding defensive effort that stymied Metea Valley’s potent offense while fellow four-year varsity performer Kiley Czerwinski scored the game-winning goal for the Wildcats (17-3-2), who extended their winning streak to nine and advanced to Tuesday’s Lewis University Supersectional against Hinsdale Central.
“It’s a huge deal because it’s the first time me and Kiley have gotten here, first time in a long time [for Neuqua],” said Moreau, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match. “We’re the last team at Neuqua standing in the playoffs, last team in Naperville, so it’s a big deal, not just for [her dad] but for everyone.”
The Wildcats had advanced to the sectionals eight times under Joe Moreau but had been unable to win what is traditionally the toughest sectional in the state.
Ironically, this year’s team was not considered one of Neuqua’s strongest squads and was seeded fifth, but Joe Moreau felt confident this group was capable of winning it.
How did they do it?
“I think it was just working hard at practice and working on things that we’ve been asking them to do; plain and simple, solid defense,” Joe Moreau said. “I thought our back line played a great game against a pretty strong offense. I don’t know if they had a shot on goal.”
Metea Valley (15-8-3) did not have a shot on goal and just five shots total, including only two in the second half when they had a strong wind at their backs.
Mustang stars Jade Eriksen-Russo and Alena Sidwell never got the ball in dangerous spots and their teammates were unable to generate any consistent offense as Neuqua Valley routinely broke up passes and stifled every thrust.
“We studied some game tape,” Sophia Moreau said. “I know a lot of us before the game were on YouTube watching the NC17 (Naperville community television) highlights and before we left (for the game) we were on the whiteboard looking at what they do, so we kind of knew exactly the kind of offense they like to play.
“We tried to shut down the ball to the forwards because usually they lay it off and try to play a through ball. So we had to make sure we cut off that pass and once we did that, we knew they weren’t going to be very dangerous.”
The Wildcats were so dominant that goalkeeper Hannah Parrish went saveless while recording her sixth shutout during the current winning streak and 12th of the season.
Seniors Moreau, Dannah Williams and Tatiana Espinoza and sophomore Nicole Mondi, who overcame a hamstring injury suffered in Tuesday’s 3-2 upset of top-seeded Naperville North, were so good that they surrendered only one corner kick, which Sidwell headed harmlessly over the crossbar with 10:55 left in the second half.
“When they’re on, we’re tough to beat,” Joe Moreau said. “I thought Sophia played fabulous. Dannah did not have her best game but Sophia picked her level up. Nicole, coming off a hamstring issue from Tuesday, I thought our trainer did a great job of getting her ready, because she was a game-time decision.”
But it wasn’t just the defenders who stifled the Mustangs.
“Our outside mids, we talked about pinching way in on the weak side to take out their second attacking mid, and I thought Veda [Tappin] and Jamie [Goralski] and when Taylor [Sparbaine] went in, they did a great job on that,” Joe Moreau said. “They like to use that second attacking forward. We kind of shut that down.”
That was no easy task. Metea Valley had scored at least two goals in 18 games this spring and been shut out only twice, so to see his team unable to put a ball on frame was a new experience for first-year Metea Valley boss Chris Whaley.
“I’ll give a lot of credit to them,” Whaley said. “They were organized and played hard, and we weren’t able to settle into the game and play our game.
“Obviously in the first half going into the wind you’re trying to get out of it [unscathed] and kind of look forward to the second half a little bit, but we still weren’t able to settle the ball down.”
But Neuqua Valley seemed settled from the outset. Czerwinski broke the ice in the 14th minute when she sent a ball from the right wing that skipped between a defender and Metea Valley goalie Amy Ahern and bounced into the net.
“I just wanted to get anything on it for me to finish or for someone else to finish,” Czerwinski said. “I know this is a slick surface, so if it bounced off someone or if it went through players, I [didn’t mind].
“I just wanted something on it. It found its way so I was really happy.”
The Wildcats would have been even happier to go into intermission with more than a one-goal lead but Ahern came up with three of her six saves before the break, including a diving effort to parry Czerwinski’s 25-yard rocket around the right post with 9:13 remaining.
“We weren’t satisfied,” Sophia Moreau said. “We wanted two, three, four goals. Soccer is kind of unpredictable so we needed to be up as [much] as we can.
“But I don’t think we were nervous because we knew we had the better of the play. We were confident in ourselves because we worked as hard as we could in practice to get to where we are.”
That hard work paid off in the second half as the Wildcats completely dominated the action despite attacking into the wind. They forced five corner kicks and scored on one of them when junior Anna Toersloev fired out of a crowd from 15 yards out and tallied her third goal of the season with 29:12 to go.
From there it was just a matter of waiting for the minutes to melt off the clock on a surprisingly cold night for the 30th of May before Neuqua Valley secured its third sectional title.
“Honestly it means everything,” Czerwinski said. “These past four years that I’ve been on this team we’ve always had a talented team, and we’ve never given up.
“When we went down against Naperville North twice we never gave up. We kept pursuing. It’s pretty amazing how far we’ve come. I’m just so happy for my teammates right now.”
So ended the Cinderella run of sixth-seeded Metea Valley, which reached its second-straight sectional final by stunning third-seeded Waubonsie Valley and second-seeded Plainfield North. Few envisisioned that type of success at the start of the year.
“There were so many new kids on the roster and so many young kids,” Whaley said. “I knew we’d get better over the season and I knew as kids were coming back from injuries that we were going to compete and be tough, but predicting that we would beat the three-seed and the two-seed, that would have been a tough call.
“It’s a great group of girls. They had a lot of fun out here and they didn’t want it to end this way, but at the same time I think they’re proud and we’re proud of what they’ve done this year.”
The Mustangs tried to win the first sectional title in a team sport in school history but came up just short. Sophia Moreau can empathize with them.
“That’s why it’s called the 'Sectional of Death' because it is so hard to get out,” she said. “But [doing so] feels so, so good.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK: Hannah Parrish
D: Sophia Moreau
D: Dannah Williams
D: Tatiana Espinoza
D: Nicole Mondi
M: Anna Toersloev
M: Lauren Ciesla
M: Veda Tappin
F: Jamie Goralski
F: Alyssa Bombacino
F: Kiley Czerwinski
Metea Valley
GK: Amy Ahern
D: Megan Morris
D: Marisa Grassi
M: Sophia Senese
M: Alena Sidwell
M: Cailin LaRocque
M: Abigail Severson
M: Miranda Williams
F: Madie Sandberg
F: Jade Eriksen-Russo
F: MaKenna Schoolman
MVP of the Match: Sophia Moreau, D, Neuqua Valley.