Naperville N. pressure cooks Lyons
Huskies' possession, attack dictates action in 2-0 invitational win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Hannah Martin was Naperville North’s version of a Timex watch Thursday night.
“Hannah just works so hard up-top,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “She’s not only a good soccer player, but she battles so hard and tonight against two very physical center backs takes a beating.”
And kept on ticking.
Martin, a sophomore, scored her fourth goal of the season the hard way – she earned it.
The tall and formidable forward followed a high-bouncing cross from Megan Benmore that eluded one defender, settled the ball while shielding it from a second defender, then turned and ripped a 10-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net with 22:08 remaining in the second half against Lyons.
The goal was a huge piece of insurance for the ninth-ranked Huskies, whose forward push stymied Lyons. It allowed the hosts to open Naperville Invitational pool play with a 2-0 win.
“Hannah is super solid,” Naperville North sophomore defender Reilly Riggs said. “She can hold her own, and she’s super quick, and she always works as hard as she can.
It’s awesome to have her up there.”
Martin was feeling awesome after finding the back of the net in a hard-fought win over a quality opponent.
The play began when senior defender Alyssa Siebers sent a corner kick from the right side that sailed over everybody. Benmore tracked it down on the left wing and booted the ball high in the air toward the top of the circle above the penalty area.
“Megan Benmore sent it into the middle,” Martin said. “It bounced by the one defender. Then I looked up and the other girl didn’t see it.
“I took a touch and put it in. It was great to be able to score one for our team.”
Scoring, of course, has been tough for the Huskies (7-2-3) in recent games, but Tuesday’s 8-0 rout of Glenbard North, in which senior Shaina Dudas recorded a hat-trick and Illinois recruit Katelynn Buescher scored twice, seems to have gotten the offense on track.
Buescher buried an open 15-yard shot at the 16:18 mark of the first half to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. It was Buescher’s eighth goal of the season, and it came on one of only five shots the two teams were able to muster before intermission.
“Getting on the scoresheet helped us just in terms of the mental piece,” Goletz said. “We had a great day of practice yesterday in terms of creating chances and scoring goals.
“Buescher has been absolutely incredible this year for us. She’s got eight goals from the defensive mid spot, which shows how important she is to this team.
“We could have put in three or four legitimate goals against a very good team. Once again our backline did a great job of minimizing chances, and Maddie (Hausmann)
is so rock solid back there in net that she’s not going to give up anything easy. If we can put in a couple of goals we feel good.”
The Huskies continue to shine defensively. Hausmann made four saves as the backline of Riggs, Alyssa Siebers, Jessica Siebers, Sarah Stokes and Paige Sylvester gave up only six shots against a Lyons offense that features senior striker Bella Lestina, a Loyola recruit who has six goals this spring.
“Throughout the whole program we’re good defensively,” Riggs said. “It’s awesome to play with all the seniors back there and in between the Siebers.
“They’re super encouraging to have. I think our backline is super solid this year.”
That means the Huskies will be tough to beat if they can find some regular production up front, which Martin seems ready to provide.
“I think that one of our problems was we were trying to do too much individuals and not working together as a team,” Martin said. “We were getting opportunities, but we were struggling to finish. So this gives us some confidence going forward in the tournament.”
Lyons (4-4-0) has struggled in recent years at the Naperville Invitational, largely because they can’t beat the Huskies in group play.
“This was not our best game, not our best effort today,” Lions coach Bill Lanspeary said. “(We did a) little bit better in the second half for about 10 or 15 minutes, but we were not able to sustain it.”
The Lions mustered three corner kicks, all in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with the Huskies holding a 1-0 lead, and had three free kicks after intermission but could not capitalize.
“We've got to get better on those (dead balls),” Lanspeary said. “We’ve got to get a little better through the flow of play. They kind of took over in the midfield halfway in the first half.”
The Lions found themselves chasing the ball for significant stretches, which proved wearying.
“We were defending the entire time, so it was a little frustrating as a forward person being on defense for the whole game,” said Lestina, who managed two shots, one of which was stopped by Hausmann. “They pushed up so much, so we were chasing them a lot.
“I think we need to be more aggressive. If we would have been first to the ball it would have been different.”
Senior Kaelan Lee, who led a valiant defensive effort for the Lions, agreed.
“I felt like they were coming at me the whole game,” Lee said. “I think that once we actually won the ball from them, we did a good job connecting out, but in the final third we just didn’t finish those chances.”
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK Sophie Grabis
D Grace Truax
D Bri Stirrat
D Kaelan Lee
M Meara Hilling
M Lily Mattern
M Elizabeth Hall
M Olivia Wirtz
M Eileen Murphy
F Ava Dallavo
F Bella Lestina
Naperville North
GK Maddie Hausmann
D Paige Sylvester
D Jessica Siebers
D Alyssa Siebers
D Reilly Riggs
D Sarah Stokes
M Leah Shumate
M Katelyn Buescher
F Shaina Dudas
F Megan Benmore
F Hannah Martin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Hannah Martin, so., F, Naperville North
Scoring summary
1st half
Naperville North – Katelynn Buescher 16:18
2nd half
Naperville North – Hannah Martin (Megan Benmore) 22:08
Huskies' possession, attack dictates action in 2-0 invitational win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Hannah Martin was Naperville North’s version of a Timex watch Thursday night.
“Hannah just works so hard up-top,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “She’s not only a good soccer player, but she battles so hard and tonight against two very physical center backs takes a beating.”
And kept on ticking.
Martin, a sophomore, scored her fourth goal of the season the hard way – she earned it.
The tall and formidable forward followed a high-bouncing cross from Megan Benmore that eluded one defender, settled the ball while shielding it from a second defender, then turned and ripped a 10-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net with 22:08 remaining in the second half against Lyons.
The goal was a huge piece of insurance for the ninth-ranked Huskies, whose forward push stymied Lyons. It allowed the hosts to open Naperville Invitational pool play with a 2-0 win.
“Hannah is super solid,” Naperville North sophomore defender Reilly Riggs said. “She can hold her own, and she’s super quick, and she always works as hard as she can.
It’s awesome to have her up there.”
Martin was feeling awesome after finding the back of the net in a hard-fought win over a quality opponent.
The play began when senior defender Alyssa Siebers sent a corner kick from the right side that sailed over everybody. Benmore tracked it down on the left wing and booted the ball high in the air toward the top of the circle above the penalty area.
“Megan Benmore sent it into the middle,” Martin said. “It bounced by the one defender. Then I looked up and the other girl didn’t see it.
“I took a touch and put it in. It was great to be able to score one for our team.”
Scoring, of course, has been tough for the Huskies (7-2-3) in recent games, but Tuesday’s 8-0 rout of Glenbard North, in which senior Shaina Dudas recorded a hat-trick and Illinois recruit Katelynn Buescher scored twice, seems to have gotten the offense on track.
Buescher buried an open 15-yard shot at the 16:18 mark of the first half to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. It was Buescher’s eighth goal of the season, and it came on one of only five shots the two teams were able to muster before intermission.
“Getting on the scoresheet helped us just in terms of the mental piece,” Goletz said. “We had a great day of practice yesterday in terms of creating chances and scoring goals.
“Buescher has been absolutely incredible this year for us. She’s got eight goals from the defensive mid spot, which shows how important she is to this team.
“We could have put in three or four legitimate goals against a very good team. Once again our backline did a great job of minimizing chances, and Maddie (Hausmann)
is so rock solid back there in net that she’s not going to give up anything easy. If we can put in a couple of goals we feel good.”
The Huskies continue to shine defensively. Hausmann made four saves as the backline of Riggs, Alyssa Siebers, Jessica Siebers, Sarah Stokes and Paige Sylvester gave up only six shots against a Lyons offense that features senior striker Bella Lestina, a Loyola recruit who has six goals this spring.
“Throughout the whole program we’re good defensively,” Riggs said. “It’s awesome to play with all the seniors back there and in between the Siebers.
“They’re super encouraging to have. I think our backline is super solid this year.”
That means the Huskies will be tough to beat if they can find some regular production up front, which Martin seems ready to provide.
“I think that one of our problems was we were trying to do too much individuals and not working together as a team,” Martin said. “We were getting opportunities, but we were struggling to finish. So this gives us some confidence going forward in the tournament.”
Lyons (4-4-0) has struggled in recent years at the Naperville Invitational, largely because they can’t beat the Huskies in group play.
“This was not our best game, not our best effort today,” Lions coach Bill Lanspeary said. “(We did a) little bit better in the second half for about 10 or 15 minutes, but we were not able to sustain it.”
The Lions mustered three corner kicks, all in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with the Huskies holding a 1-0 lead, and had three free kicks after intermission but could not capitalize.
“We've got to get better on those (dead balls),” Lanspeary said. “We’ve got to get a little better through the flow of play. They kind of took over in the midfield halfway in the first half.”
The Lions found themselves chasing the ball for significant stretches, which proved wearying.
“We were defending the entire time, so it was a little frustrating as a forward person being on defense for the whole game,” said Lestina, who managed two shots, one of which was stopped by Hausmann. “They pushed up so much, so we were chasing them a lot.
“I think we need to be more aggressive. If we would have been first to the ball it would have been different.”
Senior Kaelan Lee, who led a valiant defensive effort for the Lions, agreed.
“I felt like they were coming at me the whole game,” Lee said. “I think that once we actually won the ball from them, we did a good job connecting out, but in the final third we just didn’t finish those chances.”
Starting lineups
Lyons
GK Sophie Grabis
D Grace Truax
D Bri Stirrat
D Kaelan Lee
M Meara Hilling
M Lily Mattern
M Elizabeth Hall
M Olivia Wirtz
M Eileen Murphy
F Ava Dallavo
F Bella Lestina
Naperville North
GK Maddie Hausmann
D Paige Sylvester
D Jessica Siebers
D Alyssa Siebers
D Reilly Riggs
D Sarah Stokes
M Leah Shumate
M Katelyn Buescher
F Shaina Dudas
F Megan Benmore
F Hannah Martin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Hannah Martin, so., F, Naperville North
Scoring summary
1st half
Naperville North – Katelynn Buescher 16:18
2nd half
Naperville North – Hannah Martin (Megan Benmore) 22:08