Naperville C. can't upset Naperville N. again
Season ends after OT against defending state champions
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Ethan Conners’ effort Friday night was a microcosm of his team’s larger fight.
The Naperville Central goalkeeper held his own against his more heralded and accomplished counterpart, fellow junior Tommy Welch of crosstown rival Naperville North.
So, too, did the Redhawks, who battled the defending state champion Huskies tooth-and-nail with 100 minutes of defensive tenacity in the face of determined offensive talent.
Conners and Welch both made six saves, and Conners nearly came up with a seventh.
He got a hand on but could not stop Colin Iverson’s header with 47 seconds left in the first overtime. That held up as the only goal as the Huskies (24-1-1) avenged their only loss of the season, broke the school record for victories and extended their winning streak to 16 with a 1-0 decision.
Naperville North, which is ranked no. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps and second in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 behind undefeated Libertyville, will take on Morton (22-1-2) in Tuesday’s Lewis University Supersectional. The Huskies beat Morton 2-0 in the same game last season.
“Obviously it is always wonderful to win,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “I have a ton of respect for (Redhawks coach) Troy (Adams) and their program.
“I hate to see those kids sad, because I’ve known a lot of those boys since they were little kids, and they’re such great boys. But I’m so proud of my guys too.”
Both sides had plenty to be proud of. The longtime friends and rivals put on a relatively clean yet hard-fought performance. While the 13th-ranked Redhawks (15-5-3) sported some dejected faces, they walked off the field with their pride intact.
“We have nothing to be disappointed about,” Conners said. “We battled the reigning state champions through two periods of overtime and we beat them in the DVC, so we’ve had a really great season.
“It’s not the result that we wanted, but we can accept everything that we’ve accomplished.”
This was the rubber match of a great trilogy that saw each team win on the other’s field during the regular season. The Huskies and Redhawks are in many ways mirror images of each other -- both fielded strong defenses, fleet forwards and dangerous playmakers.
Both had become increasingly reliant on set pieces to score and both had plenty of such chances in this game. True to form, one such play proved decisive.
As he had done over a dozen times previously in the game and hundreds of times during the season, North’s Jack Barry launched his powerful throw-in toward the 6-foot-4 Iverson, who sent a back header Conners’ way.
Conners made a leaping stab at the ball and got his hand on it, but the shot had enough pace to continue on under the crossbar. It was Iverson’s 14th goal and Barry’s 21st assist, the majority of each having come courtesy of the other.
“We were on the doorstep, I thought, the whole game,” Barry said. “It was just a full-on battle for 100 minutes.
“We were just lucky that we could get on the end of that one. I don’t know how many I threw in, but I was just glad that we could get on the end of one and put one in.”
Iverson had been bottled up for the most part by a Redhawks defense led by Cameron Strang. Conners saved two of his previous headers and a hard shot by Barry earlier in the first overtime.
But Iverson gave Barry all the credit for the goal.
“Jack Barry just put it right on the mark,” Iverson said. “He’s always perfect.
“All I had to do was get my head on it. Cam and Nate Zain were giving me a lot of trouble today but we finally created a perfect placement.”
Even then it almost wasn’t enough to get it past Conners.
“He was very close (to stopping it),” Iverson said. “He had a very good look at that. I wasn’t even sure it was going to go in.”
Neither was Conners, but he wasn’t surprised the Huskies were able to convert a set piece.
“We knew that North is really dangerous off set pieces and their throw-ins,” Conners said. “I’ve played Jack Barry through club, and I’ve seen first-hand how capable he is of setting up a goal like that.
“I thought one of the guys could have gotten that throw-in straight up, but Colin is a great player. I also played with him too.
“He’s a huge guy, can win anything and I think we all just got caught off-guard from that, especially me. It went over my head. I jumped and got a hand on it, but it wasn’t enough.”
Aware of each other’s prowess on set pieces, the rivals did a great job of limiting corner kicks, with each squad getting a season-low two tries.
But there were plenty of throw-ins. Zain launching several into North’s box that caused the Huskies to work hard to clear the ball. Neither side was surprised a set piece decided it.
“Right now both our teams specialize in set pieces,” Conners said. “The game before we scored two off of throw-ins, and that’s what it came down to.”
The second-seeded Redhawks, who are the only team to beat the Huskies in each of the past two regular seasons, were the last team to beat North in the playoffs.
Since that 2015 sectional final loss, the Huskies have won 11-straight playoff games.
“They’re the team that got us this year,” Konrad said. “They play hard. They match up well against us.
“Cam Strang in the back is a good kind of antidote for Colin, and Nate and Ethan (Harvey) battled tonight. I’m really proud of Ethan for containing (Zain). Nate has been the best player around this year, and he did a fantastic job on him.”
Zain was held to just two shots, one of which was on frame. Welch saved Zain’s header of a Zack Kokes corner kick midway through the first half and also made a diving save when Jimmy Kalkofen got his head on a Zain throw-in.
Naperville Central’s only other legitimate scoring chance came with 19:35 to go in the opening period when Ryan Coleman turned and fired a 23-yard left-footed blast toward the upper right corner of the net. Welch made a leaping grab.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys tonight for the attention to details,” Konrad said. “We really did a good job of limiting their opportunities, especially for as dangerous as they are in the attack and as well as they move off the ball.”
All told, the play was about as close to even as you can get.
“It was interesting to see that,” Adams said. “They had a lot of dead balls that they were able to get into the area.
“We had two or three really nice runs of play. We just didn’t connect enough of them to really put that sustained pressure on them.”
Ultimately, the pressure of defending against Barry’s heaves got to the Redhawks.
“They do a couple things very, very well and when you give them enough chances to allow them to do those things, the term “playing with fire” comes to mind,” Adams said. “Unfortunately we got burned with a minute left in the first overtime.
“We didn’t stay as composed. Kind of got into a little bit of a frenzy, but I thought as a whole, as I told the kids, you can walk off this field with your head held high because you played with the heart and the effort that we asked.’ Everything they did was positive.”
The Redhawks, who saw their 10-game unbeaten string (7-0-3) end, likely exceeded expectations this fall. While seeing the Huskies play in the sectional final came as no surprise to anyone, the Redhawks were far from a lock to get this far.
“I think we’ve really come a long way,” Conners said. “The Metea game (a 4-1 loss Sept. 19), that was the one game that we really lost it a little bit, but we came back strong after that and ended the season strong.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Conners
D Rokas Stadalninkas
D Tanner Greenhagen
D Cameron Strang
M Rohan Bhargava
M Owen Jarrell
M Nico Couropmitree
M Nate Zain
F Zack Kokes
F Jimmy Kalkofen
F Ryan Coleman
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Cesar Recendez
D Mitch Konrad
D Colin Iverson
D Matt Bilardello
M Ethan Harvey
M Jack Barry
M Will Ritzmann
F Patrick Koenig
F Ian Guppy
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Colin Iverson, D, Naperville North
Scoring summary
1st overtime
Naperville North: Colin Iverson (Jack Barry), 90th minute
Season ends after OT against defending state champions
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Ethan Conners’ effort Friday night was a microcosm of his team’s larger fight.
The Naperville Central goalkeeper held his own against his more heralded and accomplished counterpart, fellow junior Tommy Welch of crosstown rival Naperville North.
So, too, did the Redhawks, who battled the defending state champion Huskies tooth-and-nail with 100 minutes of defensive tenacity in the face of determined offensive talent.
Conners and Welch both made six saves, and Conners nearly came up with a seventh.
He got a hand on but could not stop Colin Iverson’s header with 47 seconds left in the first overtime. That held up as the only goal as the Huskies (24-1-1) avenged their only loss of the season, broke the school record for victories and extended their winning streak to 16 with a 1-0 decision.
Naperville North, which is ranked no. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps and second in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 behind undefeated Libertyville, will take on Morton (22-1-2) in Tuesday’s Lewis University Supersectional. The Huskies beat Morton 2-0 in the same game last season.
“Obviously it is always wonderful to win,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “I have a ton of respect for (Redhawks coach) Troy (Adams) and their program.
“I hate to see those kids sad, because I’ve known a lot of those boys since they were little kids, and they’re such great boys. But I’m so proud of my guys too.”
Both sides had plenty to be proud of. The longtime friends and rivals put on a relatively clean yet hard-fought performance. While the 13th-ranked Redhawks (15-5-3) sported some dejected faces, they walked off the field with their pride intact.
“We have nothing to be disappointed about,” Conners said. “We battled the reigning state champions through two periods of overtime and we beat them in the DVC, so we’ve had a really great season.
“It’s not the result that we wanted, but we can accept everything that we’ve accomplished.”
This was the rubber match of a great trilogy that saw each team win on the other’s field during the regular season. The Huskies and Redhawks are in many ways mirror images of each other -- both fielded strong defenses, fleet forwards and dangerous playmakers.
Both had become increasingly reliant on set pieces to score and both had plenty of such chances in this game. True to form, one such play proved decisive.
As he had done over a dozen times previously in the game and hundreds of times during the season, North’s Jack Barry launched his powerful throw-in toward the 6-foot-4 Iverson, who sent a back header Conners’ way.
Conners made a leaping stab at the ball and got his hand on it, but the shot had enough pace to continue on under the crossbar. It was Iverson’s 14th goal and Barry’s 21st assist, the majority of each having come courtesy of the other.
“We were on the doorstep, I thought, the whole game,” Barry said. “It was just a full-on battle for 100 minutes.
“We were just lucky that we could get on the end of that one. I don’t know how many I threw in, but I was just glad that we could get on the end of one and put one in.”
Iverson had been bottled up for the most part by a Redhawks defense led by Cameron Strang. Conners saved two of his previous headers and a hard shot by Barry earlier in the first overtime.
But Iverson gave Barry all the credit for the goal.
“Jack Barry just put it right on the mark,” Iverson said. “He’s always perfect.
“All I had to do was get my head on it. Cam and Nate Zain were giving me a lot of trouble today but we finally created a perfect placement.”
Even then it almost wasn’t enough to get it past Conners.
“He was very close (to stopping it),” Iverson said. “He had a very good look at that. I wasn’t even sure it was going to go in.”
Neither was Conners, but he wasn’t surprised the Huskies were able to convert a set piece.
“We knew that North is really dangerous off set pieces and their throw-ins,” Conners said. “I’ve played Jack Barry through club, and I’ve seen first-hand how capable he is of setting up a goal like that.
“I thought one of the guys could have gotten that throw-in straight up, but Colin is a great player. I also played with him too.
“He’s a huge guy, can win anything and I think we all just got caught off-guard from that, especially me. It went over my head. I jumped and got a hand on it, but it wasn’t enough.”
Aware of each other’s prowess on set pieces, the rivals did a great job of limiting corner kicks, with each squad getting a season-low two tries.
But there were plenty of throw-ins. Zain launching several into North’s box that caused the Huskies to work hard to clear the ball. Neither side was surprised a set piece decided it.
“Right now both our teams specialize in set pieces,” Conners said. “The game before we scored two off of throw-ins, and that’s what it came down to.”
The second-seeded Redhawks, who are the only team to beat the Huskies in each of the past two regular seasons, were the last team to beat North in the playoffs.
Since that 2015 sectional final loss, the Huskies have won 11-straight playoff games.
“They’re the team that got us this year,” Konrad said. “They play hard. They match up well against us.
“Cam Strang in the back is a good kind of antidote for Colin, and Nate and Ethan (Harvey) battled tonight. I’m really proud of Ethan for containing (Zain). Nate has been the best player around this year, and he did a fantastic job on him.”
Zain was held to just two shots, one of which was on frame. Welch saved Zain’s header of a Zack Kokes corner kick midway through the first half and also made a diving save when Jimmy Kalkofen got his head on a Zain throw-in.
Naperville Central’s only other legitimate scoring chance came with 19:35 to go in the opening period when Ryan Coleman turned and fired a 23-yard left-footed blast toward the upper right corner of the net. Welch made a leaping grab.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys tonight for the attention to details,” Konrad said. “We really did a good job of limiting their opportunities, especially for as dangerous as they are in the attack and as well as they move off the ball.”
All told, the play was about as close to even as you can get.
“It was interesting to see that,” Adams said. “They had a lot of dead balls that they were able to get into the area.
“We had two or three really nice runs of play. We just didn’t connect enough of them to really put that sustained pressure on them.”
Ultimately, the pressure of defending against Barry’s heaves got to the Redhawks.
“They do a couple things very, very well and when you give them enough chances to allow them to do those things, the term “playing with fire” comes to mind,” Adams said. “Unfortunately we got burned with a minute left in the first overtime.
“We didn’t stay as composed. Kind of got into a little bit of a frenzy, but I thought as a whole, as I told the kids, you can walk off this field with your head held high because you played with the heart and the effort that we asked.’ Everything they did was positive.”
The Redhawks, who saw their 10-game unbeaten string (7-0-3) end, likely exceeded expectations this fall. While seeing the Huskies play in the sectional final came as no surprise to anyone, the Redhawks were far from a lock to get this far.
“I think we’ve really come a long way,” Conners said. “The Metea game (a 4-1 loss Sept. 19), that was the one game that we really lost it a little bit, but we came back strong after that and ended the season strong.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Conners
D Rokas Stadalninkas
D Tanner Greenhagen
D Cameron Strang
M Rohan Bhargava
M Owen Jarrell
M Nico Couropmitree
M Nate Zain
F Zack Kokes
F Jimmy Kalkofen
F Ryan Coleman
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Cesar Recendez
D Mitch Konrad
D Colin Iverson
D Matt Bilardello
M Ethan Harvey
M Jack Barry
M Will Ritzmann
F Patrick Koenig
F Ian Guppy
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Colin Iverson, D, Naperville North
Scoring summary
1st overtime
Naperville North: Colin Iverson (Jack Barry), 90th minute