All's right for Naperville N. vs. Naperville C.
Huskies win crosstown rivalry 4-1
By Chris Walker
NAPERVILLE – Jason Barba guessed right, dove right and all is right in his and Naperville North’s world.
The Huskies senior goalkeeper, the heir to three-time Chicagoland Soccer all-Stater Tom Welch, stopped a potential game-tying penalty kick in the second half of Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville Central. That single play completely deflated the upset-minded Redhawks, who had rallied to make things interesting but went on to see their hopes dashed. Barba’s big play was followed by a pair of Huskies goals to break the game open.
Naperville North earned the 4-1 victory, beating Naperville Central for the second time in just 10 days. The Huskies edged the Redhawks 2-1 on Sept. 7 to win the Best of the West tournament.
That game featured a thrilling finish as Zach Smith converted a penalty kick with 1:25 remaining after Naperville Central was called for a hand-ball.
This one’s big moment also evolved around a PK, but occurred with 25 minutes remaining when Barba found himself with the daunting task of trying to stop Naperville Central’s Owen Jarrell from tying the game at 2-2 on a PK.
“PKs are always tough,” Barba said. “You try to look and see if the shooter is giving something away, but I really didn’t get anything. I just took a look at him and what he was doing on his approach, and at the end of the day it’s just a guess. Fortunately I was able to guess right and make the save and get it far enough out of danger, that they couldn’t put in a rebound.”
On his home field in front of a large crowd, which featured plenty of classmates including one who was swinging a broom in the air afterward and teasing some of the Redhawks faithful for having been swept this season, Barba had an unforgettable moment.
“This is about as good as it gets,” Barba said. “It’s so much fun. There are lots of people and lots of them cheering. It was super intense on the field and whenever anyone made a play everyone was getting pumped up. This is something you dream of, to be able to play in a crosstown rivalry game and in a conference game. You can’t draw it up any better other than a playoff game.”
Barba was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his performance.
With the way the first half ended, it appeared as if the Huskies were en route to winning without having to fight off a big comeback from the Redhawks. It wasn’t that way because the Huskies dominated the Redhawks, but because they snuck in an insurance goal in the final minute of the half to turn a modest 1-0 lead into a 2-0 advantage.
“The first half we were decent,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “Obviously we got the two goals, but the game was fairly even.”
Before getting banged up a bit, Nata Rojas scored to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead midway through the opening 40 minutes. Rojas finished a corner kick from Alex Barger with a terrific shot.
The Huskies second goal came from Smith after the ball deflected off a Redhawks defender with 32 seconds remaining before halftime.
That bad break, combined with Rojas’ goal, put the Redhawks in a hole that probably felt larger than 2-0 because of their history against the Huskies. Since 2010, Naperville Central has scored more than one goal against the Huskies just once and that came six years ago.
“They were more efficient in front of the net then we were and at the end of day it’s the difference in soccer,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “You’ve got to put the ball where you want to put it. A couple of times they got a chance and scored, and we had a lot of chances but just couldn’t find the back of the net, which is unfortunate.
“I didn’t think that we played awful, but we just have got to clean up the little things, and one of them is being efficient in front of the net. They were much more efficient than we were. They probably had 10 shots and cleaned up four, and we had 12 and cleaned up one. You’re not going to win many games when you outshoot a team and can’t put the ball in the net.
“We need to keep working on that finishing aspect in front of the goal and clean up some things in the back. Too many times the ball was not cleared cleanly and they’ll make you pay.”
Naperville Central senior defender Mitch Becker, who fought through two different injuries in each half to be on the field, concurred with Adams about those difficulties with clearing the ball.
“I feel like in some areas we’re not disciplined, like in the back and being not able to get the proper clearances out,” Becker said. “We were kind of just giving the possession back and not really playing like we were going to play from the start.”
The lone goal for the Redhawks arrived from Rohan Bhargava’s aggressiveness and awareness with 26:42 left in the game. It certainly provided a much-needed spark for the visitors and made what at the time was an unremarkable two-nil game suddenly into quite an interesting one.
Naperville North took notice.
“They punched us in the mouth getting that one (goal) and then almost getting the second,” Barba said. “Thankfully I was able to make the save and then we were able to jump right back on them and get the third and fourth goals and put the game away.”
Cesar Recendez’s foul resulted in Owen Jerrell lining up for the game-tying PK with about 25 minutes left to play. It all happened suddenly -- the Redhawks having just cut their deficit in half less than two minutes prior to the official’s whistle for the PK.
“They were this close to tying the game up,” Barba said. “We had a little bit of a panic after the first goal, but after the PK we were able to settle down. We still had the lead and just had to get back to doing what was clicking for us tonight.”
Recendez was ecstatic that Barba stepped up for him to clean up the spot shot.
“The PK against us was because of me, so I felt bad to do that to my team, because I wasn’t able to help them defend it,” Recendez said. “Luckily Jason came up big and saved the PK and then our forwards and midfielders got us the corner kick. We ran our set piece and I just put my head on it (for a 3-1 lead).”
Naperville North senior Ty Konrad praised Barba’s save as well, along for what it did for the Huskies in finishing the game with inspired play.
“Jason with an incredible save there and they were only one goal away from tying us up, so that really helped us keep our heads in the game,” Ty Konrad said. “We didn’t want to let our emotions get the best of us. We just wanted to stay focused, stay calm and just play our game, and I think we did a good job of that.”
It was a wild ride of emotions over the course of especially that five minutes in the second half when Bhargava scored, Jerrell lined up for a PK but was denied by Barba and Recendez scored.
“It’s tough to have a two-goal swing in 60 seconds, which is basically what that was which is very unfortunate,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “I thought for the most part in the second half we had the ball in their half more than they had it in ours, but unfortunately things like that happen in soccer sometimes. I don’t know if they’re three goals better than us, but they were better than us tonight.”
But the Redhawks also had them in a great position to be tied and then possibly overtaken. No one will ever know how this game would’ve turned out if Barba guessed left. Right?
“They definitely had us on the ropes there,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “We didn’t do well with a couple clears that kind of put us under pressure. They got the goal when we mismarked on a restart, which was a great goal, but we should’ve been tighter on him. So we needed Jason (Barba) to make that big save and then we finally were able to fill with air a little bit, and I think the game changed again.”
With the Redhawks still down by only one, they kept chasing for the equalizer but the Huskies got some insurance when Barger found Recendez on the other end of his corner kick.
“Alex played really good today, and he’s proved that he can play with us,” Recendez said. “He played a nice ball to me, so I give him a lot of credit for that.”
He also credited his teammates for what he believed to be a better effort than when they played the Redhawks previously.
“I just think we played a lot more harder and more organized then last time, and we communicated very well,” he said. “Our captains led by example a lot and some of our youngsters came up big.”
The game was one of the better matchups that has taken place this season with the Huskies, the preseason no. 1 now ranked no. 3 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Redwings are perched in the wings at no. 10.
Of course, there’s that old saying about rivalry games that you can throw out what’s happened in the record books. The thing about these rivals is they are usually ranked highly in the Chicagoland area and state.
Historians can look back on some of the great editions of this rivalry editions but nothing can compare to actually play in one. On that point both sides were in full agreement.
“We love playing these,” Becker said. “Every day before the game the whole day is a just a mindset of getting prepared, and it really brings a team together. It makes us bond more than I would think. It gets the school going. It gets the fans going. It feels pretty good.
"Everybody involved has such strong feelings about it, so they come out to support it. I don’t think there will ever be a year where no one comes out to watch the game.”
Consider when the teams battled on back-to-back Saturdays, sort of similar to this year, with the Best of the West title game followed by their DVC title battle in 2017.
The Huskies prevailed in the Best of the West championship, but the Redwings, on the first-ever goal from Bhargava (on a throw-in from Nate Zain) beat them 1-0 to snap Naperville North’s 26-game unbeaten streak.
“In the crosstown rivalry games it doesn’t matter who is a better team,” Recendez said. “It’s for bragging rights, so it’s going to be a close game and everyone wants to beat each other. It’s always going to be a close game between us.”
There’s no doubt the programs have gotten quite familiar with each other over the years, having played multiple times during the same year in 5 of the past 10 seasons.
The Huskies improved to 13-5-0 against the Redhawks during the 18 games between the teams during the past 10 years (2010-2019) and are now 10-2 in their last 12. The losses came on a pair of 1-0 shutouts, including the aforementioned game in 2017.
Most of the games have been tight with 13 of them decided by a single goal. The Huskies have blanked the Redhawks six times.
The 4-1 final was the biggest final score disparity since the Redhawks won by the same score on Oct. 14, 2013, behind a pair of goals from Sam Reskala and others from David Murphy and Jordi Heeneman. That’s also the only time in the 18 games that the Redhawks have scored more than one goal against them.
The good news for the Redhawks is that if they meet the Huskies in the postseason, history is on their side. They’re 3-1 against Naperville North in that timeframe with the three victories all being for sectional championships. Both teams are in the Lockport sectional this year.
If they don’t somehow meet again in the postseason, Tuesday marked the final rivalry game for about 30 seniors combined from the two schools.
“It’s sad to think about,” Ty Konrad said. “I remember every single rivalry game I’ve been a part of. There’s nothing that ever compares with how fun it is to play against your crosstown rivals.”
The Huskies have really seemed to find their stride since winning the Best of the West and they should only get better, especially if Ty Konrad and Smith continue to dominate like they did Tuesday.
“This was the first game where Ty (Konrad) and Zach (Smith) both had really good games,” Jim Konrad said. “They played hard, they chased balls down, they got on balls that were dangerous together and that last goal was beautiful between Ty and Zach. And our midfield got their legs under them in the last 20 minutes. I liked the effort.”
While Rojas battled through a leg/foot injury, the Huskies are hopeful that some of their other guys can return from injuries and get into the lineup and make an impact.
“Nata played on a bad wheel for the last 15 to 20 minutes so he got banged up a bit,” Konrad said. “Hopefully we’ll get him back and then in a week maybe Patrick (Koenig) will come back, and we’re hoping for Myles (Barry) down the road so we’re still not operating on full strength.”
Both Koenig, at forward, and Barry, in back, are experienced seniors and will give the Huskies a better chance of finishing the regular season as one of the top teams in the state again as they make a bid for a fourth-consecutive state title.
As for the Redhawks, they’re still trying to find scorers.
“We’re trying to manufacture goals from players who are traditionally not forwards, and that’s always a struggle when you don’t have a kid who has been a consistent forward, especially since (age) 14 and on,” Adams said. “You’ve got to have someone comfortable in front of the goal, and we’re still trying to find someone who wants to be comfortable there.
"The good news is it’s Sept. 17 and not Oct. 17. We’ve got another set of games to work and improve on, and that’s what we’ll be working on doing.”
They’ll be working on that as well as trying to get their less-experienced players up to speed with the physical nature of the DuPage Vlley Conference.
“You’ve got to be as physical as they’re going to be,” Adams said. “You cannot be pushed around or you’re going to be in trouble. We still have some kids who haven’t played enough varsity soccer to understand how physical a game against North is going to be. We have to be better with that.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Gentile
D Mitch Becker
D Seth Lendzion
D Mateo Lopez
D Benjamin Tietjen
MF Rohan Bhargava
MF Owen Jarrell
MF William Morgan
F Nico Couropmitree
F James Kim
F Roman Krupka
Naperville North
GK Jason Barba
D Sebastian Babayan
D Alex Barger
D Christian Romano
MF Josh Kaufman
MF Ali Khorfan
MF Cesar Recendez
MF Nata Rojas
MF Zach Smith
MF Evan Thompson
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jason Barba, sr., GK, Naperville North
Officials: Gene Mraz, John Elenbaas, Alan Popescu
Scoring summary
Naperville North 4, Naperville Central 1
Naperville Central 0 1 – 1
Naperville North 2 2 – 4
First half
Naperville North – Nata Rojas (Alex Barger) 22:40
Naperville North – Zach Smith (u/a) 0:32
Second half
Naperville Central - Rohan Bhargava (u/a) 25:00
Naperville North – Cesar Recendez (Barger) 22:54
Naperville North – Smith (Ty Konrad) 11:49
Huskies win crosstown rivalry 4-1
By Chris Walker
NAPERVILLE – Jason Barba guessed right, dove right and all is right in his and Naperville North’s world.
The Huskies senior goalkeeper, the heir to three-time Chicagoland Soccer all-Stater Tom Welch, stopped a potential game-tying penalty kick in the second half of Thursday’s DuPage Valley Conference game against Naperville Central. That single play completely deflated the upset-minded Redhawks, who had rallied to make things interesting but went on to see their hopes dashed. Barba’s big play was followed by a pair of Huskies goals to break the game open.
Naperville North earned the 4-1 victory, beating Naperville Central for the second time in just 10 days. The Huskies edged the Redhawks 2-1 on Sept. 7 to win the Best of the West tournament.
That game featured a thrilling finish as Zach Smith converted a penalty kick with 1:25 remaining after Naperville Central was called for a hand-ball.
This one’s big moment also evolved around a PK, but occurred with 25 minutes remaining when Barba found himself with the daunting task of trying to stop Naperville Central’s Owen Jarrell from tying the game at 2-2 on a PK.
“PKs are always tough,” Barba said. “You try to look and see if the shooter is giving something away, but I really didn’t get anything. I just took a look at him and what he was doing on his approach, and at the end of the day it’s just a guess. Fortunately I was able to guess right and make the save and get it far enough out of danger, that they couldn’t put in a rebound.”
On his home field in front of a large crowd, which featured plenty of classmates including one who was swinging a broom in the air afterward and teasing some of the Redhawks faithful for having been swept this season, Barba had an unforgettable moment.
“This is about as good as it gets,” Barba said. “It’s so much fun. There are lots of people and lots of them cheering. It was super intense on the field and whenever anyone made a play everyone was getting pumped up. This is something you dream of, to be able to play in a crosstown rivalry game and in a conference game. You can’t draw it up any better other than a playoff game.”
Barba was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his performance.
With the way the first half ended, it appeared as if the Huskies were en route to winning without having to fight off a big comeback from the Redhawks. It wasn’t that way because the Huskies dominated the Redhawks, but because they snuck in an insurance goal in the final minute of the half to turn a modest 1-0 lead into a 2-0 advantage.
“The first half we were decent,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “Obviously we got the two goals, but the game was fairly even.”
Before getting banged up a bit, Nata Rojas scored to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead midway through the opening 40 minutes. Rojas finished a corner kick from Alex Barger with a terrific shot.
The Huskies second goal came from Smith after the ball deflected off a Redhawks defender with 32 seconds remaining before halftime.
That bad break, combined with Rojas’ goal, put the Redhawks in a hole that probably felt larger than 2-0 because of their history against the Huskies. Since 2010, Naperville Central has scored more than one goal against the Huskies just once and that came six years ago.
“They were more efficient in front of the net then we were and at the end of day it’s the difference in soccer,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “You’ve got to put the ball where you want to put it. A couple of times they got a chance and scored, and we had a lot of chances but just couldn’t find the back of the net, which is unfortunate.
“I didn’t think that we played awful, but we just have got to clean up the little things, and one of them is being efficient in front of the net. They were much more efficient than we were. They probably had 10 shots and cleaned up four, and we had 12 and cleaned up one. You’re not going to win many games when you outshoot a team and can’t put the ball in the net.
“We need to keep working on that finishing aspect in front of the goal and clean up some things in the back. Too many times the ball was not cleared cleanly and they’ll make you pay.”
Naperville Central senior defender Mitch Becker, who fought through two different injuries in each half to be on the field, concurred with Adams about those difficulties with clearing the ball.
“I feel like in some areas we’re not disciplined, like in the back and being not able to get the proper clearances out,” Becker said. “We were kind of just giving the possession back and not really playing like we were going to play from the start.”
The lone goal for the Redhawks arrived from Rohan Bhargava’s aggressiveness and awareness with 26:42 left in the game. It certainly provided a much-needed spark for the visitors and made what at the time was an unremarkable two-nil game suddenly into quite an interesting one.
Naperville North took notice.
“They punched us in the mouth getting that one (goal) and then almost getting the second,” Barba said. “Thankfully I was able to make the save and then we were able to jump right back on them and get the third and fourth goals and put the game away.”
Cesar Recendez’s foul resulted in Owen Jerrell lining up for the game-tying PK with about 25 minutes left to play. It all happened suddenly -- the Redhawks having just cut their deficit in half less than two minutes prior to the official’s whistle for the PK.
“They were this close to tying the game up,” Barba said. “We had a little bit of a panic after the first goal, but after the PK we were able to settle down. We still had the lead and just had to get back to doing what was clicking for us tonight.”
Recendez was ecstatic that Barba stepped up for him to clean up the spot shot.
“The PK against us was because of me, so I felt bad to do that to my team, because I wasn’t able to help them defend it,” Recendez said. “Luckily Jason came up big and saved the PK and then our forwards and midfielders got us the corner kick. We ran our set piece and I just put my head on it (for a 3-1 lead).”
Naperville North senior Ty Konrad praised Barba’s save as well, along for what it did for the Huskies in finishing the game with inspired play.
“Jason with an incredible save there and they were only one goal away from tying us up, so that really helped us keep our heads in the game,” Ty Konrad said. “We didn’t want to let our emotions get the best of us. We just wanted to stay focused, stay calm and just play our game, and I think we did a good job of that.”
It was a wild ride of emotions over the course of especially that five minutes in the second half when Bhargava scored, Jerrell lined up for a PK but was denied by Barba and Recendez scored.
“It’s tough to have a two-goal swing in 60 seconds, which is basically what that was which is very unfortunate,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “I thought for the most part in the second half we had the ball in their half more than they had it in ours, but unfortunately things like that happen in soccer sometimes. I don’t know if they’re three goals better than us, but they were better than us tonight.”
But the Redhawks also had them in a great position to be tied and then possibly overtaken. No one will ever know how this game would’ve turned out if Barba guessed left. Right?
“They definitely had us on the ropes there,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “We didn’t do well with a couple clears that kind of put us under pressure. They got the goal when we mismarked on a restart, which was a great goal, but we should’ve been tighter on him. So we needed Jason (Barba) to make that big save and then we finally were able to fill with air a little bit, and I think the game changed again.”
With the Redhawks still down by only one, they kept chasing for the equalizer but the Huskies got some insurance when Barger found Recendez on the other end of his corner kick.
“Alex played really good today, and he’s proved that he can play with us,” Recendez said. “He played a nice ball to me, so I give him a lot of credit for that.”
He also credited his teammates for what he believed to be a better effort than when they played the Redhawks previously.
“I just think we played a lot more harder and more organized then last time, and we communicated very well,” he said. “Our captains led by example a lot and some of our youngsters came up big.”
The game was one of the better matchups that has taken place this season with the Huskies, the preseason no. 1 now ranked no. 3 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Redwings are perched in the wings at no. 10.
Of course, there’s that old saying about rivalry games that you can throw out what’s happened in the record books. The thing about these rivals is they are usually ranked highly in the Chicagoland area and state.
Historians can look back on some of the great editions of this rivalry editions but nothing can compare to actually play in one. On that point both sides were in full agreement.
“We love playing these,” Becker said. “Every day before the game the whole day is a just a mindset of getting prepared, and it really brings a team together. It makes us bond more than I would think. It gets the school going. It gets the fans going. It feels pretty good.
"Everybody involved has such strong feelings about it, so they come out to support it. I don’t think there will ever be a year where no one comes out to watch the game.”
Consider when the teams battled on back-to-back Saturdays, sort of similar to this year, with the Best of the West title game followed by their DVC title battle in 2017.
The Huskies prevailed in the Best of the West championship, but the Redwings, on the first-ever goal from Bhargava (on a throw-in from Nate Zain) beat them 1-0 to snap Naperville North’s 26-game unbeaten streak.
“In the crosstown rivalry games it doesn’t matter who is a better team,” Recendez said. “It’s for bragging rights, so it’s going to be a close game and everyone wants to beat each other. It’s always going to be a close game between us.”
There’s no doubt the programs have gotten quite familiar with each other over the years, having played multiple times during the same year in 5 of the past 10 seasons.
The Huskies improved to 13-5-0 against the Redhawks during the 18 games between the teams during the past 10 years (2010-2019) and are now 10-2 in their last 12. The losses came on a pair of 1-0 shutouts, including the aforementioned game in 2017.
Most of the games have been tight with 13 of them decided by a single goal. The Huskies have blanked the Redhawks six times.
The 4-1 final was the biggest final score disparity since the Redhawks won by the same score on Oct. 14, 2013, behind a pair of goals from Sam Reskala and others from David Murphy and Jordi Heeneman. That’s also the only time in the 18 games that the Redhawks have scored more than one goal against them.
The good news for the Redhawks is that if they meet the Huskies in the postseason, history is on their side. They’re 3-1 against Naperville North in that timeframe with the three victories all being for sectional championships. Both teams are in the Lockport sectional this year.
If they don’t somehow meet again in the postseason, Tuesday marked the final rivalry game for about 30 seniors combined from the two schools.
“It’s sad to think about,” Ty Konrad said. “I remember every single rivalry game I’ve been a part of. There’s nothing that ever compares with how fun it is to play against your crosstown rivals.”
The Huskies have really seemed to find their stride since winning the Best of the West and they should only get better, especially if Ty Konrad and Smith continue to dominate like they did Tuesday.
“This was the first game where Ty (Konrad) and Zach (Smith) both had really good games,” Jim Konrad said. “They played hard, they chased balls down, they got on balls that were dangerous together and that last goal was beautiful between Ty and Zach. And our midfield got their legs under them in the last 20 minutes. I liked the effort.”
While Rojas battled through a leg/foot injury, the Huskies are hopeful that some of their other guys can return from injuries and get into the lineup and make an impact.
“Nata played on a bad wheel for the last 15 to 20 minutes so he got banged up a bit,” Konrad said. “Hopefully we’ll get him back and then in a week maybe Patrick (Koenig) will come back, and we’re hoping for Myles (Barry) down the road so we’re still not operating on full strength.”
Both Koenig, at forward, and Barry, in back, are experienced seniors and will give the Huskies a better chance of finishing the regular season as one of the top teams in the state again as they make a bid for a fourth-consecutive state title.
As for the Redhawks, they’re still trying to find scorers.
“We’re trying to manufacture goals from players who are traditionally not forwards, and that’s always a struggle when you don’t have a kid who has been a consistent forward, especially since (age) 14 and on,” Adams said. “You’ve got to have someone comfortable in front of the goal, and we’re still trying to find someone who wants to be comfortable there.
"The good news is it’s Sept. 17 and not Oct. 17. We’ve got another set of games to work and improve on, and that’s what we’ll be working on doing.”
They’ll be working on that as well as trying to get their less-experienced players up to speed with the physical nature of the DuPage Vlley Conference.
“You’ve got to be as physical as they’re going to be,” Adams said. “You cannot be pushed around or you’re going to be in trouble. We still have some kids who haven’t played enough varsity soccer to understand how physical a game against North is going to be. We have to be better with that.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Gentile
D Mitch Becker
D Seth Lendzion
D Mateo Lopez
D Benjamin Tietjen
MF Rohan Bhargava
MF Owen Jarrell
MF William Morgan
F Nico Couropmitree
F James Kim
F Roman Krupka
Naperville North
GK Jason Barba
D Sebastian Babayan
D Alex Barger
D Christian Romano
MF Josh Kaufman
MF Ali Khorfan
MF Cesar Recendez
MF Nata Rojas
MF Zach Smith
MF Evan Thompson
F Ty Konrad
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jason Barba, sr., GK, Naperville North
Officials: Gene Mraz, John Elenbaas, Alan Popescu
Scoring summary
Naperville North 4, Naperville Central 1
Naperville Central 0 1 – 1
Naperville North 2 2 – 4
First half
Naperville North – Nata Rojas (Alex Barger) 22:40
Naperville North – Zach Smith (u/a) 0:32
Second half
Naperville Central - Rohan Bhargava (u/a) 25:00
Naperville North – Cesar Recendez (Barger) 22:54
Naperville North – Smith (Ty Konrad) 11:49