Naperville N. rallies past NV for DVC title
Huskies 2-1 win earns 4th-straight, 25th overall league crown
By Steve Nemeth
NAPERVILLE --- It was a case of déjà blue and orange.
Despite host Neuqua Valley threatening an upset surprise for nearly 60 minutes, Naperville North ultimately won again.
The Huskies, ranked no. 2 by Chicagoland Soccer, rallied to register a 2-1 victory Thursday to produce a plethora of familiar success:
* Improving to 20-1-1 on the season, the defending Class 3A state champions are one win shy of last year’s victory total. The second-straight 20-win campaign is the fifth time the 20-win milestone has been reached or exceeded under head coach Jim Konrad and the seventh time in school history. While two of former coach Dave Bucher’s teams were just shy at 19 victories, his 1998 state championship unit had 21. In 1987 his fourth place crew set the school single-season hallmark of 24.
* With a 7-1-0 DuPage Valley Conference record, the Huskies leapfrogged rival Naperville Central in the standings (21 points versus 19) to claim the DVC crown for the fourth-straight year and 25th time in league history. North ruled the league in 2014 when there were six schools and for the past three with nine members. Due to defections, the DVC is expected to drop to five schools in 2018.
* Colin Iverson knows how to make the most of a Jack Barry throw-in. Scoring off set pieces has essentially become a North trademark this year. Half of Iverson’s goals -- a team-high 12 shared with Ian Guppy -- have come off Barry assists. The duo combined for the equalizer at 59:28 and later linked up using a page out of the team playbook to set-up the game-winning goal by Ethan Harvey. They were part of the reason Harvey earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match accolade.
* Neuqua Valley once again experienced a sinking feeling courtesy of its crosstown foes. The Wildcats earned a 1-0 victory over North in the 2010 Best of the West Tournament only to lose a sectional title game to the Huskies that season via a shootout. The next four years saw the Huskies beat Neuqua in the BOTW before the Wildcats left the tourney when they moved from the Upstate Eight to the DVC. Aside from a scoreless draw in 2016, Neuqua has now gone eight-straight meetings (0-7-1) without an encore to that 2010 victory.
However all of the above was in doubt for most of Thursday’s combination regular season and DVC finale.
Naperville North started well. With 7:30 elapsed, Cesar Recendez appeared to have a golden opportunity on the right side with Neuqua Valley goalie Dylan Soto well off his line. But that shot sailed wide of the far left post.
After the reaction from fans of both teams subsided, the home team Wildcats faithful erupted at 20:22 when Jason Benjamin finished a seven-yard strike near the left post off David Kuhn’s pass. It was Benjamin’s fourth goal and Kuhn’s third assist.
“It was somewhat of a slip-up by their backline,” Benjamin admitted. “They weren’t quite focused to notice me, so I took the open space to receive the ball and was able to score.”
“When T.J. (Fenton) made a run and drew a couple defenders to him, I took the open space and used a few touches that brought the keeper out,” Kuhn said. “Seeing that, I was able to cross it to the left where Jason finished it.”
Just after Ali Khorfan checked in, the North sophomore worked his way down the sideline and nailed a tough angle shot that Soto couldn’t hold on to. So the Neuqua Valley keeper batted it out and for a moment it was anybody’s ball. The Wildcats dodged that bullet with a defensive clear.
The hosts caught an even bigger break when a Ty Konrad header into the net at 28:11 was waived off as a result of an offsides call. Then Soto punched another ball out before catching a header from Harvey.
Neuqua Valley hoped to add to its lead when Ryan Matthews played a dangerous cross from the left only to have North’s Tommy Welch use all of his 6-foot-6 length to snatch the ball out of the air. A Fenton cross from the right side was similarly snagged by Welch. On the other end of the field, Soto and the Neuqua Valley defense withstood two suggestive attacks from Naperville North in the final two minutes to preserve the 1-0 halftime tally.
As the second half unfolded, Neuqua Valley scrambled to keep the Huskies at bay. With 25:45 left to be played, Kuhn made a huge defensive assist. Instead of setting up Benjamin for a goal, he joined Soto on the goal line and booted clear a potential equalizer. With 22:13 remaining, Konrad played a cross from left to right that may have looked like slow motion to the Wildcats defenders though it rolled too fast for anyone from the visitors to redirect it.
But North’s mounting aggressiveness paid off with 20:31 remaining in regulation. That’s when a Barry throw-in was headed sharply into the net by Iverson.
“We always know we’re capable of getting back in a match,” Iverson said with confidence. “The way Jack gets the ball in there, somehow we’ll turn it into a goal.”
Capitalizing with the momentum in their favor, the Huskies scored again with 16:45 still to follow. Yet another Barry throw-in found Iverson rising high for the ball, but this time the junior flicked it to the back post where Harvey was in prime position for a five-yarder.
“Yes I was trying to flick it back post. It felt so great to have that play work. It’s almost frustrating how much we practice it,” Iverson added.
“My eyes just lit up,” Harvey admitted in regard to his fourth game-winning tally. “It’s good when it happens in practice, but in a game it’s great. Will (Ritzmann) or I always try to crack the back post and Colin made a great flick.
The remainder of the match saw the two sides switch roles. Having come from behind, North’s focus became denying Neuqua a comeback. The Wildcats’ Fenton had a solid effort from the left wing stopped by Welch. Neuqua Valley substitute Edon Kosova had a pair of quality throw-ins, but the Huskies’ defenders cleared those away and the one-goal gap became the outcome.
“Every year winning (the DVC) is a major goal,” Harvey said. “This being the last time with this membership, those schools leaving, we wanted to send them off with one final DVC loss.”
Barry added his satisfaction over the Huskies earning another league banner, but he cited a secondary purpose.
“We know every game in the DVC will be a battle and always expect a good fight from teams like Central and Neuqua. With the possible of seeing them in the playoffs, if they lost the first time, we’ll have the upper hand,” Barry explained. “At the same time, we don’t try to be too rah-rah about it. We know we have to take each game one at a time and keep our composure.”
The reality of having a target on their back as defending 3A champions is something Iverson recognizes.
“There’s definitely a little more pressure in that we’re expected to win according to a lot of folks,” Iverson said. “But we use that as motivation to fight harder for each other.”
A rematch is a distinct possibility eight days later. Of the 19 schools assigned to the sectional ultimately to be hosted by Naperville North, the Huskies are the top seed overall and thus considered the favorite for the Lockport Regional. North has a Tuesday 4:30 p.m. semifinal with the winner of the Oct. 13 prelim between 17th-seeded Batavia and 16th-seeded Plainfield East. A victory then means an Oct. 20 title game against the regional host, nine-seed Lockport, or eighth-seeded Neuqua. Those two face off Wednesday.
“Obviously it’s considered a great year in terms of winning the conference for the 25th time and getting to 20 wins, which has only happened seven times,” North coach Jim Konrad said. “However, we didn’t do it in blazing fashion. We squeaked out so many wins and had to grind for others. Today was a great lesson in that respect.
“I certainly don’t look forward to a rematch. Neuqua’s center backs play hard, and they’re super athletic as a team,” Konrad added. “But first we know we have to get there.”
Assuming the Wildcats can emerge from what is considered the dreaded 8-versus-9 toss-up pairing with the lower seed having a home field advantage, Neuqua Valley coach Arnoldo Gonzalez shrugged at the prospect of facing Naperville North again.
“We know we need to regroup because in order to be no. 1, you need to beat no. 1. But in this case it starts with beating no. 9,” Gonzalez said.
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Ethan Harvey
D Colin Iverson
D Mitch Konrad
D Matt Bilardello
M Cesar Recendez
M Ian Guppy
M Will Ritzmann
M Patrick Koenig
F Jack Barry
F Ty Konrad
Neuqua Valley
GK Dylan Soto
D Nate Kuper
D Jose Navarro
D Nathan Ashta
D Anthony Safo
M Daniel Laverde
M Billy Heniades
M David Kuhn
M Parker Domschke
F T.J. Fenton
F Jason Benjamin
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ethan Harvey, sr. D, Naperville North
Officials: Steve Jablow (center), John O’Bryan, Carlos Herrera
Game summarey
Naperville North 2, Neuqua Valley 1
Naperville North 0 2 ---- 2 20-1-1 (DVC: 7-1-0)
Neuqua Valley 1 0 ---- 1 14-5-1 (DVC 5-3-0)
Scoring
NV – Benjamin seven-yarder near left post (Kuhn assist), 10:22 gone
NN – Iverson eight-yard header from the middle (J. Barry assist), 59:28 gone
NN – Harvey five-yard finish near back post to right side (J. Barry, Iverson assists), 63:15 gone
Shots
NN 9 – 7 --- 15
NV 6 – 2 --- 8
Shots on goal
NN 6 – 5 --- 11
NV 3 – 2 --- 5
Saves (player)
NN 4 (Welch 2/2)
NV 9 (GK Soto 6/2; Kuhn 1)
Corner kicks
NN 1 – 2 --- 3
NV 1 – 1 --- 2
Offsides
NN 1 – 1 --- 2
NV 0 – 1 --- 1
Huskies 2-1 win earns 4th-straight, 25th overall league crown
By Steve Nemeth
NAPERVILLE --- It was a case of déjà blue and orange.
Despite host Neuqua Valley threatening an upset surprise for nearly 60 minutes, Naperville North ultimately won again.
The Huskies, ranked no. 2 by Chicagoland Soccer, rallied to register a 2-1 victory Thursday to produce a plethora of familiar success:
* Improving to 20-1-1 on the season, the defending Class 3A state champions are one win shy of last year’s victory total. The second-straight 20-win campaign is the fifth time the 20-win milestone has been reached or exceeded under head coach Jim Konrad and the seventh time in school history. While two of former coach Dave Bucher’s teams were just shy at 19 victories, his 1998 state championship unit had 21. In 1987 his fourth place crew set the school single-season hallmark of 24.
* With a 7-1-0 DuPage Valley Conference record, the Huskies leapfrogged rival Naperville Central in the standings (21 points versus 19) to claim the DVC crown for the fourth-straight year and 25th time in league history. North ruled the league in 2014 when there were six schools and for the past three with nine members. Due to defections, the DVC is expected to drop to five schools in 2018.
* Colin Iverson knows how to make the most of a Jack Barry throw-in. Scoring off set pieces has essentially become a North trademark this year. Half of Iverson’s goals -- a team-high 12 shared with Ian Guppy -- have come off Barry assists. The duo combined for the equalizer at 59:28 and later linked up using a page out of the team playbook to set-up the game-winning goal by Ethan Harvey. They were part of the reason Harvey earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match accolade.
* Neuqua Valley once again experienced a sinking feeling courtesy of its crosstown foes. The Wildcats earned a 1-0 victory over North in the 2010 Best of the West Tournament only to lose a sectional title game to the Huskies that season via a shootout. The next four years saw the Huskies beat Neuqua in the BOTW before the Wildcats left the tourney when they moved from the Upstate Eight to the DVC. Aside from a scoreless draw in 2016, Neuqua has now gone eight-straight meetings (0-7-1) without an encore to that 2010 victory.
However all of the above was in doubt for most of Thursday’s combination regular season and DVC finale.
Naperville North started well. With 7:30 elapsed, Cesar Recendez appeared to have a golden opportunity on the right side with Neuqua Valley goalie Dylan Soto well off his line. But that shot sailed wide of the far left post.
After the reaction from fans of both teams subsided, the home team Wildcats faithful erupted at 20:22 when Jason Benjamin finished a seven-yard strike near the left post off David Kuhn’s pass. It was Benjamin’s fourth goal and Kuhn’s third assist.
“It was somewhat of a slip-up by their backline,” Benjamin admitted. “They weren’t quite focused to notice me, so I took the open space to receive the ball and was able to score.”
“When T.J. (Fenton) made a run and drew a couple defenders to him, I took the open space and used a few touches that brought the keeper out,” Kuhn said. “Seeing that, I was able to cross it to the left where Jason finished it.”
Just after Ali Khorfan checked in, the North sophomore worked his way down the sideline and nailed a tough angle shot that Soto couldn’t hold on to. So the Neuqua Valley keeper batted it out and for a moment it was anybody’s ball. The Wildcats dodged that bullet with a defensive clear.
The hosts caught an even bigger break when a Ty Konrad header into the net at 28:11 was waived off as a result of an offsides call. Then Soto punched another ball out before catching a header from Harvey.
Neuqua Valley hoped to add to its lead when Ryan Matthews played a dangerous cross from the left only to have North’s Tommy Welch use all of his 6-foot-6 length to snatch the ball out of the air. A Fenton cross from the right side was similarly snagged by Welch. On the other end of the field, Soto and the Neuqua Valley defense withstood two suggestive attacks from Naperville North in the final two minutes to preserve the 1-0 halftime tally.
As the second half unfolded, Neuqua Valley scrambled to keep the Huskies at bay. With 25:45 left to be played, Kuhn made a huge defensive assist. Instead of setting up Benjamin for a goal, he joined Soto on the goal line and booted clear a potential equalizer. With 22:13 remaining, Konrad played a cross from left to right that may have looked like slow motion to the Wildcats defenders though it rolled too fast for anyone from the visitors to redirect it.
But North’s mounting aggressiveness paid off with 20:31 remaining in regulation. That’s when a Barry throw-in was headed sharply into the net by Iverson.
“We always know we’re capable of getting back in a match,” Iverson said with confidence. “The way Jack gets the ball in there, somehow we’ll turn it into a goal.”
Capitalizing with the momentum in their favor, the Huskies scored again with 16:45 still to follow. Yet another Barry throw-in found Iverson rising high for the ball, but this time the junior flicked it to the back post where Harvey was in prime position for a five-yarder.
“Yes I was trying to flick it back post. It felt so great to have that play work. It’s almost frustrating how much we practice it,” Iverson added.
“My eyes just lit up,” Harvey admitted in regard to his fourth game-winning tally. “It’s good when it happens in practice, but in a game it’s great. Will (Ritzmann) or I always try to crack the back post and Colin made a great flick.
The remainder of the match saw the two sides switch roles. Having come from behind, North’s focus became denying Neuqua a comeback. The Wildcats’ Fenton had a solid effort from the left wing stopped by Welch. Neuqua Valley substitute Edon Kosova had a pair of quality throw-ins, but the Huskies’ defenders cleared those away and the one-goal gap became the outcome.
“Every year winning (the DVC) is a major goal,” Harvey said. “This being the last time with this membership, those schools leaving, we wanted to send them off with one final DVC loss.”
Barry added his satisfaction over the Huskies earning another league banner, but he cited a secondary purpose.
“We know every game in the DVC will be a battle and always expect a good fight from teams like Central and Neuqua. With the possible of seeing them in the playoffs, if they lost the first time, we’ll have the upper hand,” Barry explained. “At the same time, we don’t try to be too rah-rah about it. We know we have to take each game one at a time and keep our composure.”
The reality of having a target on their back as defending 3A champions is something Iverson recognizes.
“There’s definitely a little more pressure in that we’re expected to win according to a lot of folks,” Iverson said. “But we use that as motivation to fight harder for each other.”
A rematch is a distinct possibility eight days later. Of the 19 schools assigned to the sectional ultimately to be hosted by Naperville North, the Huskies are the top seed overall and thus considered the favorite for the Lockport Regional. North has a Tuesday 4:30 p.m. semifinal with the winner of the Oct. 13 prelim between 17th-seeded Batavia and 16th-seeded Plainfield East. A victory then means an Oct. 20 title game against the regional host, nine-seed Lockport, or eighth-seeded Neuqua. Those two face off Wednesday.
“Obviously it’s considered a great year in terms of winning the conference for the 25th time and getting to 20 wins, which has only happened seven times,” North coach Jim Konrad said. “However, we didn’t do it in blazing fashion. We squeaked out so many wins and had to grind for others. Today was a great lesson in that respect.
“I certainly don’t look forward to a rematch. Neuqua’s center backs play hard, and they’re super athletic as a team,” Konrad added. “But first we know we have to get there.”
Assuming the Wildcats can emerge from what is considered the dreaded 8-versus-9 toss-up pairing with the lower seed having a home field advantage, Neuqua Valley coach Arnoldo Gonzalez shrugged at the prospect of facing Naperville North again.
“We know we need to regroup because in order to be no. 1, you need to beat no. 1. But in this case it starts with beating no. 9,” Gonzalez said.
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Tommy Welch
D Ethan Harvey
D Colin Iverson
D Mitch Konrad
D Matt Bilardello
M Cesar Recendez
M Ian Guppy
M Will Ritzmann
M Patrick Koenig
F Jack Barry
F Ty Konrad
Neuqua Valley
GK Dylan Soto
D Nate Kuper
D Jose Navarro
D Nathan Ashta
D Anthony Safo
M Daniel Laverde
M Billy Heniades
M David Kuhn
M Parker Domschke
F T.J. Fenton
F Jason Benjamin
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Ethan Harvey, sr. D, Naperville North
Officials: Steve Jablow (center), John O’Bryan, Carlos Herrera
Game summarey
Naperville North 2, Neuqua Valley 1
Naperville North 0 2 ---- 2 20-1-1 (DVC: 7-1-0)
Neuqua Valley 1 0 ---- 1 14-5-1 (DVC 5-3-0)
Scoring
NV – Benjamin seven-yarder near left post (Kuhn assist), 10:22 gone
NN – Iverson eight-yard header from the middle (J. Barry assist), 59:28 gone
NN – Harvey five-yard finish near back post to right side (J. Barry, Iverson assists), 63:15 gone
Shots
NN 9 – 7 --- 15
NV 6 – 2 --- 8
Shots on goal
NN 6 – 5 --- 11
NV 3 – 2 --- 5
Saves (player)
NN 4 (Welch 2/2)
NV 9 (GK Soto 6/2; Kuhn 1)
Corner kicks
NN 1 – 2 --- 3
NV 1 – 1 --- 2
Offsides
NN 1 – 1 --- 2
NV 0 – 1 --- 1