Naperville N. guarantees share of title,
ousts WWS from DVC race
Martin goal delivers 2-1 road victory for Huskies
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – Hannah Martin did it again.
The Naperville North sophomore forward scored her sixth game-winning goal of the season Tuesday night, and this one came with a big prize.
Thanks to Martin’s 11th-minute strike that provided a two-goal cushion and another stellar defensive effort, the visiting Huskies, ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, clinched a share of the DuPage Valley Conference championship when they knocked off no. 12 Wheaton Warrenville South 2-1 at Red Grange Field
Naperville North (14-3-4, 7-1-0) got back to the top perch it was knocked off last year by Neuqua Valley. The fifth-ranked Wildcats can retain a share of the title with a win over Wheaton Warrenville South on Thursday.
“It feels great, especially for the seniors,” Martin said of capturing the league title. “I know they’ve won it before, and they really wanted to get it back before graduating, so it was huge for them, and it felt great to do it as a team tonight.”
The talented Martin, who now has nine goals in her rookie season on the varsity, played a big role. The Huskies grabbed the lead in the fourth minute thanks to an own goal and that seemed to energize them.
Martin found the back of the net with a short shot in the 11th minute.
“It was a corner kick, and I think someone headed it on the other team,” Martin said. “It just happened to come down, and I knew I had to get at least something on it to see if I could get it in. I happened to put it in the back of the net tonight.”
Martin is becoming adept at doing that, which doesn’t surprise Naperville North coach Steve Goletz.
“Hannah Martin, I’ve said from Day 1, has all the potential in the world, and I knew that last year,” Goletz said. “We had a lot of kids up-top last year that were seniors.
“Hannah is a superb athlete. She is an unbelievable competitor and now that the confidence piece is starting to come where she sees what she can do on a regular basis, the sky is the limit.
“The girls know that she is super dangerous, and tonight she proved that once again. We’re very excited to watch what she does not only the rest of this year but also the next two years.”
Unlike speedy senior winger Shaina Dudas, Martin is a target forward who can hold the ball against challengers while also providing a powerful shot. Now she feels she belongs at the varsity level.
“For sure, and I think a lot of the credit has to go to Megan (Benmore) and Doody (Dudas),” Martin said. “They’ve really helped me this season, especially being returning varsity players.
“They play me the ball, get me comfortable up there and know that I have more confidence to go forward now.”
The early two-goal lead provided the Huskies the confidence they needed to hold off the Tigers (12-6-0, 4-2-0), who provided a stiff challenge the rest of the match.
“It was a big help to get up early. That was one of our goals coming into this, because we have struggled with scoring a little bit,” Martin said. “Those two goals early really got us going, and I think that really helped, especially when they hit a great shot from outside and scored.”
Martin was referring to the most exciting play of the game. It came with 12:16 left in the second half when Wheaton Warrenville South defender Sam Buol unleashed a 25-yard cracker into the upper right corner of the net to make it 2-1.
It was the first varsity goal for Buol, who was stationed near midfield when Allie Anderson triggered the play with a corner kick.
The Tigers’ first shot was blocked by the defense and the ball squirted out the top of the penalty area. Buol, who had a 25-yard head of steam, struck it flush on the dead run and blew it by Naperville North goalkeeper Maddie Hausmann, who made a valiant effort but couldn’t get to it.
“I saw J.J. (Aalbue) touch it, and I saw another girl going after it, and I was like, ‘If we want to have a chance to get back in this game, I’ve got to just kick it,’” Buol said. “I felt it, and I was like ‘This is going in.’”
Tigers coach Guy Callipari knew it too.
“You could see it right off her foot,” Callipari said. “She snapped it and that thing just had eyes. It was fun to watch.”
So was most of the match for Callipari, whose squad had the better of the run of play for the majority of the match after the Huskies controlled the first 20 minutes.
The Tigers, who entered the game still in contention for the DVC title, outshot the Huskies 8-1 in the second half.
“I don’t know if it’s youth, but we didn’t come out with our best foot forward in the moment that called for something a little bit more special,” Callipari said.
“Then to be on our heels and flat, that was disappointing early on when they were obviously gunning for the same thing, a DVC championship.
“They looked like they came to play for it, and we were looking for something else. We didn’t find it, but we found a little more inspiration the second half. We gave ourselves a couple good opportunities.”
What led to the new life after the break?
“A lot of the foundation starts at halftime and talking about what we need to focus on,” Buol said. “We say how we need to have energy, because we were not ourselves during the first half.
“All of the seniors and upperclassmen were like, ‘Guys, we’re so much better than this.’ And all of us underclassmen looked at them, and we had to trust them.”
Yet as they have done so many times over the past several years, the Huskies found a way to win a close game. They gave up only one other scoring opportunity, a 17-yard shot off the toe of Morgan Schwerin that sailed well over the crossbar with 40 seconds remaining.
“Overall, (against) a team like Wheaton South that has so much firepower up-top, we did a fantastic job,” Goletz said. “The girl buries a dream shot on a half-clear off a corner kick. Other than that, I thought we did a really nice job of bottling them up and not letting them be super dangerous, even though I would say for a good
majority of the game they had the better of the play.”
The Huskies squandered a couple of great chances that would have extended the lead. The second came just 30 seconds after Buol’s goal when Dudas fired an open shot just wide of the right post.
Despite that miss, the foray seemed to reestablish Naperville North’s command.
“I told the girls the response after giving up the goal was fantastic,” Goletz said. “I wish Doody would have found a way to slip that by their goalkeeper, but it was a great response.
“They didn’t hang their heads and generated two chances back-to-back, and that really changed the momentum for the last eight minutes. The girls knew what was at stake tonight and to at least get a share of the DVC tonight was good. I’m proud of the team.”
Even though the Tigers’ dreams of winning the DVC in their final year in the league were dashed, they can still earn a share of second place by beating Neuqua Valley on Thursday and Wheaton North in the regular season finale Saturday.
Beyond that, Callipari is pleased to see that his team has battled some of the top teams in the state down to the final seconds.
“I want to look at the ability to be competitive,” Callipari said. “Because if you can match up with (the Huskies) and (no. 1) St. Charles North, then we can be inspired come postseason and have an opportunity there as well.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Maddie Hausmann
D Paige Sylvester
D Reilly Riggs
D Jessica Siebers
D Sarah Stokes
M Alyssa Siebers
M Katelynn Buescher
M Leah Shumate
F Hannah Martin
F Megan Benmore
F Shaina Dudas
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Abbie Brennan
D Claire Kiple
D Molly Fank
D Sam Buol
D Maria Dohse
M Evelyn Demsher
M Allie Anderson
M Audrey Siebert
M Jennifer Aalbue
F Paige Miller
F Morgan Schwerin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Hannah Martin, so., F, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – WWS own goal, 4th minute
Naperville North – Hannah Martin (unassisted), 11th minute
Second half
WW South – Sam Buol (unassisted), 68th minute
ousts WWS from DVC race
Martin goal delivers 2-1 road victory for Huskies
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON – Hannah Martin did it again.
The Naperville North sophomore forward scored her sixth game-winning goal of the season Tuesday night, and this one came with a big prize.
Thanks to Martin’s 11th-minute strike that provided a two-goal cushion and another stellar defensive effort, the visiting Huskies, ranked third in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, clinched a share of the DuPage Valley Conference championship when they knocked off no. 12 Wheaton Warrenville South 2-1 at Red Grange Field
Naperville North (14-3-4, 7-1-0) got back to the top perch it was knocked off last year by Neuqua Valley. The fifth-ranked Wildcats can retain a share of the title with a win over Wheaton Warrenville South on Thursday.
“It feels great, especially for the seniors,” Martin said of capturing the league title. “I know they’ve won it before, and they really wanted to get it back before graduating, so it was huge for them, and it felt great to do it as a team tonight.”
The talented Martin, who now has nine goals in her rookie season on the varsity, played a big role. The Huskies grabbed the lead in the fourth minute thanks to an own goal and that seemed to energize them.
Martin found the back of the net with a short shot in the 11th minute.
“It was a corner kick, and I think someone headed it on the other team,” Martin said. “It just happened to come down, and I knew I had to get at least something on it to see if I could get it in. I happened to put it in the back of the net tonight.”
Martin is becoming adept at doing that, which doesn’t surprise Naperville North coach Steve Goletz.
“Hannah Martin, I’ve said from Day 1, has all the potential in the world, and I knew that last year,” Goletz said. “We had a lot of kids up-top last year that were seniors.
“Hannah is a superb athlete. She is an unbelievable competitor and now that the confidence piece is starting to come where she sees what she can do on a regular basis, the sky is the limit.
“The girls know that she is super dangerous, and tonight she proved that once again. We’re very excited to watch what she does not only the rest of this year but also the next two years.”
Unlike speedy senior winger Shaina Dudas, Martin is a target forward who can hold the ball against challengers while also providing a powerful shot. Now she feels she belongs at the varsity level.
“For sure, and I think a lot of the credit has to go to Megan (Benmore) and Doody (Dudas),” Martin said. “They’ve really helped me this season, especially being returning varsity players.
“They play me the ball, get me comfortable up there and know that I have more confidence to go forward now.”
The early two-goal lead provided the Huskies the confidence they needed to hold off the Tigers (12-6-0, 4-2-0), who provided a stiff challenge the rest of the match.
“It was a big help to get up early. That was one of our goals coming into this, because we have struggled with scoring a little bit,” Martin said. “Those two goals early really got us going, and I think that really helped, especially when they hit a great shot from outside and scored.”
Martin was referring to the most exciting play of the game. It came with 12:16 left in the second half when Wheaton Warrenville South defender Sam Buol unleashed a 25-yard cracker into the upper right corner of the net to make it 2-1.
It was the first varsity goal for Buol, who was stationed near midfield when Allie Anderson triggered the play with a corner kick.
The Tigers’ first shot was blocked by the defense and the ball squirted out the top of the penalty area. Buol, who had a 25-yard head of steam, struck it flush on the dead run and blew it by Naperville North goalkeeper Maddie Hausmann, who made a valiant effort but couldn’t get to it.
“I saw J.J. (Aalbue) touch it, and I saw another girl going after it, and I was like, ‘If we want to have a chance to get back in this game, I’ve got to just kick it,’” Buol said. “I felt it, and I was like ‘This is going in.’”
Tigers coach Guy Callipari knew it too.
“You could see it right off her foot,” Callipari said. “She snapped it and that thing just had eyes. It was fun to watch.”
So was most of the match for Callipari, whose squad had the better of the run of play for the majority of the match after the Huskies controlled the first 20 minutes.
The Tigers, who entered the game still in contention for the DVC title, outshot the Huskies 8-1 in the second half.
“I don’t know if it’s youth, but we didn’t come out with our best foot forward in the moment that called for something a little bit more special,” Callipari said.
“Then to be on our heels and flat, that was disappointing early on when they were obviously gunning for the same thing, a DVC championship.
“They looked like they came to play for it, and we were looking for something else. We didn’t find it, but we found a little more inspiration the second half. We gave ourselves a couple good opportunities.”
What led to the new life after the break?
“A lot of the foundation starts at halftime and talking about what we need to focus on,” Buol said. “We say how we need to have energy, because we were not ourselves during the first half.
“All of the seniors and upperclassmen were like, ‘Guys, we’re so much better than this.’ And all of us underclassmen looked at them, and we had to trust them.”
Yet as they have done so many times over the past several years, the Huskies found a way to win a close game. They gave up only one other scoring opportunity, a 17-yard shot off the toe of Morgan Schwerin that sailed well over the crossbar with 40 seconds remaining.
“Overall, (against) a team like Wheaton South that has so much firepower up-top, we did a fantastic job,” Goletz said. “The girl buries a dream shot on a half-clear off a corner kick. Other than that, I thought we did a really nice job of bottling them up and not letting them be super dangerous, even though I would say for a good
majority of the game they had the better of the play.”
The Huskies squandered a couple of great chances that would have extended the lead. The second came just 30 seconds after Buol’s goal when Dudas fired an open shot just wide of the right post.
Despite that miss, the foray seemed to reestablish Naperville North’s command.
“I told the girls the response after giving up the goal was fantastic,” Goletz said. “I wish Doody would have found a way to slip that by their goalkeeper, but it was a great response.
“They didn’t hang their heads and generated two chances back-to-back, and that really changed the momentum for the last eight minutes. The girls knew what was at stake tonight and to at least get a share of the DVC tonight was good. I’m proud of the team.”
Even though the Tigers’ dreams of winning the DVC in their final year in the league were dashed, they can still earn a share of second place by beating Neuqua Valley on Thursday and Wheaton North in the regular season finale Saturday.
Beyond that, Callipari is pleased to see that his team has battled some of the top teams in the state down to the final seconds.
“I want to look at the ability to be competitive,” Callipari said. “Because if you can match up with (the Huskies) and (no. 1) St. Charles North, then we can be inspired come postseason and have an opportunity there as well.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Maddie Hausmann
D Paige Sylvester
D Reilly Riggs
D Jessica Siebers
D Sarah Stokes
M Alyssa Siebers
M Katelynn Buescher
M Leah Shumate
F Hannah Martin
F Megan Benmore
F Shaina Dudas
Wheaton Warrenville South
GK Abbie Brennan
D Claire Kiple
D Molly Fank
D Sam Buol
D Maria Dohse
M Evelyn Demsher
M Allie Anderson
M Audrey Siebert
M Jennifer Aalbue
F Paige Miller
F Morgan Schwerin
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Hannah Martin, so., F, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
Naperville North – WWS own goal, 4th minute
Naperville North – Hannah Martin (unassisted), 11th minute
Second half
WW South – Sam Buol (unassisted), 68th minute