Naperville North comeback
stuns Naperville Central
Huskies rally twice for 3-2 win, take fifth-straight sectional title
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD -- With their team leading by a goal midway through the second half, Naperville Central fans began chanting “overrated” to Naperville North star Alex Barger.
Big mistake.
Despite being limited to one shot, the Indiana-bound Barger still found a way to again break the hearts of the Huskies' cross-town rivals Saturday. The junior forward assisted on two goals with less than 14 minutes left in the second half as top-seeded Naperville North (21-5-2) rallied to eliminate third-seeded Naperville Central 3-2 at Plainfield North. It was the Huskies fifth-straight sectional title.
The winners advance to the Lewis University Supersectional to face Morton (20-1-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It will be a rematch of the 2019 supersectional, which saw Morton end Naperville North’s bid for a fourth-straight state title with a win in penalty kicks after a 3-3 tie through overtime.
Barger wasn’t bothered by the chants. He’s too much of a cool customer to get rattled.
“Yeah, I heard them,” Barger said. “We’re all used to it.
“We handle the pressure pretty well. It comes with confidence from our team, from myself, to put in the work, shut that stuff out and just play our game.”
The upset-minded Redhawks, who had lost two one-goal games to the Huskies during the regular season, played their best game, but it still wasn’t enough. Naperville North twice rallied from a goal down to become the first team to score more than two goals against Naperville Central this season.
“Central no doubt was playing a great game,” Barger said. “It was the third time we were playing them.
“We knew they would be a tough team. They’re always a tough program, but it was a great feeling to come out and get a win.”
Barger has smashed the Redhawks’ hopes before by scoring late goals or setting up winners, but never before in a playoff game.
He sent a pair of beautiful crosses to set up the game-tying and game-winning goals.
Reserve senior midfielder Jaxon Grier tied the game at 2-2 with 13:37 remaining when he ran under Barger’s perfectly played diagonal ball from the left wing and sent a header crashing inside the left post.
It was the second career goal for Grier, a varsity rookie. Both have come in the state tournament – the other was in a 6-1 win over Plainfield South in the playoff opener.
“The whole game they were tracking Cam (Radeke), so I knew that I’d have a lot of space open on the outside wing,” Grier said. “When Alex took that ball up, I knew they were going to track Cameron, so I made the run.
“I was definitely nervous. I knew I had an open goal so I had to pick a spot where the goalkeeper wasn’t. I placed the ball, and it went in.”
Naperville North coach Jim Konrad was thrilled for Grier.
“That’s a nervy situation,” Konrad said. “You’re down 2-1.
“Alex hits a long cross, Jaxon beats his guy inside. He’s right there, and he hits it inside the far post like he’s supposed to.”
Jacob Ryu then got the game-winner on a similar play at the 4:49 mark. This time Barger was about 15 yards closer to the goal but still on the left wing when he crossed to the back post. Ryu was waiting to knock in another header.
Barger and Ryu have combined many times for goals like that, but this was the first time Grier got on the end of one. It didn’t come as a surprise to the Huskies, though.
“Jaxon is a great player,” Barger said. “I play with him during club.
“I know the work that he does. He puts in a ton of good work, and you saw it today here with his goal.
“He buried it. He was digging not just on that goal but for the entire 80 minutes.”
Grier has played regularly in all but a handful of games this season. His time varied depending on the opponent, but usually averaged about 40 minutes.
Grier played more than that in this match.
“Jaxon is a kid we’ve had high hopes for the whole time,” Konrad said. “He’s incredibly athletic. He can get up and down the field well.
“Some games lend themselves to certain players. Today’s game lent itself to Jaxon.
“You can see when he got in the game changed, because he’s able to get forward for us and make them respect us in behind. Then he can track back 80 yards. He wins great balls for us in the air defensively.”
Grier and the rest of the Huskies had to work harder than normal defensively because the Redhawks (15-8-1) controlled the action for much of the first hour. North had only three shots in the first half – all on headers from Adam Zielke off set pieces – and seven overall.
Naperville Central grabbed a 1-0 lead when Nathan Kwon powered home a header off a Ben Teitjen cross with 16:46 left in the first half. The Redhawks nearly scored again less than two minutes after intermission when Johnny Kim briefly got loose behind the defense in the box. His shot was deflected wide by Naperville North goalkeeper Patrick Horn, who made five of his six saves after halftime.
Then the Huskies caught a break. Naperville Central goalkeeper Austin Waite made a great diving stop near the left post on Ryu’s 25-yard free kick. The ball rolled free along the left endline, where Keegan Flaherty chased after it.
Flaherty and the ball were heading away from the net when Waite pushed Flaherty from behind, drawing a penalty kick. Radeke converted it for his team-leading 17th goal to tie the game 1-1 with 24:20 to go.
The Redhawks responded 1:28 later when junior Sean O’Reilly boomed a 40-yard free kick from near the left sideline. Horn jumped and got a hand on it, but the ball still went in to give Central a 2-1 lead.
“I thought we were going to keep the lead,” O’Reilly said. “I thought we were going to stay disciplined on defense and not let any stupid mistakes happen.
“Our defense was great the whole game. Nothing was going by them. Their top four weren’t doing anything. We had them.”
But great teams find a way to win when things look bleak, and that’s what the Huskies did.
“This one hurt,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “It hurt, because I thought we did a good job of executing our game plan. I thought we did a good job with our work rate and when you do those two things …
“They got the goal, and we got it right back. I thought up until that point we had kind of had the run of play in the second half as well, produced a lot of opportunities that we had worked on trying to execute. The problem with soccer is that it doesn’t always go to script.”
This screenplay read like a thriller, and the Huskies rewrote the ending to suit themselves.
“Any time you play a good team, they’re going to take advantage of mistakes,” Adams said. “To their credit, they weathered the storm.
“We got the second (goal) and then we had three-four-five corners and throw-ins. They were disciplined in the back and breaking them down is hard, because they are disciplined. They do those little things right.”
Barger was asked if he enjoyed playing in big games as much as the fans enjoyed watching them.
“I enjoy it a ton, especially with the guys,” Barger said. “It means a whole lot to us to gut out those 80 minutes and work and work and work and eventually get a nice finish at the end.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Patrick Horn
D Cole Ritzmann
D Adam Zielke
D Ryan Konrad
D Alex Arredondo
M Tyson Amoo-Mensah
M Jacob Ryu
M Bryan Higgs
F Cam Radeke
F Keegan Flaherty
F Alex Barger
Naperville Central
GK Dean Scott
D Mateo Lopez
D Patrick Berryman
D Patrick Bohan
D Matt Driessens
M Carter Adams
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Johnny Kim
F Ben Teitjen
F Nathan Kwon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jaxon Grier, sr., MF, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
NC: Nathan Kwon (Ben Teitjen) 16:46 remaining
Second half
NN: Cam Radeke (PK) 24:20 remaining
NC: Sean O’Reilly 22:52 remaining
NN: Jaxon Grier (Alex Barger) 13:37 remaining
NN: Jacob Ryu (Barger) 4:49 remaining
stuns Naperville Central
Huskies rally twice for 3-2 win, take fifth-straight sectional title
By Matt Le Cren
PLAINFIELD -- With their team leading by a goal midway through the second half, Naperville Central fans began chanting “overrated” to Naperville North star Alex Barger.
Big mistake.
Despite being limited to one shot, the Indiana-bound Barger still found a way to again break the hearts of the Huskies' cross-town rivals Saturday. The junior forward assisted on two goals with less than 14 minutes left in the second half as top-seeded Naperville North (21-5-2) rallied to eliminate third-seeded Naperville Central 3-2 at Plainfield North. It was the Huskies fifth-straight sectional title.
The winners advance to the Lewis University Supersectional to face Morton (20-1-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It will be a rematch of the 2019 supersectional, which saw Morton end Naperville North’s bid for a fourth-straight state title with a win in penalty kicks after a 3-3 tie through overtime.
Barger wasn’t bothered by the chants. He’s too much of a cool customer to get rattled.
“Yeah, I heard them,” Barger said. “We’re all used to it.
“We handle the pressure pretty well. It comes with confidence from our team, from myself, to put in the work, shut that stuff out and just play our game.”
The upset-minded Redhawks, who had lost two one-goal games to the Huskies during the regular season, played their best game, but it still wasn’t enough. Naperville North twice rallied from a goal down to become the first team to score more than two goals against Naperville Central this season.
“Central no doubt was playing a great game,” Barger said. “It was the third time we were playing them.
“We knew they would be a tough team. They’re always a tough program, but it was a great feeling to come out and get a win.”
Barger has smashed the Redhawks’ hopes before by scoring late goals or setting up winners, but never before in a playoff game.
He sent a pair of beautiful crosses to set up the game-tying and game-winning goals.
Reserve senior midfielder Jaxon Grier tied the game at 2-2 with 13:37 remaining when he ran under Barger’s perfectly played diagonal ball from the left wing and sent a header crashing inside the left post.
It was the second career goal for Grier, a varsity rookie. Both have come in the state tournament – the other was in a 6-1 win over Plainfield South in the playoff opener.
“The whole game they were tracking Cam (Radeke), so I knew that I’d have a lot of space open on the outside wing,” Grier said. “When Alex took that ball up, I knew they were going to track Cameron, so I made the run.
“I was definitely nervous. I knew I had an open goal so I had to pick a spot where the goalkeeper wasn’t. I placed the ball, and it went in.”
Naperville North coach Jim Konrad was thrilled for Grier.
“That’s a nervy situation,” Konrad said. “You’re down 2-1.
“Alex hits a long cross, Jaxon beats his guy inside. He’s right there, and he hits it inside the far post like he’s supposed to.”
Jacob Ryu then got the game-winner on a similar play at the 4:49 mark. This time Barger was about 15 yards closer to the goal but still on the left wing when he crossed to the back post. Ryu was waiting to knock in another header.
Barger and Ryu have combined many times for goals like that, but this was the first time Grier got on the end of one. It didn’t come as a surprise to the Huskies, though.
“Jaxon is a great player,” Barger said. “I play with him during club.
“I know the work that he does. He puts in a ton of good work, and you saw it today here with his goal.
“He buried it. He was digging not just on that goal but for the entire 80 minutes.”
Grier has played regularly in all but a handful of games this season. His time varied depending on the opponent, but usually averaged about 40 minutes.
Grier played more than that in this match.
“Jaxon is a kid we’ve had high hopes for the whole time,” Konrad said. “He’s incredibly athletic. He can get up and down the field well.
“Some games lend themselves to certain players. Today’s game lent itself to Jaxon.
“You can see when he got in the game changed, because he’s able to get forward for us and make them respect us in behind. Then he can track back 80 yards. He wins great balls for us in the air defensively.”
Grier and the rest of the Huskies had to work harder than normal defensively because the Redhawks (15-8-1) controlled the action for much of the first hour. North had only three shots in the first half – all on headers from Adam Zielke off set pieces – and seven overall.
Naperville Central grabbed a 1-0 lead when Nathan Kwon powered home a header off a Ben Teitjen cross with 16:46 left in the first half. The Redhawks nearly scored again less than two minutes after intermission when Johnny Kim briefly got loose behind the defense in the box. His shot was deflected wide by Naperville North goalkeeper Patrick Horn, who made five of his six saves after halftime.
Then the Huskies caught a break. Naperville Central goalkeeper Austin Waite made a great diving stop near the left post on Ryu’s 25-yard free kick. The ball rolled free along the left endline, where Keegan Flaherty chased after it.
Flaherty and the ball were heading away from the net when Waite pushed Flaherty from behind, drawing a penalty kick. Radeke converted it for his team-leading 17th goal to tie the game 1-1 with 24:20 to go.
The Redhawks responded 1:28 later when junior Sean O’Reilly boomed a 40-yard free kick from near the left sideline. Horn jumped and got a hand on it, but the ball still went in to give Central a 2-1 lead.
“I thought we were going to keep the lead,” O’Reilly said. “I thought we were going to stay disciplined on defense and not let any stupid mistakes happen.
“Our defense was great the whole game. Nothing was going by them. Their top four weren’t doing anything. We had them.”
But great teams find a way to win when things look bleak, and that’s what the Huskies did.
“This one hurt,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “It hurt, because I thought we did a good job of executing our game plan. I thought we did a good job with our work rate and when you do those two things …
“They got the goal, and we got it right back. I thought up until that point we had kind of had the run of play in the second half as well, produced a lot of opportunities that we had worked on trying to execute. The problem with soccer is that it doesn’t always go to script.”
This screenplay read like a thriller, and the Huskies rewrote the ending to suit themselves.
“Any time you play a good team, they’re going to take advantage of mistakes,” Adams said. “To their credit, they weathered the storm.
“We got the second (goal) and then we had three-four-five corners and throw-ins. They were disciplined in the back and breaking them down is hard, because they are disciplined. They do those little things right.”
Barger was asked if he enjoyed playing in big games as much as the fans enjoyed watching them.
“I enjoy it a ton, especially with the guys,” Barger said. “It means a whole lot to us to gut out those 80 minutes and work and work and work and eventually get a nice finish at the end.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK Patrick Horn
D Cole Ritzmann
D Adam Zielke
D Ryan Konrad
D Alex Arredondo
M Tyson Amoo-Mensah
M Jacob Ryu
M Bryan Higgs
F Cam Radeke
F Keegan Flaherty
F Alex Barger
Naperville Central
GK Dean Scott
D Mateo Lopez
D Patrick Berryman
D Patrick Bohan
D Matt Driessens
M Carter Adams
M Josh Weigel
M Sean O’Reilly
M Johnny Kim
F Ben Teitjen
F Nathan Kwon
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jaxon Grier, sr., MF, Naperville North.
Scoring summary
First half
NC: Nathan Kwon (Ben Teitjen) 16:46 remaining
Second half
NN: Cam Radeke (PK) 24:20 remaining
NC: Sean O’Reilly 22:52 remaining
NN: Jaxon Grier (Alex Barger) 13:37 remaining
NN: Jacob Ryu (Barger) 4:49 remaining