Hopkins blast puts Neuqua V. past Geneva
Highlight-reel strike lifts Wildcats over Geneva in Naperville Inv.
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Neuqua Valley senior Danielle Hopkins made it sound like the goal she scored Thursday was routine.
“Honestly, I just got the ball, turned and (my coaches) have been telling me a lot lately to just go north-south or just go straight to goal,” Hopkins said. “So that’s what I was trying to do, keep going and just try to put one in because I knew we had to get one.
“I was going to do everything I could to get that in the back of the net.”
Hopkins did what was needed, taking a lead pass from Katelyn Nardulli up the right wing and ripping a 23-yard shot off the inside of the left post and in for her third goal of the season.
The brilliant strike, which came with 13:04 left in the second half, stood up as the game-winner in Neuqua Valley’s entertaining 2-1 victory over Geneva at the Naperville Invitational at Memorial Stadium.
The win gave the Wildcats (6-2-3) the Group B title and sends them into the tournament quarterfinals on April 25.
“(Winning the group) is really important to us,” Hopkins said. “At the beginning of the season, we were talking about how one of our goals was to try to win this invite because we know a lot of the teams in the tournament are state (title) winners, so we just want to go as far as we possibly can.”
To get past Geneva, the Wildcats had to figure out a way to get shots past Vikings goalkeeper Katie Montgomery, which was not an easy task. The Missouri State-bound junior is a hard-nosed, two-sport athlete (basketball) who has shown great leadership this spring.
But Hopkins, a Missouri S&T recruit who finished with a goal and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, placed her shot perfectly. When an opponent lauds your effort, you know you’ve accomplished something.
“I think when it comes down to it, every forward knows you’ve got to aim for the corners,” Montgomery said. “I’ve got to give props to that forward; she hit the inside corner.
“For keepers that’s hard, and she did a good job executing that shot.”
Neuqua did the better job of executing overall, outshooting Geneva 14-6. But Montgomery kept the Vikings (5-3-1) in contention by making six saves.
“I’m proud of us,” Montgomery said. “I’m proud of the heart we played with.
“We went down a goal, and we weren’t in a state of panic. I felt like we rose to the occasion. Jenna (Dominguez) was able to equalize us, and I’m really happy with the way we answered.
“Even when that second goal went in, the girls kept fighting. I felt that it was a team effort today and we played really hard. I felt like we were competing all 80 minutes.”
Neuqua Valley took a 1-0 lead with 6:43 to go in the first half when Hopkins sent a lead pass up the middle to Erin McCarthy, whose rocket from just inside the box found the upper right corner.
But Dominguez tied the game 1:07 before intermission when she bounced a long shot over the head of Neuqua keeper Kacey Gillespie. Defender Katelyn Cannon assisted on the play, which was just the third goal conceded by the Wildcats in the past five games.
That’s noteworthy because Neuqua coach Joe Moreau has converted two all-conference defenders to forward this season. He moved Shannon Tagler up at the start of the season and put McCarthy at striker beginning last Saturday.
McCarthy has scored three goals in the four games since, while Tagler has two assists in that time, including the helper on the game-winning goal in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Sandburg.
Neuqua has won four-straight games and has a seven-game unbeaten streak. The defense has remained rock solid with Paige Munar, Leah Senese, Brooke Miller and Alex Lichtman holding down the fort.
Miller, a freshman center back, has been dominant while enjoying varsity soccer.
“It’s really fun, because I like playing in a really competitive environment and playing against really competitive teams,” Miller said. “I have to make sure I’m on my top game.
“Especially as a center back I have to make sure I don’t make too many mistakes or it’s going to cause us (to allow) goals.
“I’m really trying to keep up so that I can stay with all the seniors and support them, because it’s their final year. I want to make it a good year for them so they can have a good goodbye before they leave Neuqua.”
Miller and her teammates had a challenge keeping up with the speedy Vikings, who at times engaged in some end-to-end action with Wildcats. Dominguez demonstrated how dangerous the Vikings are with her quick strike against the run of play just before halftime.
“After the first goal we kind of realized that we needed to get our communication together, especially because their forwards are really fast,” Miller said. “So we wanted to make sure that we kept supporting each other.”
The Wildcats did that by talking more. But that wasn’t the only ingredient needed for success.
“We had to make sure that we were being more brave than we were in the first half, so we could step and win balls,” Miller said. “Being more courageous is what made us do better in the second half so we didn’t let the forwards walk all over us. We kind of took charge of them.”
Though she’s not a senior, Montgomery has taken charge of the Vikings, who like the Wildcats have few easy games on their schedule. They’ve lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, but all three of their losses have been 2-1 defeats to ranked opponents.
“We’re right there,” Montgomery said. “Right now as a team we’re talking about our confidence, and we’re really focusing on our mental toughness.
“Playing in these (tough) games can only make us more confident.”
The Vikings, who finish group play against Sandburg on Saturday, have the confidence of coach Megan Owens, who is optimistic.
“We’re playing well,” Owens said. “We’re definitely making progress and making some strides, getting ready to where we need to be for the postseason.
“I’m really excited for this group. This is one of the more talented groups to come through Geneva, and so I’m excited to see what we do over the rest of this season and beyond. They fight really, really hard and play with a lot of heart.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Kasey Gillespie
D Paige Munar
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
D Leah Senese
M Piper Biziorek
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
F Erin McCarthy
F Shannon Tagler
F Alison Dovalovsky
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Annie Brolly
D Amanda Rose
D Kaitlyn Cannon
M Annalise Spindle
M Sydney Gratz
M Ava Green
F Stephanie Howe
F Jenna Domiguez
F Caitlin Farrell
F Chloe Frison
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Danielle Hopkins, sr., MF, Neuqua Valley
First half
Neuqua Valley – Erin McCarthy (Danielle Hopkins) 6:43
Geneva – Jenna Dominguez (Katilyn Cannon) 1:07
Second half
Neuqua Valley – Hopkins (Katelyn Nardulli) 13:04
Highlight-reel strike lifts Wildcats over Geneva in Naperville Inv.
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- Neuqua Valley senior Danielle Hopkins made it sound like the goal she scored Thursday was routine.
“Honestly, I just got the ball, turned and (my coaches) have been telling me a lot lately to just go north-south or just go straight to goal,” Hopkins said. “So that’s what I was trying to do, keep going and just try to put one in because I knew we had to get one.
“I was going to do everything I could to get that in the back of the net.”
Hopkins did what was needed, taking a lead pass from Katelyn Nardulli up the right wing and ripping a 23-yard shot off the inside of the left post and in for her third goal of the season.
The brilliant strike, which came with 13:04 left in the second half, stood up as the game-winner in Neuqua Valley’s entertaining 2-1 victory over Geneva at the Naperville Invitational at Memorial Stadium.
The win gave the Wildcats (6-2-3) the Group B title and sends them into the tournament quarterfinals on April 25.
“(Winning the group) is really important to us,” Hopkins said. “At the beginning of the season, we were talking about how one of our goals was to try to win this invite because we know a lot of the teams in the tournament are state (title) winners, so we just want to go as far as we possibly can.”
To get past Geneva, the Wildcats had to figure out a way to get shots past Vikings goalkeeper Katie Montgomery, which was not an easy task. The Missouri State-bound junior is a hard-nosed, two-sport athlete (basketball) who has shown great leadership this spring.
But Hopkins, a Missouri S&T recruit who finished with a goal and an assist to earn Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, placed her shot perfectly. When an opponent lauds your effort, you know you’ve accomplished something.
“I think when it comes down to it, every forward knows you’ve got to aim for the corners,” Montgomery said. “I’ve got to give props to that forward; she hit the inside corner.
“For keepers that’s hard, and she did a good job executing that shot.”
Neuqua did the better job of executing overall, outshooting Geneva 14-6. But Montgomery kept the Vikings (5-3-1) in contention by making six saves.
“I’m proud of us,” Montgomery said. “I’m proud of the heart we played with.
“We went down a goal, and we weren’t in a state of panic. I felt like we rose to the occasion. Jenna (Dominguez) was able to equalize us, and I’m really happy with the way we answered.
“Even when that second goal went in, the girls kept fighting. I felt that it was a team effort today and we played really hard. I felt like we were competing all 80 minutes.”
Neuqua Valley took a 1-0 lead with 6:43 to go in the first half when Hopkins sent a lead pass up the middle to Erin McCarthy, whose rocket from just inside the box found the upper right corner.
But Dominguez tied the game 1:07 before intermission when she bounced a long shot over the head of Neuqua keeper Kacey Gillespie. Defender Katelyn Cannon assisted on the play, which was just the third goal conceded by the Wildcats in the past five games.
That’s noteworthy because Neuqua coach Joe Moreau has converted two all-conference defenders to forward this season. He moved Shannon Tagler up at the start of the season and put McCarthy at striker beginning last Saturday.
McCarthy has scored three goals in the four games since, while Tagler has two assists in that time, including the helper on the game-winning goal in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Sandburg.
Neuqua has won four-straight games and has a seven-game unbeaten streak. The defense has remained rock solid with Paige Munar, Leah Senese, Brooke Miller and Alex Lichtman holding down the fort.
Miller, a freshman center back, has been dominant while enjoying varsity soccer.
“It’s really fun, because I like playing in a really competitive environment and playing against really competitive teams,” Miller said. “I have to make sure I’m on my top game.
“Especially as a center back I have to make sure I don’t make too many mistakes or it’s going to cause us (to allow) goals.
“I’m really trying to keep up so that I can stay with all the seniors and support them, because it’s their final year. I want to make it a good year for them so they can have a good goodbye before they leave Neuqua.”
Miller and her teammates had a challenge keeping up with the speedy Vikings, who at times engaged in some end-to-end action with Wildcats. Dominguez demonstrated how dangerous the Vikings are with her quick strike against the run of play just before halftime.
“After the first goal we kind of realized that we needed to get our communication together, especially because their forwards are really fast,” Miller said. “So we wanted to make sure that we kept supporting each other.”
The Wildcats did that by talking more. But that wasn’t the only ingredient needed for success.
“We had to make sure that we were being more brave than we were in the first half, so we could step and win balls,” Miller said. “Being more courageous is what made us do better in the second half so we didn’t let the forwards walk all over us. We kind of took charge of them.”
Though she’s not a senior, Montgomery has taken charge of the Vikings, who like the Wildcats have few easy games on their schedule. They’ve lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, but all three of their losses have been 2-1 defeats to ranked opponents.
“We’re right there,” Montgomery said. “Right now as a team we’re talking about our confidence, and we’re really focusing on our mental toughness.
“Playing in these (tough) games can only make us more confident.”
The Vikings, who finish group play against Sandburg on Saturday, have the confidence of coach Megan Owens, who is optimistic.
“We’re playing well,” Owens said. “We’re definitely making progress and making some strides, getting ready to where we need to be for the postseason.
“I’m really excited for this group. This is one of the more talented groups to come through Geneva, and so I’m excited to see what we do over the rest of this season and beyond. They fight really, really hard and play with a lot of heart.”
Starting lineups
Neuqua Valley
GK Kasey Gillespie
D Paige Munar
D Brooke Miller
D Alex Lichtman
D Leah Senese
M Piper Biziorek
M Katelyn Nardulli
M Danielle Hopkins
F Erin McCarthy
F Shannon Tagler
F Alison Dovalovsky
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Annie Brolly
D Amanda Rose
D Kaitlyn Cannon
M Annalise Spindle
M Sydney Gratz
M Ava Green
F Stephanie Howe
F Jenna Domiguez
F Caitlin Farrell
F Chloe Frison
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Danielle Hopkins, sr., MF, Neuqua Valley
First half
Neuqua Valley – Erin McCarthy (Danielle Hopkins) 6:43
Geneva – Jenna Dominguez (Katilyn Cannon) 1:07
Second half
Neuqua Valley – Hopkins (Katelyn Nardulli) 13:04