Girls soccer: Naperville North, Naperville Central finish scoreless in storm-shortened match

Sometimes the weather ruins your plans. Like on Thursday when storms swept through Naperville.

The stormy weather forced the DuPage Valley Conference game between visiting Naperville North and Naperville Central to be called a tie with 32:02 remaining in the second half and the teams scoreless.

Lighting and rain were lingering over Memorial Stadium well over 90 minutes after the officials cleared the field.

“You hate that the biggest regular-season game doesn’t get the conclusion that I think both us and North’s girls wanted,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “All the girls were upset, but you did get 48 minutes of some fast-paced exciting soccer with a lot of skill and a lot of just heart. You can see both teams weren’t going to give any inches. They weren’t going to back down from each other and I thought that the intensity for those 48 minutes, I mean, they’ve had a really good season but it bodes well for us.”

Both teams were able to apply pressure on each other but both also rose to the occasion when needed to thwart those opportunities.

“I thought it was a great game,” Huskies coach Steve Golertz said. “I thought we played a very good first half. We generated a ton of chances. We had seven or eight corner kicks and hit the post again. And it’s kind of been the story of our season a little bit with just playing great soccer, getting a ton of chances and not putting our chances away.”

Naperville Central (8-5-1, 2-1-1) certainly played a part in disallowing the Huskies to convert their threats.

“Central played really well tonight,” Goletz said. “They were really organized and did a great job of creating some of their own chances. Their front three are super dangerous. I thought we won balls when we needed to win them and tried to keep it forward. We did enough to get one (goal), but scoring goals is the hardest thing in soccer.”

Adjustments coming into the game proved key for the Redhawks.

“We even made some adjustments the last two days and you’re always nervous when you make an adjustment,” Adams said. “How is it going to go in a real game? And I can’t say enough about the way that the girls bought into it. This is how we’re going to win. It’s going to be a little different. We all bought into it. They said this is going to help us and that type of attitude is what carries teams in the postseason. It’s what gives that motivation to adjust to opponent you haven’t seen before.”

Naperville North (10-4-4, 3-0-1) got some strong stops from sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Ochsner to keep the game deadlocked.

“Olivia made three great saves in the first half on some great shots,” Goletz said. “(Emerson) Burke hit two great free kicks at her and she held both of them, so they had chances to score, too. So 0-0 is a fitting score going into the half and you hope for the kids that they can finish the game. It’s a tough thing when both sides played hard, both sides competed, both sides generated chances and it was one of those things where you just kind of wanted to see where the game was going to go.”

Burke thought the Redhawks were on the cusp on breaking through.

“We were really upset and honestly we think we would’ve gotten one in the second half,” she said. “We really just want to play them again. The emotions were so high.”

The Huskies are still hoping to win the conference. They host Waubonsie Valley (10-4-2, 3-0) on Tuesday in their conference finale.

“We still control our own destiny,” Goletz said. “But this is also a good lesson for us that it’s important to convert your chances because you never know. There were a couple there we could’ve had and if the game would’ve ended and you’re on top going into halftime then you know you’ve done the work.”

The Huskies came in riding high after rallying to beat Metea Valley (11-2-1, 2-1) on Tuesday.

“I told the girls you played a great half after playing 80 great minutes against Metea,” Goletz said. “We played 40 more minutes and the performance was fantastic, so again I’m happy from that respect.”

After hanging tough with the Huskies, the Redhawks are heading into the final week of the season and postseason feeling quite optimistic.

“All four (Chloe Mowry, Lauren Thorne, Charlotte Turner, Morgan Dudgeon) of the seniors are the ones getting everyone else to buy in,” Adams said. “I feel great about our opportunity next Tuesday against Metea (Valley) and I feel great about the state tournament because I got four leaders that are seniors. I’ve got three senior captains that are outstanding and the other players are buying in. They are 100% on board and know winning is important and playing as a team becomes such a priority as you get later in the season.”