Girls Soccer: State Title Within Reach For Naperville North

Two weeks ago, the thought of Naperville North’s girls soccer team reaching the Class 3A state tournament this weekend wasn’t on many people’s minds.

With nationally ranked and unbeaten Neuqua Valley in the sectional, and having given up only one goal since late April, many figured it was a foregone conclusion that the Wildcats would roll to the state title.

But after the Huskies pulled off the state’s biggest upset last Friday by stunning Neuqua, then followed with a convincing supersectional win over York on Tuesday, the Huskies find themselves looking for the program’s second state title starting Friday at Naperville Central. They will face Conant at 5 p.m. in the state semifinals.

“At this point, once Neuqua got knocked out, every team is dead even, I have to be honest,” said Naperville North coach Brent Terada. “Right now it’s all about moving on. It’s not about style points. It’s not about stats. It’s just, do you do enough to get by?

The whole year has been focused on doing it the right way. Now it’s just get it done. That’s all that matters.”

North certainly has done that in the past month. After a stunning loss to Wheaton Warrenville South that dropped North’s record to 9-5-1, the Huskies have rattled off eight straight wins, allowing only four goals in the process.

A string of four straight shutouts, the last three of which were all 1-0, was snapped with Tuesday’s 2-1 win.

Yet despite all that, many doubted that North had what it took to overcome Neuqua, even among its own fan base.

“Everyone at school was like, ‘I don’t know if you guys are going to win,’” said sophomore Zoe Swift, who scored both Huskies goals Tuesday. “We wanted to show them, just win.”

North’s first opponent at state is Conant, whom the Huskies beat, 2-0, on April 28 at the Naperville Invitational. Conant advanced with a 1-0 win over Loyola on Tuesday.

“For us to have the opportunity to see Conant again in the semifinals, we couldn’t be more excited about it,” Terada said.

Fremd will face downstate Granite City in the second semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. The winners of the two games will face off for the state championship Saturday at 7 p.m. The losers will battle for third place at 5 p.m.

The Huskies travel five minutes from campus to a familiar site, Naperville Central. The high school stepped in when the normal host of the state tournament, North Central College, had to back out while its artificial turf (which was originally installed in 1998) gets replaced.

Being that close to campus and making it easier for fans to show up can be good and bad, according to Terada.

“It’s going to feel as close to a home game as it can,” Terada said. “It’s tough, though, because they’re being pulled in a lot of different directions. But we’re pleased with it.”

So is Swift, who will have no problem with welcoming people to the Huskies’ bandwagon the next two days.

“I hope our whole school comes,” Swift said. “They better come, since we proved them all wrong.”