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Sports

Girls Soccer: Swift Kicks Huskies To State

Naperville North 2, York 1. North sophomore Zoe Swift scores a pair of goals to send the Huskies to the state tournament for the first time since 2004.

LISLE – When junior Hunter Drendel and sophomore Zoe Swift combined on a little razzle-dazzle to win Tuesday’s Class 3A Benedictine Supersectional match against York, coach Brent Terada wasn’t fazed.

Drendel’s behind-the-back heel flip to Swift with 11:21 left in the match set Swift up for the game-winner in a 2-1 win, sending the Huskies to the state tournament for the first time since a fourth-place finish in 2004.

North will face Conant at 5 p.m. at Friday in the semifinals.

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“Our kids are allowed to be creative, show their personality in the way they play,” Terada explained. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We don’t try to stifle our kids with patterns. We want them to express themselves. If that’s how she wants to do it in a supersectional game, there may be a better way to do it, but that’s up to her. The result speaks for itself. We’re pleased.”

It was the second goal of the game for Swift, who had missed a penalty kick opportunity with 30:42 left that would have given North the lead far earlier. But the sophomore shook it off and came back strong.

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“After the PK, I was kind of down, but I knew we still had a whole half to go, so I couldn’t get my head down,” Swift said. “I had to keep playing and score for my team. I just concentrated on my goal and made sure I got it for us. It was a great pass from Hunter and I got the goal and I was just so happy.”

Swift was successful on a PK in the first half to give the Huskies (17-5-1) the early lead. With York goalie Anna Bell Landsdowne diving to her right, Swift put the ball to the left with 11:36 left in the first half to open a 1-0 lead.

York (21-5-1) answered fairly quickly, and in fluky fashion. Senior defender Allie Whitcomb put what appeared to be a harmless shot from 40 yards out near the net that snuck into the upper left corner with 5:05 left in the half to even things up for the Dukes.

“Our goalie thought the ball was going to go wide,” Swift said of North keeper Abby Green. “That’s perfectly fine. We all thought it was going to go out. We couldn’t blame her. It looked like it was going to go. We had to get another goal and win this game and go to state.”

The Huskies suffered no letdown after stunning previously unbeaten Neuqua Valley, 1-0, Friday in the sectional final. Now they head up the street to a very familiar venue to try to win their second state title in program history (the first came in 1988). Naperville Central stepped in to host the tournament this year with North Central College, the usual venue, installing new artificial turf.

“I know that all the girls were able to change gears,” Terada said. “If they can do it coming off a win over Neuqua with everyone around them telling them that they just beat the best team that ever played high school soccer and come back and respond this way, it speaks to their character. You can tell. They’re already starting to change gears and look forward to the next one.”

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