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Sports

Huskies are Best in the West

Naperville North beats Sandburg, dedicates tournament title to coach.

The Naperville North boys soccer team had a little extra motivation to win the Best of the West Tournament on Saturday night.

The Huskies wanted to capture the title as a present for head coach Jim Konrad, who in his nine years at the helm had never won it. Konrad, who recently became North’s athletic director, is stepping down after this season because District 203 officials want him to focus entirely on his new job.

Naperville North was focused from the get-go, playing superbly on defense and getting second-half goals from Joe Sullivan and Nanad Komljenovic to blank Sandburg 2-0 at Naperville Central. The Huskies (5-0-1), who were making their first appearance in the championship match since 1996, had gone 3-0 in pool play, including a 3-1 victory over Benet on Saturday morning.

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“We really wanted to do it for our coach,” Sullivan said. “This is his last year and he hasn’t been in this spot his whole entire career, so it meant a lot for us to come out here and do it for him and do it for our team and our school.”

After surviving a brief scare late in the first half when Sandburg (2-2-2) nearly took the lead on a shot by Mike Gentile that glanced off the top of the crossbar, the Huskies finally broke the ice with 17 minutes left in the second half.

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Senior Kyle Lindberg played a perfect lead pass into the right side of the Eagles penalty area to a streaking Sullivan, who calmly lifted a 12-yard shot over charging Sandburg goalie Adam Zehme and under the crossbar for his second goal of the day and team-leading fourth of the year.

“I felt like we were tapping on the door for a while,” Sullivan said. “[Lindberg] and me have been hooking up this whole year. Kyle was coming down and I kind of saw him look at me, so I just knew.

“I cut across, he played me a perfect ball, the goalie came out and I was just able to chip it over him.”

“What an incredible, incredible finish,” Konrad said. “It was beautiful, and then Nanad coming through again, being at the right place at the right time and finishing. The boys played well. I’m very, very proud of them.”

Komljenovic, a senior who is turning into a super sub, tallied his third goal of the season with 4:21 remaining when he knocked home a cross from Evan Trychta that eluded Zehme’s attempt to cut it off. Komljenovic’s 15-yard shot through traffic ended any chance of a Sandburg comeback.

Trychta, North’s star senior forward, had missed the first four games of the season after breaking a bone in his right foot in July. He made his season debut Saturday against Benet and recorded a goal and two assists.

While Trychta was happy with the title, he made it clear that he has his eye on getting Konrad a much bigger prize.

“We’re going to play as good as we can to win this thing for him,” Trychta said. “This is just a little footnote in our season. I’m still looking ahead. I’m excited we won but it’s like ‘Woo, we’re champions.’ We’re not champions yet, not state champions.”

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