Huskies, Neuqua set for sectional title match
Naperville North tops Benet 2-1 in Naperville

 

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF SCOTT BUTLER

By Eddie Burns

Jim Konrad does not quite know how to explain it, but his boys continue to win.

Naperville North took its unbeaten streak to 16 matches with a 2-1 win against local rival Benet in a Class 3A sectional semifinal match played on Thursday night in Naperville.

“We just always seem to find our way,” Konrad said.

The Huskies benefited from some aggressive play by the Benet defense and turned two fouls in the Redwings’ penalty area into penalty kicks. North’s Evan Trychta was successful in beating Benet goalie Kale DalSanto on penalty kicks in the 22nd and 31st minutes to give the hosts a two-goal lead at halftime.

“We’ve been practicing PKs because we know that we might get put in those situations in the playoffs and that is where we found ourselves tonight,” Trychta said.

Trychta said the Huskies were rewarded for using Benet’s strong style against itself.

“I feel like we had a certain type of aggressiveness when we were attacking, but they were very aggressive in how they defended. I feel like we had them on their heels once we got that first goal and they had to come out and play more aggressive, which led to our second goal.”

Konrad said the two penalty kicks took a toll on the Redwings.

“The two PKs got in their heads,” Konrad said. “Even if they are legit, as a kid, those are hard to handle.”

North was sitting pretty at intermission with its two-goal lead, but Konrad was quick to remind his squad about the difficulties that can come with playing with a two-goal lead.
Benet was all too familiar with having two-goal leads and watching them disappear as it did twice during the middle portion of the season.

North defender Lee Grander said before the second half began the Huskies made a pact to not change a thing about the way they were playing.

“We talked about how we couldn’t sit back and play in a shell and play defense because that would have likely led to a goal,” said Grander, who has successfully returned after missing a few games late in the season because of a mild concussion. “We agreed that we were going to play our game no matter what happened and that is what we did and we hung onto it.”

The Huskies (19-2-2) did generate the better scoring chances through the first 20 minutes of the second half. Trychta, along with teammates Bob Ren and Jack Henderson, sent quality chances at DalSanto but he turned them away.

Benet (12-9-1) finally caught a break when it received a penalty shot of its own in the 73rd minute.

Benet’s Sean Mogan converted on the penalty kick to cut North’s lead in half.
Other than one other scoring chance in the first half, North worked hard to limit Mogan’s impact on the match.

“I was happy with how we handled Mogan,” Konrad said. “We stressed this week that if we lose the ball, everyone needed to find him because he’s such a good player.”

The second-half task was simple for the Huskies’ defense.

“From there, we just had to grind it out,” Grander said. “We knew had 7 minutes left and we just had to grind it out in a similar manner to how we did against West Chicago (a 2-1 regional win). We all knew in the back of our minds that we could do it.”

Outside of the penalty kick, North pretty much kept Benet from being dangerous in and around goalie Kevin Anderson.

Grander said the continuity in the back really has contributed to North’s success. Grander is joined on a consistent basis by Henderson, Jimmy Butler and Max Auden. 

“It was awesome to get a two-goal lead like we did and to have the responsibility to hold it,” Grander said. “We have a great group of guys in the back and we communicate so well, so it makes things work for us in the back.”

Grander and company had to fend off one last-ditch push by the Redwings when Mogan lined up for a restart from about 24 yards out with 10 seconds remaining, but Butler managed to block the shot and clear the ball.

Now the Huskies can turn their attention to top seed Neuqua Valley, which advanced with a sectional semifinal win of its own against East Aurora. The Wildcats (16-3-3) and Huskies will play at 11 a.m. Saturday at North for the sectional championship. Neuqua is responsible for one of North’s two losses.

“We’re so excited to play them,” Grander said. “They are who we’ve been shooting for. We’ve beaten everyone we’re supposed to beat and only thing left to do is beat them.”

Neuqua defeated WW South in last season’s sectional championship.

“I can’t wait to play them,” Trychta said. “It is going to be two improved teams playing in a great game with a lot at stake.”

Konrad said all he asked of his group was to get to this stage of the postseason.

“Now we’re supposed to lose, right?” Konrad said. “I told the boys to just give us a chance to go at them again and see how good we are. That is all we can ask, right? We’re good enough to beat anybody, but they are better than us, for sure.”

North played without Kyle Lindberg against Benet, and will be back for Saturday’s sectional title game. Austin Maggard filled in and played quite well in Lindberg’s absence.

The winner of the Neuqua/North match will play either Lyons or Morton in a Class 3A super-sectional to be played on Tuesday, hosted by Hinsdale Central.