Huskies score in first OT to edge Blackhawks

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY COURTESY OF SCOTT BUTLER

By Darryl Mellema

As Bob Ren worked up the right sideline with less than a half-minute to go in the first overtime of Thursday's Naperville North-West Aurora match, he was able to look up and then deliver a cross without being tackled.

Moments like those were very rare in the nearly 90 minutes of play, time in which West Aurora's players usually closed quickly on Huskies like Ren.

But this time, Ren had time – and he picked out Madisen Gonzalez in the penalty area – who scored with 19 seconds to play to give North a 1-0 DuPage Valley Conference victory in Naperville.

"It feels great," Ren said. "We worked hard. I thought we dominated the game and I'm really happy we won."

Through the course of the match, North had a wide edge in possession time, kept the ball in West Aurora's defending half most of the match and carved nearly all the chances in the game.

But none of that mattered because the Blackhawks defended very well. So there was a bit of relief from the Huskies' squad when they were able to gain the victory.

"I think we had a lot of opportunities to finish and we just couldn't," Gonzalez said.

But scoring from a quickly taken throw-in brought home another of the night's themes – North may have struggled from open play, but it was always dangerous from set pieces.

"Our specialty is our restarts and that's a way we break down the defense – and that's what we did tonight," Ren said.

Those restarts – various long or short throw-ins, corner kicks and free kicks – proved North's best threats against West Aurora, which played a tigerish defense that never allowed the Huskies much open space.

But as Ren ran into the corner, he had enough space to look up and see Gonzalez moving freely in the penalty area.

"I just tried to get it to him and luckily he finished," Ren said.

Like Ren, Gonzalez had worked free of the defense.

"The defense was about two steps behind me," Gonzalez said. "I had to come around it because the ball was a bit behind me. So I hit it with my toe. I was relieved to finally score."

Despite a number of changes to the team this year, North has still gotten off to a 4-1-1 start and is now 2-0 in the DVC.

"It's a new team," Ren said. "And we're playing a new formation. We played 4-4-2 last year and now we're playing 4-3-3.

"We're still developing it and building our chemistry. But I think that we've been getting better and better."

And there were chances. Ren had a goal-bound shot cleared off the line nine minutes into the second half by David Quinones.

West Aurora goalie Fernando Ortiz had to make a series of saves, including one with his feet.

And Evan Trychta hit a long free kick that drifted slightly off its mark – but ended up rattling Ortiz's cross bar in the final minute of the second half.

"In the first half, we had a couple of good chances," North coach Jim Konrad said. "Maybe if we scored early, it would have been a different game.

"But we didn't and (West Aurora) kept believing. They always play us tough. No matter what their record is, they always play us hard."

One tactical adjustment made by the Huskies involved closing the gaps between the defense, midfield and forward lines.

Through the second half, linking play was better because the length of passes needed to move the ball upfield was shorter.

"I think we got stretched out too much in the first half and our midfield did not fill the gap like they usually do," Konrad said.

"In the second half, they did and we dominated the second half more than we did in the first half."