Huskies fend off Oswego East to earn rematch with rival Redhawks

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By Gary Larsen

The bar is set high at Naperville North, and something happened for the first time all season against the Huskies on Tuesday that needs quick fixing.

If North hopes to beat Naperville Central at home in Friday’s 3A regional title game, the Huskies will have to get back to the chief trait that has made them a state power for more than two decades.

Hard work.

Fifth-seeded Naperville North (13-6-2) may have ultimately topped No. 12 Oswego East (9-6-2) by a 4-0 score in a regional opener – and the Huskies tipped their hats to a great effort put forth by the Wolves throughout – but afterwards nobody on the Huskies’ side was happy with the effort they put forth in answering East’s intensity.

“We needed to pick up the effort and the work rate,” North senior Emily Janecek said. “We want to win every game but we wanted to make sure the work rate was there. In the first half, it wasn’t quite there.”

It probably should have been tied and we were lucky to be up 1-0. They had some good opportunities. But in the second half I felt like we definitely picked it up a lot.”

North never allowed East a scoring chance that was ultimately all that dangerous, but through 40 minutes the Huskies didn’t bring the intensity the program is known for.

“That’s unacceptable to us because we’re not the most talented team,” Huskies coach Brent Terada said. “But no one until that half has just completely outworked us like that. So that’s a real problem for us as a coaching staff.”

North led 1-0 at halftime thanks to a perfect through-ball from Hunter Drendel that put Zoe Swift in alone on East’s goalkeeper. The one-goal lead wasn't enough to please North's coaches.

“In the first half they probably had the better of the run of play,” Terada said of the Wolves. “They were beating us to every fifty-fifty ball and they outworked us.

(At halftime) it became a matter of pride and remembering who we are. We’re not a team that’s going to beat you by playing real pretty. We’re going to pressure you, make you work, and we got away from that tonight.”

Intensity issues aside, there was a three-part piece of good news in the second half for North.

Rycke Guiney, Shannon Bushman, and Tori Novak all pounced on balls near the goalmouth to make sure the Huskies got away with the win.

“They put a body on the ball and got it in, which is what we needed,” Janecek said. “It’s something we’ve had trouble with all season but we did really well with that today.”

“I was happier with the effort. It was better in all areas,” Terada said of the second half. “But we still missed opportunities to get forward and catch them in transition.”

North earned its 12th shutout of the season on Tuesday, with Ellie Flessner getting the nod in net. Janecek, Jamie Meno, Kristina Dolak, and Caroline Casas were solid throughout.

“From Day One we’ve been close and been really strong,” Janecek said of the girls in back. “Unfortunately we had a few games where we gave up a few goals, but we’re all working hard for each other and playing for each other.

Our girls in back never get their heads down. They say ‘next one, pick it up’ and just keep playing.”

After the contest, Terada applauded the play of freshman outside midfielder Cora Climo.

“(Climo) did a lot of good things,” he said. “She attacked off the right side, she got cross after cross after cross off, and she was able to generate a lot of chances that we should have gotten on the other end, but didn’t.

I thought she played really well, and in the second half I thought Rycke (Guiney) really took control for us. She changed the point of attack, she moved the ball forward quickly, and we got away from kicking it over the top.”

Tuesday’s win sets up a rematch of this year’s regular-season game between cross-town rivals North and Central. The Redhawks won 2-0 over the Huskies on April 19.

Friday’s game with a regional title on the line will kick off at 4 p.m. on Friday at Naperville North.

“Big game on Friday,” Janecek said. “Every game with Central is a ‘who-wants-it-more’ kind of a game. Anything can happen and going into it, it doesn’t really matter who the better team is. It’s who tries harder.”

“We’ll just have to make sure we’re focused.”

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