Wildcats edged by Huskies in thrilling sectional semifinal

 

 

By Matt Le Cren

Zoe Swift has scored hat tricks before, but never in such spectacular fashion or in a more important game.

The Kentucky recruit’s three goals Wednesday allowed defending state champion Naperville North to overcome rival Neuqua Valley 4-3 in a thrilling Class 3A Bolingbrook Sectional semifinal.

The top-seeded Huskies (18-0-2) extended their unbeaten streak to 32 matches and will take on third-seeded Waubonsie Valley (19-3-1), which beat No. 2 seed Plainfield North 4-0, in the sectional championship game at 4 p.m. Friday.

“I’m so happy right now,” Swift said. “We played really hard. We let some things go that we probably shouldn’t have, but hey, we’ll work on it in practice and come back Friday hoping for another win.

“It only gets harder from here but I think we’re ready for it. We’ve got a lot of [experienced players] and we’ve just got to keep our heads during these types of games.”

This game will go down as one of the more memorable playoff games ever. Fourth-seeded Neuqua Valley became the first team to score three goals on Naperville North since Fremd did so on April 29, 2011, 58 games ago, and the first squad this year to take a lead on the Huskies.

But in the end it didn’t matter, as Naperville North beat the Wildcats (16-4-1) for the sixth straight time. The Huskies have knocked Neuqua out of the playoffs in three consecutive years.

Why the dominance?

“I think technically they’re very, very good and they’re very good on paper,” Swift said. “I think us as a team; we come together, especially for the Neuqua game. I know [Naperville] Central is our rival but this is just as big a rival as Central is.

“I think we stay focused and make sure we get stuff done. This was an awesome game. We just came out a little bit harder at the end and were able to hold on.”

The thrills started just 44 seconds in when Swift gave the Huskies the lead with one of her patented quick strikes. Christa Szalach intercepted a goal kick with her head, propelling it forward to Swift, who beat a defender into the box and chipped a shot over the head of Neuqua goalie Hannah Parrish.

It wouldn’t be Swift’s last great individual effort. With her team down 2-1, the first time it had trailed all season, Swift ran onto a pass from Cora Climo and raced up field with Neuqua defender Kelly Keckler matching her stride for stride.

Keckler could not have played tighter defense on Swift without fouling, and yet Swift somehow managed to get off a shot as she was sliding to the turf. The ball beat Parrish and tied the game with 20:32 remaining in the second half.

“We’ve got a tough group of kids, man,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “We’ve got 13 seniors here and a bunch of them have been through it for four years.

“In the state championship run last year we had some tough games, but Neuqua was really, really taking it to us in the second half and obviously Ali Svoboda comes in off the bench and makes a great play to win a ball and get it forward [to Climo] and Zoe does a great job finishing it.

“Zoe definitely stepped up tonight and that’s what your great players do when you need them.”

The Huskies then grabbed the lead on an own goal when a cross from Climo was accidentally deflected into the net by a Neuqua defender with 12:12 to play. But as important as that play was, it was eclipsed when Swift completed her hat trick three minutes later.

Climo was again the instigator, sending a free kick from 47 yards out into the middle of the penalty area to Swift, who jumped and flicked the ball with the back of her head into the net for her 13th goal of the year and a 4-2 Naperville North lead.

“Cora caught me in my eye and she placed it perfectly,” Swift said. “Couldn’t have asked for a better ball. Kind of made my job easy after she played that ball.”

Swift has made such plays look easy this spring despite missing seven games in the early going with a badly sprained ankle. One of the most dangerous forwards in the Chicago area, she needs only inches and split seconds to get free and create chances.

“Zoe’s had a tough go this year and tonight obviously she bounces back and has a phenomenal game and not just the goals that she scored,” Goletz said. “When you score three goals in a sectional semifinal against Neuqua Valley, [that] is a big enough accomplishment in itself, but her work rate tonight to hold the ball and keep it dangerous was phenomenal.”

Swift drips confidence as well as sweat and seems to relish taking on defenders one-on-one. But she didn’t take all the credit for her game-tying goal.

“I do have a lot of confidence going up there 1 v 1,” Swift said. “I think it was because their outside defender was too far away. If she was tucked in a little more she probably would have caught up a little bit more. So I think it’s something that some times is a fault in their defense, not necessarily me.”

“Their tying goal was unfortunate,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “Obviously, speed kills. Zoe breaks through like that and it’s unfortunate.

“We’ve got to do a better job of marking up on the third one, but hand it to Naperville North. They were down 2-1, probably the only time they’ve been down all year, and they battled back to win.”

Neuqua Valley also deserves credit for putting the Huskies in that position. Parrish made four saves to keep the deficit at one when it looked like North was poised to add to its lead and Gianna Dal Pozzo tied the game at 1-1 with the first of her two goals at the 11:54 mark.

Hope D’Addario was the catalyst, ripping a 50-yard free kick on goal. Three minutes earlier, North goalie Fiona Baenziger had punched another D’Addario free kick up in the air and it was cleared out of trouble by Jillian Van Kampen.

Baenziger tried the same thing on this play, but this time Dal Pozzo, who is deadly in the air, got to it first and scored on a header.

The Wildcats grabbed a 2-1 lead on their first shot of the second half thanks to a one-timer by Brooke Ksiazek, whose eight-yard shot was set up by a perfect pass from Kiley Czerwinski.

But the Huskies didn’t shrink from the shock.

“Some people drop their heads, but being there from last year, the seniors, we all just have to make sure the underclassmen get their heads up, make sure we stay composed,” Swift noted. “We kept our heads today and came out with a win.”

Swift and fellow seniors like Climo, Szalach, Van Kampen, Emily Bromagen and Angela Widlacki have played in many high-pressure games, including two state championships, over the course of their careers and knew they had to be relentless.

“Neuqua sent a ton of numbers on us and I told the girls that our forwards have to be good when we get it forward,” Goletz said. “Obviously when you see four goals on the scoreboard they did something right.”

But the Wildcats didn’t quit, either, as Dal Pozzo headed in a short pass from Katie Ciesiulka to cut the gap to 4-3 with 6:18 remaining. The Huskies, though, did not give up another shot in a game that saw 28 of them.

“You give up a goal in the first minute, but no one expected this to be a 1-0 game,” said Moreau, whose team had given up only 11 goals coming in. “No one expected that against an offensive power like Naperville North.

“I was not expecting a shutout. You’d like one but you know you’re going to have to score at least two goals to win this game. And we just got up a goal and gave it back.”

“Obviously I didn’t expect 4-3 either, but really, when you step back and think about it, when you’ve got as many of the attacking pieces out there that both of these teams have, it’s really not a surprise I guess,” Goletz said.

“Obviously, going into the game neither Neuqua or us wanted to say we’d give up that many goals, but I think it’s obviously a testament to the attacking players that are on the field.”