Huskies roll past Mustangs as Swift returns to lineup

 

 

By Matt Le Cren

Naperville North was doing just fine without All-American striker Zoe Swift.

The Huskies had gone 6-0-1 during the seven games Swift missed with a sprained ankle.

Swift is back and, judging by the team’s performance on Tuesday night, Naperville North might be tough to beat.

The Kentucky-recruit returned to the lineup with a bang, recording two goals and three assists as the visiting Huskies beat shell-shocked Metea Valley 5-1 in Aurora.

Fellow senior Christa Szalach also had a sensational game with two goals and an assist and sophomore Abbie Boswell continued her torrid play by adding a goal and an assist.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game, especially with Megan Geldernick as the goalie [for Metea],” Szalach said. “She’s a phenomenal goalie.

“We just came out strong and were able to get the shots on goal. We’ve been working a lot at practice on just getting any shot versus no shot. I’m really proud of the way the girls came out and shot and worked for the goals.”

It didn’t take long for the Huskies (7-0-2) to go to work as Geldernick was forced to make a diving save on Cora Climo in the fifth minute and two more stops on Jillian Van Kampen and Swift in the first 20 minutes.

The visitors barely missed scoring with 19:00 to go in the opening period when Boswell hit the right post with a volley and Szalach put the rebound over the crossbar.

But Szalach didn’t miss on her next attempt, which came four minutes later. Boswell started the play with a pass out of the right corner to Swift, whose pass was touched by a defender before finding its way to Szalach just inside the box.

Szalach took a step to her right to get to the ball, then turned and sent a 15-yard shot sailing over the head of Geldernick and under the crossbar to open the scoring at the 15:21 mark.

“It just kind of floated right over Megan,” Szalach said. “The defender took a touch and luckily it kind of came to me and then I took a touch to settle it. To be honest, I was just trying to get it on frame and it worked out for the best.”

Swift and the Purdue-bound Szalach reversed roles to increase North’s lead to 2-0 with 4:09 to go in the period.

Szalach intercepted a goal kick about 40 yards out by heading the ball forward to Swift, who timed her run perfectly to avoid an offsides call and chased after the ball as Geldernick raced out.

Swift got to the ball first, popped it up over Geldernick’s head and then raced in and headed the ball in before any defenders could stop her.

“I was just trying to win the header and luckily it was a powerful header,” Szalach said. “Zoe is very fast, obviously, so she was able to get to that and keep pushing until she was able to put it away.”

“Christa gave me a great ball; I just had a foot race with Megan,” Swift said. “She’s a great goalie. I just got there a little bit before her.

“I thought the ball was going to go straight but it went up in the air so it wasn’t as planned, but it went in. It was real awkward but it’s okay because it went in.”

There was nothing awkward about the way the Huskies played in Swift’s absence, nor in their adjustment to her return.

“We played great even when I wasn’t playing and that’s fantastic,” Swift said. “It wasn’t totally bad to be on the bench. I was glad to be back out here but my team did great while I was gone and I’m just glad to be back and help contribute again.”

Playing a significant stretch of the season without their best player could wind up being a blessing in disguise for the defending state champs, who showed their moxie during her absence.

The Huskies have played all of the top Naperville-area teams except for Neuqua Valley and remain the only unbeaten team among them.

“[Being undefeated] says a lot,” Szalach said. “I think it just comes down to hard work and the girls really putting in a strong effort. Whoever’s on the field, regardless of whether they’re a starter or a non-starter, they put in a lot of effort and that’s what we come out to do.

“We play for each other and just work our hardest and I think it’s shown this season that we’re going to keep working until hopefully we get the outcome that we want.”

The Huskies obviously want to capture another state title and they know having Swift on the field gives them the best chance of accomplishing that.

“Zoe does a great job up there,” Szalach said. “She brings a different aspect to the game. It’s a nice aspect. She makes it very easy.”

Indeed, the trio of Swift, Szalach and Boswell made things look easy in the second half when they totally took over the game.

The Huskies extended their lead to 3-0 with 25:56 remaining on a play that was nearly identical to the first goal except that this time Boswell started it from the left corner.

The ball went first to Swift outside the top of the left corner of the box and then quickly to Szalach, who blasted a 20-yard shot past Geldernick.

The Huskies then broke things open by scoring twice in 16 seconds on a pair of breakaways. Boswell got the first goal off a feed from Swift with 12:22 to go and then Swift tallied off a Boswell assist.

“I think the big thing as a group is we kind of put it together a little bit today,” North coach Steve Goletz said. “We finished chances. We’ve had a ton of chances this year that we haven’t put away at times.

“Obviously getting Zoe back changed the game a little bit for us. We know what kind of player she is. Two goals, three assists in a debut is pretty impressive.

“She did a great job of not only creating goal-scoring opportunities for herself today but for others and to have three assists in your first game back is pretty impressive.”

But as other teams are finding out, the Huskies have much more than just Swift. Szalach, who scored the goal that clinched the state championship last year, is known more as a facilitator in the midfield but also can be a deadly scorer, having scored three times in the past two matches.

“It was across the board tonight,” Goletz said. “I thought Christa Szalach had hands-down her best game. She’s played some great games this year but she was all over the place and to get rewarded with two great goals that she finished, definitely is something that she’s deserved this year.”

Much of North’s offensive success comes from the chemistry Szalach has with Swift and Boswell. Even when they aren’t finishing chances, they are busy creating them and that keeps opponents pinned back and unable to attack.

“Off the field we’re real good friends so that helps us on the field,” Szalach pointed out. “I think our style of soccer all fits well together and we’re able to work off of each other. Now that we’ve been playing together – me and Zoe for four years now and me and Bos almost two years – I kind of have an idea of what they’re going to do and it’s really fun to play with them.”

Of course, playing against them isn’t nearly as much fun, as the Mustangs (6-4) will tell you.

But Metea Valley coach Pat Feulner wasn’t feeling down about the loss because his squad had some chances. Junior Jenna Kentgen scored the only goal for the Mustangs on a penalty kick with 8:17 to go in the game, but the team actually had more chances in the first half.

“I thought for the first 25 minutes or so we actually had the better play,” Feulner said. “We just didn’t take advantage of opportunities. We could have very easily have had a couple of balls in the goal in the first 20 minutes of the game and been ahead. Instead, we don’t get it done and now we’re chasing at half.”

The Mustangs forced three corner kicks in the opening period and Naperville North goalie Fiona Baenziger had to make three saves. The toughest came with 9:10 to go when Alyssa Fox fed Kentgen, who made a great move to free herself on the right side of the box before firing from 15 yards out.

Baenziger made a diving save on the shot but gave up a rebound. Defender Abby Mangefrida tried to clear it but had to watch with dread as the attempt hit off the charging Fox and roll just wide of the left post.

The hosts nearly got on the board right before intermission, but a 25-yard pot shot from freshman Megan Morris sailed over Baenziger’s head and just wide of the left post with two seconds remaining.

The Mustangs then had the first opportunity of the second half when Samantha Butler teed up a 29-yard free kick that bounced off a Metea player in front before Tracey McCoy shot over the bar at the 34:45 mark.

“We were running around with the ball in the first half and they didn’t know what to do,” Feulner said. “For some reason we came out at halftime and we were a little passive, and we can’t play passive against these guys. They’re going to keep coming at you.

“You’ve got to keep going at them and keep them on their heels. We did a good job of that for the first 20-25 minutes of the game, but we’ve got to do that for 80 minutes.

“I still thought at halftime that we were playing well enough to get back in the game, but they’re tough and we had a couple of kids that we were trying in some spots tonight. Probably wasn’t the game to try it, but it didn’t work out too well for us, but that’s okay. We’ll learn from it and we’ll be fine.”