Huskies solve Neuqua defense in 2-1 win
By Matt Le Cren

Naperville North strikers Zoe Swift and Abbie Boswell have been torching defenses all season long and seem to enjoy taking turns doing the scoring honors.

Boswell took center stage on Thursday by scoring three goals in a 4-2 win over Geneva, but Friday night it was Swift’s turn.

Swift scored two beautiful goals – and barely missed scoring two others – to lead the Huskies to a 2-1 victory over Neuqua Valley in the semifinals of the Naperville Invitational at Memorial Stadium in Naperville.

In beating Neuqua Valley for the fifth straight time, Naperville North set up a rematch with Naperville Central, which edged Barrington 1-0, in Saturday’s championship match. The Redhawks beat the Huskies 1-0 on penalty kicks in last year’s title game and Swift hasn’t forgotten.

“Last year was rough,” Swift said. “This year it has to be a win, especially since our prom is tomorrow, so we don’t want to lose the same day.

“We’re going to win that in regulation. No more overtimes like last year.”

Swift wants to redeem herself for missing the penalty kick that ended last year’s shootout and she isn’t shy about the confidence she has in herself and her teammates.

“We just really have to play hard tomorrow like we did today,” Swift said. “We can’t give up any dumb fouls or goals, so as long as we play our game tomorrow, Central has something coming to them.”

Swift made sure the Huskies (11-0-2) joined the Redhawks (12-2-3) in the final, scoring once in each half. She now has seven goals in the five matches she has played since returning from an ankle injury.

The first goal set the tone as it came just 6:48 into the match. Swift got the ball in space, turned upfield and ripped a 25-yard shot under the crossbar to give North a 1-0 lead.

“The first one we actually worked on in practice,” Swift said. “We didn’t do it as a group but a couple of us tried to roof our keeper during practice. So I saw [Neuqua Valley goalie Hannah Parrish] was off the line so I just took a shot and hoped it went in. It looked fine.”

It did look fine, except from Parrish’s perspective. The sophomore made a valiant effort but was unable to prevent the goal that ended the Wildcats’ five-game shutout streak.

“I actually had a touch with my hand,” Parrish said. “I just didn’t have enough lift on it to get it over the bar.”

Swift’s second strike broke a 1-1 tie just 77 seconds after halftime and came on a corner kick that Cora Climo sent into space in front of the near post. Swift beat a defender to the spot and poked the ball in. It was the seventh assist of the season for Climo and her 24th in the past two years.

“It’s just a wrinkle,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “I trust Cora on the ball and Cora can make the decision in seeing what she’s got and she did a great job of reading it. I just need Zoe to put it away and she missed it in the first half and she was able to finish it there for us in the second half.”

“We just added that one, actually, because last night Geneva was sagging off and we found out that the space was wide open so it was easier to play that instead of in the air and put it up for grabs,” Swift said. “[I] just [had to] get a touch on it. Cora gave me a great ball. It was perfect.”

Teams have to be nearly perfect to score on Neuqua’s defense, which has posted 10 shutouts while giving up only nine goals.

“It was a nice play,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “[Swift] made a nice run and the ball was played perfectly. You can’t give up a goal that early in the half.

“First goal no one is making that save and we’ve got to close down and do a better job on that second goal. Neither of those goals was [Parrish’s] fault.”

Parrish, who has been splitting time in the net with junior Courtney Keefer, is having a good season and played well against the Huskies, making five saves, mostly on long free kicks from Climo, including a 26-yard drive with 3:25 to go in the game in which she leaped up and backward to punch the ball away from the upper left corner.

The Wildcats actually did an admirable job of defending Boswell and Swift. They held Boswell, who has 18 goals, to just two shots and Swift to five.

But Swift easily could have had a four-goal night. Ten minutes into the contest Boswell rolled a free kick from 19 yards into the box to Swift, whose shot beat Parrish but was deflected wide by Neuqua’s Gianna Dal Pozzo.

Then with 32:40 remaining in the second half, Swift broke up a play deep in her own end and teamed with Boswell for a 70-yard sprint up the field against two defenders. Boswell raced up the left side and passed into the middle to Swift streaking into the clear.

Parrish charged out to cut down the angle and got a slight piece of Swift’s shot, which rolled off the right post before being cleared by Brooke Ksiazek.

“They’re both really good forwards, but their weak foot isn’t very strong and I feel like a lot of what we did well was we didn’t allow them to turn,” Parrish said. “We got the ball before they got it to them, which really took out a lot of their offense. But it’s hard playing against them because of their speed.”

It is also hard because Boswell and Swift always seem to be on the same page.

“Last game I didn’t have any goals, which was fine because Boswell got the goals, and she told me that this game she was going to give me a goal,” Swift said. “We’re just going off of each other. We’re trying to see who scores the most goals. She’s ahead of me because [I missed] two weeks, but we’re just working off each other really well. We’re not selfish at all, so that helps. We’re just trying to score goals.”

Sentiments like that are music to Goletz’s ears.

“The two of them are so fun to watch,” Goletz said. “As you watch them walk of the field, they’re good friends and they laugh at each other, but they’re so competitive and they’re unselfish and want nothing but the best for each other. As a coach it’s fun to get to sit back and watch them play.”

The Wildcats (10-3-1) are fun to watch, too, and had some exciting plays of their own. The best came exactly five minutes after Swift’s first goal when Katie Ciesiulka made a run up the left wing and crossed in the air to Hope D’Addario, who scored on a header from six yards out to tie the game.

D’Addario launched five of Neuqua’s 15 shots, all but the header coming on long free kicks, including 32-yard and 44-yard efforts that sailed just wide or high and another 32-yarder that Naperville North goalie Fiona Baenziger made a leaping save on.

But the Wildcats, who had scored 21 goals during their five-game winning streak, failed to get the regularly get the ball inside the Huskies penalty area, something that has troubled Neuqua at times against the elite teams.

“We’ve got to work in that final third penetrating the penalty area,” Moreau noted. “We need to be a little tougher. We need to look to attack them more than we did.

“I think we played a little bit more on our heels. That’s how they scored the first goal.”

Parrish, for one, is hoping the Wildcats will see the Huskies again. They could meet in the sectional semifinals.

“We’re definitely looking forward to seeing them again in the playoffs,” Parrish said. “I feel like once we get in the playoffs it will be a different story. This was just a tournament game. We’ve gotten used to playing them so now we’ll be able to really stick it to them [in the state playoffs].”

For the Huskies, the focus will be on winning the Naperville Invitational for the first time.

“We know that this is such a great tournament,” Goletz said. “We know that it’s a state tournament atmosphere. For the girls to have to play these back-to-back games is tough and tomorrow, I told them I know prom is such a huge part of their lives and it’s such a great experience, but I know those girls wouldn’t rather be anywhere else but on the field at noon.

“We’ll play and hopefully get the first [title] for our school. As great as this senior class has been and the accolades that they have brought home to our school, to have them get another shot to bring something [back] that we haven’t done is special.”