Redhawks capitalize on breaks to claim DVC opener

By Darryl Mellema
Photos courtesy of Brett Richter

Everyone would love to score highlight reel goals all the time – those that involve long passing moves and end with a shot that bursts the back of the net from 35 yards.

But while those goals certainly do happen – you don't win many matches while waiting for those to take place. And Naperville Central wasn't a team willing to wait on Tuesday.

The Redhawks took advantage of a pair of West Aurora mistakes early in the match and punished them, then went about consolidating a 2-1 victory to win their DuPage Valley Conference opener in Aurora.

Perhaps the above description of Naperville Central's opportunism is a bit unjust. The Redhawks were ready to pounce when the Blackhawks sent an errant goalkeeping clearance just two minutes into the match.

A.J. Seaman sent the ball the other way – and found the back of the net. Seaman ended with a goal and an assist in the match, which isn't bad for a player recently moved from defense to forward.

"As soon as they make a mistake, you've got to pounce on it and make them pay," Seaman said. "That's the only way to do it. That's how most goals are scored – pounce and go."

With 16 minutes left in the half, a seemingly innocuous Naperville Central attack was about to end with West Aurora's goalkeeper picking up the ball.

Just before he took it, a defender tapped it to him – and he still picked it up, violating the back pass rule.

The Redhawks (8-1, 1-0) received an indirect free kick 17 yards from goal. Seaman tapped the ball to Peter Beasley, who put the ball past the Blackhawks wall into the goal.

"As I told the boys at halftime, I don't know if we scored the goals as much as they gave us goals," Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. "We talked about trying to make the most of our opportunities.

"But you know what? That's kind of what soccer is. You capitalize on your opponent's mistakes. We were fortunate today to have two chances where they made mistakes and put it in the back of the net."

West Aurora (4-3-1, 0-1) began to raise its level of play in the moments before Naperville Central's second goal, and that surge continued into the second half.

While the Redhawks initially struggled to keep pace with the hosts, they raised their own level of play and the second half had all the pace and power one would normally associate with a strong conference match.

"We should have scored one more to put them away, but we couldn't and kept them in," Seaman said. "It's a good thing we won, though."

In that combative arena, Naperville Central's Noah Kalbfeld excelled. The senior gave away nothing and kept his team battling for 80 minutes.

"Two-zero is a tough score, because if they score, they're back in it," Kalbfeld said.

"We had to make sure our work ethic stayed high, even though we were up 2-0. We emphasize working hard the whole game, the whole 80 minutes."

That attitude was tested when West Aurora narrowed the lead to 2-1 with 21 minutes to play when Olivier Dasilveira headed in a goal following a right wing cross from Emmanuel Ochoa.

"The guys battled all the way to the end," Adams said. "Any time you're playing a conference game, you're going to be in for a battle all the way.

In the second, while we didn't play as well as we did in the first, we kept our composure and did what we needed to do to get out of here with a win."

From that point, however, Naperville Central kept its defense mostly solid and preserved the win.

"We're talking about 'risk-reward' at the back," Adams said. "If you don't make defensive mistakes, you don't tend to give up goals."