Sharples plays the hero in OT vs. Central
By Matt Le Cren

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Naperville Central ended Naperville North’s quest for an unbeaten season in 2011 by upsetting the Huskies 1-0 in the sectional title game.

Naperville North returned the favor Tuesday night, albeit at an earlier juncture in the season.

Connor Sharples’ brilliant goal with 5:24 left in overtime lifted the Huskies to a 2-1 victory over the previously unbeaten Redhawks at Memorial Stadium. The result left both sides tied atop the DuPage Valley Conference standings with two league games left.

“This game was a testament to see how good we could be and we knew we had it in us,” Sharples said. “We came out here and showed ourselves, mostly, that we can compete. It’s kind of nice to give Central, our crosstown rivals, their first blemish in their record, at their home. So it feels really good.”

Sharples, a senior midfielder, is the third-leading scorer for the Huskies (11-3, 4-1) but he took front and center in this match, setting up Joe Sullivan’s goal that gave the visitors an early lead and the ending the contest against the run of play.

Madisen Gonzalez started the play by touching the ball forward to Sharples, who turned and headed up the middle of the field. Seeing he had a clear shot at the goal, Sharples unleashed a 32-yard rocket toward the lower left corner of the net.

Naperville Central goalie Mike Pavliga made a lunging dive at the ball and got his hand on it, but not enough to stop it from sneaking just inside the left post.

“Madisen had a nice little touch,” Sharples said. “I didn’t think I had that much space. I was actually worried that the [defender] was getting close, so I just stepped to the ball real hard and just nailed it.

“I hit it pretty hard and didn’t know what happened. Opened my eyes…and it was surreal.”

It was surreal because goals are exceedingly hard to come by against Pavliga, who has nine shutouts this fall and had surrendered just six goals. This was the only the second time the Redhawks (14-1, 4-1) have given up two goals in a match, and it nearly didn’t happen.

“He almost had that,” Sharples said of the game-winner. “I was nervous. Mike is a great goalie and he played a great game. I give him that.”

While not as busy as his North counterpart, Jack Seifert, Pavliga did make four saves, including a diving stop on a header by Huskies’ freshman Grant Borg with 24:30 left in the second half. That was the last scoring chance of regulation for North.

“Before the overtime we said, ‘hey, who is supposed to win this game for us,’” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said.” One of the guys said seniors. And Connor did.

“He hit a bomb. If you’re going to score a goal on Pavliga you’re going to have to hit it. It’s got to be an absolute seed and both of our goals were. Mikey is obviously one of the best keepers around.”

But as they proved in this one, the Huskies have one of the most potent offenses around. Sharples is only the third-leading scorer on his team but one of the most underrated, and overlooked, scoring threats.

“Connor is the dark horse of our team, is what we like to say,” Sullivan said. “Nobody really understands that he’s got a lot of talent and I think that plays to his advantage because, as you see, he comes up huge with a strike against our crosstown rival.

“He sneaks up on kids. That’s what’s great about Connor.”

Sharples got the assist on Sullivan’s goal with 27:22 left in the first half, passing into the left side of the box to set up Sullivan’s left-footed blast from 15 yards out that beat Pavliga to the far side.

“Joe made me look good on that one,” Sharples said. “He had a great shot.”

But for the rest of regulation it was the Redhawks who looked great, dominating the action and finishing with a 21-8 edge in shots.

Central tied the game 1-1 at the 6:54 mark of the first half on a rebound goal by Jay Tegge. Pat Flynn, who recently became the Redhawks’ all-time leading scorer, had a 24-yard free kick blocked by the North defensive wall, but Tegge ran onto the ball and fired a 25-yard shot through traffic and past a screened Seifert.

But despite putting plenty of pressure on the Huskies, the Redhawks were unable to score again. Seifert played arguably his best match of the season to finish with eight saves and the back line anchored by Neil Wiaranowski and Geoff Horn, who each blocked multiple shots, was steadfast.

“Pat Flynn, Jack Patrick, Mike West, Mike Pavliga; they’re all on my club team so we know each other very well, so we could tell that they were definitely closing on the goal,” Sullivan said. “They beat us down the whole game. They outplayed us; we got lucky at the end. It was definitely nice to get that [game-winning] goal because it felt like they were about to get one.”

Konrad was impressed with the Redhawks and happy to escape with the victory.

“Obviously Sully gets the great goal early to put us up to kind of break the ice and it’s a good mental thing,” Konrad said. “You’re playing the No. 1 team, your crosstown rival [that is] undefeated, so that helps.

“I thought both teams played well. I think they had the best of play, though. They’re fantastic in the final third. Flynn is such a great player. He holds the ball well. Everything that comes to him just settles on his foot. He’s got a great first touch. Whenever he gets the ball they’re dangerous.

“That other little kid, the sophomore Jordi [Heeneman], he was great too. He was smooth on the ball and dangerous a number of times, so I thought they were great.”

But while the Huskies may not be the juggernaut they were last season, they aren’t too far below the Redhawks in terms of talent.

“We certainly enjoy being, I can’t say underdogs, overshadowed by Naperville Central because it allows us to come out and play our game,” Sharples said. “We don’t have to live up to the hype that we get and it really allows us to play our game without being overly confident or our heads being too big. I think that was kind of our problem last year so it is good to see us come out like that today.”

The win puts the Huskies in good position to win at least a share of the DVC title for the fifth straight year and eighth time in the past 10 seasons. North has a challenging away game Wednesday against third-place West Chicago and a home game next Tuesday against Glenbard North. Central’s remaining league matches are at West Chicago next Tuesday and home against Wheaton Warrenville South on Oct. 11.

“We pride ourselves on trying to win the DVC every year,” Sullivan said. “We’ve won it the last four and this puts us in a good position, that if we win tomorrow we’ll at least have a share of the title. That’s huge for our team and we’re just going to build on that for the rest of the year and the playoffs.”

But Sullivan knows better than getting too high after the win over Central.

“We take every game the same way,” he said. “We’re going to feel good tonight but we’re going to wake up tomorrow and be motivated to win the next game and the next game. We don’t look past teams. West Chicago is going to be a great team tomorrow.”

But both teams know they will probably meet again later this month. They are seeded to face each other in the sectional finals, so Konrad is going to temper his celebration.

“Now that I’m old I’m not going to jump off a building like I used to,” Konrad said. “It’s a fun game and I think the world of [Central coach] Troy [Adams]. We’re close friends and I’m sure they’ll see us again. We’re going to have this fight again when the stakes are higher.”

Speaking of stakes, both sides know there are things more important than sports. That’s why all eight DVC teams took part in a Multiple Sclerosis Awareness campaign, wearing orange-and-white uniforms that were provided by ReddPromo and former Naperville North coach Al Harris. The Naperville schools raised more than $1,400 through t-shirt sales for the fight against MS, which is incurable.

Andrea Purcell, whose husband Mike is a former Naperville North assistant coach and currently assistant principal at Washington Junior High, has MS and made the coin toss before the game. West Aurora coach Joe Susteric was diagnosed with the disease two years ago.

“We’ve been knocking around the idea the last couple years of what can we do as a game,” Konrad said. “The girls do the Volley for the Cure. We’re playing for MS because one of us has it, and Andrea Purcell’s husband used to coach for me, so I have a personal connection with a good friend and then Joe is the best, he’s so funny.

“All 8 teams played tonight and orange is the color for MS. We all agreed to go [wear] orange-and-white [jerseys]. All of the proceeds are going to go back to the local MS chapter, so we’re proud to have done something like that.”