Huskies top Waubonsie Valley
By Matt Le Cren

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Naperville North coach Jim Konrad felt his team was outplayed in the first half by Waubonsie Valley on Saturday.

Even so, the Huskies were up 2-0 at the half and eventually held on for a hard-fought 2-1 road victory in Aurora on a day in which they weren’t at their best.

“The first half I thought they took it to us,” Konrad said. “We were fortunate. I thought that they exposed some things. We haven’t played a team that athletic and that technical this year and we have some work to do in the midfield.

“We’ve gotten away with kind letting our back four and our defensive midfielders handle the pressure, but they brought too many guys forward for us to do that. We made some adjustments and I love that our boys played hard.”

And they were rewarded for it. The Huskies (6-2) drew first blood with 30:56 left in the first half when a long free kick by Joe Sullivan bounced untouched in front of the Waubonsie six-yard box. Junior defender Geoff Horn was there to volley a short shot into the top netting for his second goal of the season.

“It kind of just fell to me right in front of me and I just put it way,” Horn said. “It almost hit the crossbar but it went in.”

When it did, the Huskies’ hopes went up.

“[Getting an early goal] definitely boosts our confidence because when you’re up against someone so good like Waubonsie you need all the opportunities you can get,” Horn said. “And to just get one goal kind of gets in their heads.”

Neither squad had another decent scoring chance until Sullivan was fouled in the box with 1:15 left in the half. The junior midfielder calmly buried the resulting penalty kick for a 2-0 advantage.

Naperville North had several opportunities to increase the lead in the second half, starting 20 seconds in when Waubonsie Valley’s Timmy Miller fired the ball off his own crossbar while trying to keep a cross from Sullivan away from Zach Peterson, who was in position for an open header.

Sullivan later missed high on an empty net and had another shot turned away by Warriors goalie Jordan Ward during a flurry in the 69th minute that saw the Huskies take three cracks at the goal; one was blocked and the final one went wide.

After that, the Warriors (4-3-1) seemed to come alive. The hosts had already dented the scoreboard when Frankie Saiz scored on a penalty kick with 16:08 left, but they stepped up the pressure and gave the visitors plenty of nervous moments.

“It was a bit chaotic but I guess we all came together,” Horn said. “We didn’t play exactly how we wanted. We need to work on our technical skills but luckily we have a week off to do that.”

Naperville North goalies Jack Seifert and John Kimbrell are playing their first year at the varsity level and behind a rather inexperienced back line. But they came through in this one. Seifert made two saves in the first half and Kimbrell had five in the second half, including a lead-saving diving stop on Michael Mueller with 7:15 to go.

Mueller had gotten a long pass from Jack Cordes and snuck behind the defense when a defender slipped and fell, but Kimbrell reacted well, sprawling to his right to make the save.

“Our goalie made one great save to keep us up and their kid had a couple big saves late, too,” Konrad said. “We work with the boys on if you take a second off it can kill you.”

“You’ve got to give [Kimbrell credit for] that,” Waubonsie Valley assistant coach Jose Garcia said. “Nine out of 10 times that ball goes in. It just happened that he guessed it right at that one time. It’s part of the game and you’ve got to move on.”

The loss was the second straight on home soil to a local rival for the Warriors, who were coming off an emotional 3-1 defeat at the hands of Neuqua Valley. They will next face Lake Park on Tuesday in a league match.

“Morale-wise no one loves to lose,” Garcia said. “It’s going to be up to the guys to take it as motivation to move it for the next game. The next game is going to be a conference game so it’s a must-win now at this point. We need a confidence-booster for the rest of the season.”

Garcia doesn’t see anything major wrong with the Warriors and isn’t too concerned with the team’s first losing streak of the season.

“[The needed] improvement is just touch in general,” he said. “Our first touch is kind of shaky at times but the effort is there. I see it, but it’s the game of soccer; you win some and lose some. On any given day it’s anyone’s game.”

Naperville North now has a week to prepare for another high-profile opponent in Rockford Boylan. The Huskies are still in the process of breaking in a new back four. Senior co-captain Neil Wiaranowski is teaming with Horn and fellow first-year starters Alec Thompson and Zach Fischman, both of whom are juniors.

“We’re definitely working really hard,” Horn said. “Neil is doing a great job of leading us. He’s got the experience; he’s kind of organizing us but we’re definitely coming together and figuring out what we need to be doing.”

“Thank God for Neil Wiaranowski in the back,” Konrad said. “Neil touches the ball more than anybody on the team. He’s all over the field, thank goodness.”