Vikings' second-half fight not enough in loss to Naperville N.

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By Darryl Mellema

Warmup was a little disjointed for Naperville North prior to Thursday’s contest with Geneva.

It was Senior Night, and 10 girls were recognized before the nonconference match with the Vikings. But even given that, there wasn’t much real warming up going on.

“During warm-ups, I don’t know if everyone was fully focused,” Naperville North senior Kirsten Anderson said. “We were more worried about taking pictures and Senior Night. It’s good to show that even though we weren’t completely focused and it was Senior Night, that we still won.”

Then once the match started, Naperville North’s playing rotation was wildly different than usual. Seniors played an abundance of time and underclassmen did not, which is the opposite to how things usually work for Brent Terada’s team.

“Senior Night isn’t necessarily about winning or losing,” Terada said. “It’s about showing recognition for the seniors, for all levels, whether it be JV1, JV2 or varsity and show that you appreciate all their commitment to the program. They deserve to hear their name announced and they deserve to play under the lights. It’s us saying ‘thank you’ to them, and to get a win, that’s an absolute bonus.”

Surprisingly, then, the Huskies came out and played pretty well and emerged with a 2-1 victory.

“That was just fun,” Anderson said. “(Terada) told us from the beginning that it was going to be chaotic. He wanted to give the seniors a chance to have run.”

The win ends Naperville North’s regular season with a 12-5-1 record. Next up for the Huskies is Tuesday’s regional opener against either Downers Grove North or Oswego.

“We knew, even with our starting group out there, we’d have our hands full, that’s for sure,” Terada said.

The Huskies goals were at both ends of the skill spectrum. The first was sublime, a Christa Szalach turn after taking a Kirsten Anderson pass. Szalach turned on the ball 15 yards from goal and hit a shot into the upper left corner of the net in the 11th minute of play.

“The thing that helps (Szalach) is that she’s a two-footed player,” Terada said. “As a defender, that’s kind of a nightmare, to have a kid inside the 18 who can go both ways and can hit it accurately and with a little bit of pace.”

Naperville North’s game-winner came just under 2 minutes into the second half following a long Anderson throw-in into the Geneva penalty area. The ball bounced around and a Geneva defender tried to clear the ball but it went off a teammate into the goal. Anderson was given credit for the own goal.

“Whenever we can get that chance in, it might ping pong around for a while, but as long as it finds the back of the net, it doesn’t really matter how it gets in,” Anderson said.

“We’re trying to aim for the awkward spot where the goalie doesn’t whether if they should come out for it or not. Our three main ball-winners try to hit that spot. So if I can hit that spot, it can go in, hopefully.”

Anderson’s long throw is as important a defensive weapon. Given throw-ins deep in their own territory, the Huskies are able to move the ball upfield quickly thanks to her prowess.

“They pinned us down almost on the corner flag and she threw it almost to the 35-yard line,” Terada said. “Most teams get pinned in the corner and you don’t get out and it’s still a dangerous spot for them.”

Geneva (10-5-4) is having a stellar season. The Vikings are the Upstate Eight Conference River champions and advanced to the semifinals of the Naperville Invitational. And after a slow start, they more than brought competitiveness to Thursday’s match.

“I don’t think it was our best game,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “I think we came out flat and I think it took us 20 minutes to wake up. Like I told them, if it’s the same result next week, the season’s over. With the heat and everything, we didn’t play our best game.”

Geneva also scored a solid goal of its own 24 minutes into the first half. Annie Waldoch moved up from defense on the right wing and sent a cross to Catherine Allon, who headed into the net to tie the match at halftime.

“It was nice to see that we responded and we equalized,” Owens said. “It was nice to see that we fought in the second half.”

Despite trailing most of the second half, Geneva remained solidly in the match and had chanced to tie the match. Molly Axen hit a 13th-minute shot over the crossbar; Anderson had to clear a shot off the line in the 14th minute and Allon forced a save from Allison Hitchcock with 4 minutes to play.

“I think we had a great second half,” Owens said. “I felt we played hard. We possessed much better than in the first half. We fought for the ball more. I thought we saw a lot of good things. We just weren’t consistent whistle-to-whistle. And that’s something we’re going to focus on for next week.”

Right back Waldoch is one of the Vikings young defenders and her play in defense was strong on Thursday.

“Annie does a great job,” Owens said. “For a freshman to step in and start every game and to play every minute of every game – she’s a great player for us back there, along with (left back) Molly Stanfa. Both of them are quiet and are kind of small in stature. But they both do a great job. I don’t know of any varsity program that starts three freshmen as starting defenders and is as solid as we are.”

Allon has been the Vikings’ main striker this year, and the junior’s ability to score key goals at key times has been critical, especially in the second half of the season.

“She’s kind of our go-to player,” Owens said. “She scores the big goals in the big games. She’s tremendous with her head. She’s had some very pretty goals this season and hopefully she continues that.”

Geneva still has a Saturday match against St. Francis to close the regular season. Then the Vikings travel to Lake Park on Tuesday, where they meet either Glenbard East or Elgin in the regional semifinals.