It's Neuqua Valley vs. Lyons Township in Naperville Invite finals
By Matt Le Cren
Neuqua Valley and Lyons Township will both be gunning for their first Naperville Invitational championship Saturday afternoon at Naperville Central after both won their semifinal matches Friday night.
Neuqua Valley remained unbeaten at 16-0 by knocking off Geneva 2-0 in the nightcap, overcoming a determined defensive effort by the underdog Vikings to do it. Geneva (8-4-4) became the first team to hold the Wildcats scoreless in the first half, but the favorites broke through to score twice early in the second half.
Gianna Dal Pozzo put Neuqua on the board with 34:31 remaining when she tapped in a 20-yard free kick from Megan Oyster. Geneva’s wall expected Oyster to blast the ball in the air on frame, but Oyster slid her shot on the ground to the left of the wall and Dal Pozzo alertly pounced on it near the left post.
”I was looking for the goal, actually, and to my surprise ‘G’ was right there,” Oyster said. “It was kind of like a ‘shot-pass’ you could call it.
“In practice we always learn to follow through with the play no matter what. Even if I’m shooting it we have to have players in the box at all times and that’s what we did and we capitalized on it.”
“I expected it on goal,” Dal Pozzo said. “I just wasn’t sure if it was going wide so I figured I’d tap it.”
Allie McBride made it 2-0 at the 29:10 mark, scoring off another back-door run off a cross from Shannon Pimmel. Though the Wildcats outshot the Vikings 16-2 and had numerous chances in the early going, it took 45 minutes to break through.
“We were really frustrated,” said Oyster, who nearly scored off the opening kickoff when she boomed a 57-yard shot that Geneva goalie Victoria Fortney did well to deflect into the crossbar. “At half all of us were talking about how to calm down and play our game because we were getting opportunities to score but we weren’t capping on them and once we finally did we relaxed and we were able to play our game a bit better.”
“(The first goal) just made us relax more,” added Dal Pozzo, one of four Wildcats with 10 or more goals this spring. “We were really stressed out that we weren’t getting any but that just settled us down.”
The Wildcats are playing this week without standout sophomore striker Zoey Goralski, who is training with the national team.
Lyons (14-2-1) edged Waubonsie Valley 1-0 in the first semifinal. It was the fourth 1-0 loss this season for the Warriors (7-5), who also dropped a 1-0 decision to the Lions in the season opener on March 17.
Sophomore defender Ari Kowalski scored the only goal – the first of her career – on a 27-yard shot with 33:53 to go in the second half after the Warriors had cleared a corner kick by Kelsey Holbert.
“It was so exciting,” Kowalski said. “It’s always exciting when the team scores, but when you get it yourself it’s just that much more exciting. It was a big game-changer.”
Indeed, Waubonsie had controlled the match until that point and had not allowed a shot until Kowalski’s attempt, which sailed into the upper right corner of the net and was one of only five LT shots in the game.
“I saw it coming towards me, so I was kind of expecting it,” Kowalski said. “I always feel like I don’t take the shots and then I’m upset with myself, so I decided to just hit it.”
“You could tell by the way it was coming out to her that she was going to step up and hit it and see what happened,” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said. “She got a hold of it and hit a great shot. From our angle you could see that thing going in from the moment it left her foot.”
The Lions, who were outshot 11-5, did not allow the Warriors, who a minute earlier had nearly drawn first blood when a 20-yard shot by Kristen Brots just missed the right post, any scoring chances after Kowalski’s goal despite losing stopper Elise Gordon to a sprained ankle with 30 minutes left. Gordon said she hopes to be able to play against Neuqua.
Goalie Maggie Orlowski made four saves to record her fourth straight shutout and 13th overall for the Lions, who take a five-game winning streak into the title game and have now advanced to the finals of the area’s two most prestigious tournaments.
“It’s fantastic,” Lanspeary said. “It’s really a testament to these kids and how hard they work every single game, because it’s been that way all season long.”
The match is a possible preview of the Class 3A Benedictine Supersectional, where the two sides will meet if both win their respective sectionals. The Wildcats are the top seed at the Waubonsie Valley Sectional while the Lions are No. 1 at York.
“I have a bunch of friends from (Lyons) that I play with on club and I know them well,” Oyster said. “They’re good players and they’re definitely going to give us something to play against, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
