Naperville N. wins repeat title
with 3-0 win over Naperville C.
Early Krejci brace sets tone for red-hot Huskies
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – April ended with more showers Saturday but Maddie Krejci and her Naperville North teammates were in full flower.
Krejci scored two brilliant early goals 2:45 apart and Kelly Sylvester also found the back of the net in the first half as the Huskies rolled past host Naperville Central 3-0 in the Naperville Invitational championship game at Memorial Stadium.
It was a history-making performance for the Huskies (13-1-0), who separated themselves from a pack of elite teams by capturing the toughest tournament in the state for the second-straight season and third time in the past four years.
Naperville North is just the third team to win back-to-back Naperville Invitational titles, joining New Trier (2003-2005) and Waubonsie Valley (2007-2009).
“I’m just really happy,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “There’s no doubt this is the best tournament in the state. We’ve played about everybody you can think of or we didn’t get a chance to because somebody else knocked them out.
“To be able to get the confidence to go through this tournament and win tells the kids that if they do play well they can play with anybody in the state, and they showed that this week.”
Indeed, the Huskies beat four quality opponents in five days, starting with a 2-0 DuPage Valley Conference win over 2015 state runner-up Neuqua Valley on Tuesday.
They then knocked off Geneva 2-0 in the tournament quarterfinals Thursday and ended Barrington’s 11-game winning streak with a 1-0 semifinal win Friday night. Those two teams have a combined record of 22-2-1 against all other opponents.
“(It says) that we are incredibly hard to beat, and we’re extremely hard-working,” Naperville North goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk said. “We’ve had an insane week.
“We started off with Neuqua on Tuesday and then the quarters and semis, so by today we were all pretty tired. But it shows that we could grind it out and play against some of the best teams in the state.”
Naperville Central (10-4-3) should be counted among the elite after winning seven-of-its-last-eight games, including upsets of Evanston and St. Charles East in the tournament quarterfinals and semifinals.
The Redhawks had given up only 10 goals in their first 16 games and had eight shutouts, so they figured to give the Huskies a mighty battle in what everyone anticipated would be a low-scoring game.
Krejci poked two big holes in that theory and the Redhawks defense.
The Tennessee-bound senior bagged her team-leading 9th and 10th goals of the season in the 11th and 14th minutes to all but put the game out of reach early.
The first goal came with 29:36 remaining in the first half when she won a ball at midfield and beat two defenders up the right side despite being fouled twice. She ended her dogged run by ripping a 12-yard shot past Naperville Central goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler.
“Central is a tough team to break down,” Goletz said. “I know that (Naperville Central coach) Ed (Watson) is obviously on record always saying that they struggle to score goals, and we talked about trying to get an early goal and make them chase the game.
“Krejci had an unbelievable individual effort on the first goal. She just kept going and going and then a great finish.
“She’s been great all season. The second one was a good team goal. Santos plays her, she turns her and gets in and puts it in the lower corner.”
The first goal was a demonstration of Krejci’s indomitable will.
“Goletz kept telling me to stay out wide and then dive in,” Krejci said. “So once I had the opportunity to do that I just kept dribbling and going through players and was hoping for the best.”
Krejci’s second goal was pure skill. She received the ball at the top of the box with her back toward the goal, feinted to her right and then turned to her left and ripped a perfectly placed shot across her body and into the lower left corner of the net.
“I noticed that a lot of their defenders were all stuck to the right side of the field, so when I got the ball I was the last one there,” Krejci noted. “So I kind of faked (the defender) one way and turned and shot it.”
With that, the Redhawks fate was sealed. Naperville Central rarely wins after trailing, especially by multiple goals.
The task proved doubly impossible against the Huskies, who have given up only three goals this season.
Cablk faced just five shots and made three saves, including a diving effort in the last minute, to record North’s 10th-consecutive shutout, which tied the school record set in 1984, four years before the sport was sanctioned by the IHSA.
“It was so important to us,” Cablk said. “Ten-straight shutouts is an amazing accomplishment, and I wanted to make sure I could do everything I could to get that done for my team.”
While North’s backline led by Morgan Krause, Emily Wilhelm, Alyssa Siebers and Katie Fortman shut down every Redhawks foray, Krejci’s early double-tap eased Cablk’s mind.
“It was so nice,” Cablk said. "That definitely takes a huge weight off of my back and off of the back four’s back.
“She hasn’t scored as many goals as she wanted to this season so I know it was big for her to get those two early and put Central away.”
Krejci had a great opportunity to record a hat trick when Alexis Dandridge was shoved to the ground in the box with 22:24 left in the first half.
But Dressler dove to her right to stop Krejci’s penalty kick, then got up in time to force Krejci to fire the rebound wide of the left post.
“She’s really good,” Krejci said. “She made a really good save.
“She did pretty good for Central. It was hard to play against her.”
But the same can be said of playing against someone like Krejci.
“She’s a good player, and she’s a winner,” Watson said. “She plays to win the game.
“We were overaggressive on her first one. Both defenders overcommitted.
“Instead of defending her with two, we defended her with one twice. She can break one down. She shouldn’t be able to break two down, but unfortunately we went one and then the second one.”
Even so, Watson still felt his team had a chance. But those hopes vanished when Sylvester booted in a rebound of her own shot following a corner-kick from Krause with 14:35 to go in the first half.
“When Kinzly makes the save on the penalty kick, I turn to the girls and go, ‘That keeps us in the ball game,’” Watson said. “That was a huge save by her. We’re one little bounce away from being back in the game.
“We didn’t do well to defend the first two (goals), but that’s a good player making you pay. The third one was just garbage. I felt like our girls didn’t battle hard on that.”
If there’s one thing the Huskies have shown they can do, it is battle hard throughout. The Redhawks, after battling through a pair of double-overtime games over the previous 65 hours, wilted in the face of such relentlessness.
“Goletz always tells us we can’t get too confident with each other, so we’ve got to stay positive and work through every game,” Krejci said. “A lot of it is just winning balls in the middle and starting the game off strong. Also, a lot of it is high pressure and making it harder for teams to play.”
The good thing for the Redhawks is they don’t have to wait long for a chance to avenge the loss. They host the Huskies again Tuesday night in a DuPage Valley Conference game.
“I don’t like to have a target on us, but when the girls play as well as they have in this stretch, I guess it’s inevitable,” Goletz said. “But you’ve got to refocus because you’re coming right back with Central on Tuesday and then a good Waubonsie team on Thursday.
“The DVC is something that’s very important to us, and I know that the girls will make sure that they enjoy it tonight but get back to working on Monday to get prepared.”
Starting line-ups
Naperville North
GK Elizabeth Cablk
D Morgan Krause
D Emily Wilhelm
D Alyssa Siebers
M Ashley Santos
M Katelynn Buescher
M Jeanine Valera
M Morgan Lockridge
F Maddie Krejci
F Shaina Dudas
F Alexis Dandridge
Naperville Central
GK Kinzly Dressler
D Amanda Murphy
D Isabel Reedy
D Maggie Hillman
D Caitlin Reice
M Julie Irle
M Kayla Rowan
M Kirsten Dorgan
M Maggie Redeker
F Meridith Hannan
F Ryan Dudycha
MVP of the Match: Maddie Krejci, F, Naperville North
with 3-0 win over Naperville C.
Early Krejci brace sets tone for red-hot Huskies
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – April ended with more showers Saturday but Maddie Krejci and her Naperville North teammates were in full flower.
Krejci scored two brilliant early goals 2:45 apart and Kelly Sylvester also found the back of the net in the first half as the Huskies rolled past host Naperville Central 3-0 in the Naperville Invitational championship game at Memorial Stadium.
It was a history-making performance for the Huskies (13-1-0), who separated themselves from a pack of elite teams by capturing the toughest tournament in the state for the second-straight season and third time in the past four years.
Naperville North is just the third team to win back-to-back Naperville Invitational titles, joining New Trier (2003-2005) and Waubonsie Valley (2007-2009).
“I’m just really happy,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “There’s no doubt this is the best tournament in the state. We’ve played about everybody you can think of or we didn’t get a chance to because somebody else knocked them out.
“To be able to get the confidence to go through this tournament and win tells the kids that if they do play well they can play with anybody in the state, and they showed that this week.”
Indeed, the Huskies beat four quality opponents in five days, starting with a 2-0 DuPage Valley Conference win over 2015 state runner-up Neuqua Valley on Tuesday.
They then knocked off Geneva 2-0 in the tournament quarterfinals Thursday and ended Barrington’s 11-game winning streak with a 1-0 semifinal win Friday night. Those two teams have a combined record of 22-2-1 against all other opponents.
“(It says) that we are incredibly hard to beat, and we’re extremely hard-working,” Naperville North goalkeeper Elizabeth Cablk said. “We’ve had an insane week.
“We started off with Neuqua on Tuesday and then the quarters and semis, so by today we were all pretty tired. But it shows that we could grind it out and play against some of the best teams in the state.”
Naperville Central (10-4-3) should be counted among the elite after winning seven-of-its-last-eight games, including upsets of Evanston and St. Charles East in the tournament quarterfinals and semifinals.
The Redhawks had given up only 10 goals in their first 16 games and had eight shutouts, so they figured to give the Huskies a mighty battle in what everyone anticipated would be a low-scoring game.
Krejci poked two big holes in that theory and the Redhawks defense.
The Tennessee-bound senior bagged her team-leading 9th and 10th goals of the season in the 11th and 14th minutes to all but put the game out of reach early.
The first goal came with 29:36 remaining in the first half when she won a ball at midfield and beat two defenders up the right side despite being fouled twice. She ended her dogged run by ripping a 12-yard shot past Naperville Central goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler.
“Central is a tough team to break down,” Goletz said. “I know that (Naperville Central coach) Ed (Watson) is obviously on record always saying that they struggle to score goals, and we talked about trying to get an early goal and make them chase the game.
“Krejci had an unbelievable individual effort on the first goal. She just kept going and going and then a great finish.
“She’s been great all season. The second one was a good team goal. Santos plays her, she turns her and gets in and puts it in the lower corner.”
The first goal was a demonstration of Krejci’s indomitable will.
“Goletz kept telling me to stay out wide and then dive in,” Krejci said. “So once I had the opportunity to do that I just kept dribbling and going through players and was hoping for the best.”
Krejci’s second goal was pure skill. She received the ball at the top of the box with her back toward the goal, feinted to her right and then turned to her left and ripped a perfectly placed shot across her body and into the lower left corner of the net.
“I noticed that a lot of their defenders were all stuck to the right side of the field, so when I got the ball I was the last one there,” Krejci noted. “So I kind of faked (the defender) one way and turned and shot it.”
With that, the Redhawks fate was sealed. Naperville Central rarely wins after trailing, especially by multiple goals.
The task proved doubly impossible against the Huskies, who have given up only three goals this season.
Cablk faced just five shots and made three saves, including a diving effort in the last minute, to record North’s 10th-consecutive shutout, which tied the school record set in 1984, four years before the sport was sanctioned by the IHSA.
“It was so important to us,” Cablk said. “Ten-straight shutouts is an amazing accomplishment, and I wanted to make sure I could do everything I could to get that done for my team.”
While North’s backline led by Morgan Krause, Emily Wilhelm, Alyssa Siebers and Katie Fortman shut down every Redhawks foray, Krejci’s early double-tap eased Cablk’s mind.
“It was so nice,” Cablk said. "That definitely takes a huge weight off of my back and off of the back four’s back.
“She hasn’t scored as many goals as she wanted to this season so I know it was big for her to get those two early and put Central away.”
Krejci had a great opportunity to record a hat trick when Alexis Dandridge was shoved to the ground in the box with 22:24 left in the first half.
But Dressler dove to her right to stop Krejci’s penalty kick, then got up in time to force Krejci to fire the rebound wide of the left post.
“She’s really good,” Krejci said. “She made a really good save.
“She did pretty good for Central. It was hard to play against her.”
But the same can be said of playing against someone like Krejci.
“She’s a good player, and she’s a winner,” Watson said. “She plays to win the game.
“We were overaggressive on her first one. Both defenders overcommitted.
“Instead of defending her with two, we defended her with one twice. She can break one down. She shouldn’t be able to break two down, but unfortunately we went one and then the second one.”
Even so, Watson still felt his team had a chance. But those hopes vanished when Sylvester booted in a rebound of her own shot following a corner-kick from Krause with 14:35 to go in the first half.
“When Kinzly makes the save on the penalty kick, I turn to the girls and go, ‘That keeps us in the ball game,’” Watson said. “That was a huge save by her. We’re one little bounce away from being back in the game.
“We didn’t do well to defend the first two (goals), but that’s a good player making you pay. The third one was just garbage. I felt like our girls didn’t battle hard on that.”
If there’s one thing the Huskies have shown they can do, it is battle hard throughout. The Redhawks, after battling through a pair of double-overtime games over the previous 65 hours, wilted in the face of such relentlessness.
“Goletz always tells us we can’t get too confident with each other, so we’ve got to stay positive and work through every game,” Krejci said. “A lot of it is just winning balls in the middle and starting the game off strong. Also, a lot of it is high pressure and making it harder for teams to play.”
The good thing for the Redhawks is they don’t have to wait long for a chance to avenge the loss. They host the Huskies again Tuesday night in a DuPage Valley Conference game.
“I don’t like to have a target on us, but when the girls play as well as they have in this stretch, I guess it’s inevitable,” Goletz said. “But you’ve got to refocus because you’re coming right back with Central on Tuesday and then a good Waubonsie team on Thursday.
“The DVC is something that’s very important to us, and I know that the girls will make sure that they enjoy it tonight but get back to working on Monday to get prepared.”
Starting line-ups
Naperville North
GK Elizabeth Cablk
D Morgan Krause
D Emily Wilhelm
D Alyssa Siebers
M Ashley Santos
M Katelynn Buescher
M Jeanine Valera
M Morgan Lockridge
F Maddie Krejci
F Shaina Dudas
F Alexis Dandridge
Naperville Central
GK Kinzly Dressler
D Amanda Murphy
D Isabel Reedy
D Maggie Hillman
D Caitlin Reice
M Julie Irle
M Kayla Rowan
M Kirsten Dorgan
M Maggie Redeker
F Meridith Hannan
F Ryan Dudycha
MVP of the Match: Maddie Krejci, F, Naperville North