NAPERVILLE—Lockport, which moved up from no. 3 to no. 2 team in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, went into its morning nonconference match Saturday (April 13) against host Naperville Central fresh off its Porter Cup championship Thursday and owning a spotless record.

The Porters are well aware that every opponent wants to knock them off their perch. The Redhawks, winners of five of their first seven matches and then-ranked 24th in the Top 25, tried to be the club that pinned Lockport with its first loss.

Nothing doing.

The Porters got two goals each from junior Marquette recruit Ava Kozak and talented freshman Yuridia Hernandez in a 4-0 victory over the Redhawks to remain perfect on the season.

Kozak continued her goal-scoring binge with the brace. The forward, who delivered both Lockport goals in its 2-0 triumph over Wheaton North in the Porter Cup title game, now has scored 16 in 12 games. Meanwhile, Hernandez’s two goals give her 10 for the season, tying her with senior midfielder Natalie Zodrow for second on the team.

“I think our girls came fired up and ready to pay today,” said Lockport coach Todd Elkei. “They know Naperville Central is a quality team; they have good players all over the field. We get overlooked sometimes. Our girls wanted to come out and say we have some good players, too. We have a senior-laden team, and they use their leadership and their big-game experience to come out, keep the ball on the ground and do the things that we do.”

The Porters put pressure on the young Redhawks, who start nine underclassmen, throughout the first half with 10 shots on goal. However, Naperville Central kept Lockport off the scoreboard for a good stretch until Kozak found the back of the net in the 28th minute.

Zodrow gained possession of the ball near the right side of the Redhawks’ goal and fed it to Kozak, who put it in just under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead.

“We were ready,” Zodrow said. “We knew they were probably going to be gunning for us, because we did beat them last year. We were assuming they were going to come at us.”

In the 36th minute, Hernandez put the Porters ahead 2-0. The midfielder gained control of a long free kick from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville recruit Emma Czech at the top of the box before she tucked a shot in the top-left corner.

Hernandez struck again in the 51st minute. She took a pass from Czech around 20 yards in front of the net, slipped past two defenders with a couple of nifty moves and planted the ball in the bottom left corner of the goal.

Hernandez, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match, played in Naperville for a U-14 team last year as an eighth-grader.

“We didn’t really know much about her,” Elkei said. “She came in, we looked at her the first day of tryouts and it was like, ‘This kid’s got some talent.’ She didn’t know the girls when she came in. She’s at a different club than most of the girls, so it took her a while to jell, but her attitude, her work ethic and her willingness to learn and listen has just been tremendous.

“She’s got natural ability you can’t coach. That (first) goal she scored, that was big-time. To bring it down and put it into the upper window, that was just something you don’t see out of a freshman.”

Zodrow agrees with her coach regarding Hernandez.

“She’s great,” Zodrow said. “She’s so creative; she’s so good on the ball. She’s making so many opportunities for everyone, it’s just a pleasure playing with her.”

Hernandez said she’s thrilled to be able to contribute to the team’s success and learn from a senior class that has seven players who’ll go on to play at the collegiate level next year.

“It’s been incredible,” she said. “I always look up to all the seniors, especially the midfield(ers), because I play with them. Their confidence, their drive and their defensive determination, that’s what I look up to a lot.”

Kozak closed out the scoring for Lockport with a goal in the 62nd minute.

When asked why the Porters have sprinted out to their great start, senior midfielder and Indiana State recruit Kaylin Klutcharch said a big reason is team togetherness.

“The chemistry we have, the way we’re able to play off of each other,” she said. “It took a couple of games to get that connection going, but once we did, we’re unstoppable.”

Naperville Central produced three shots on goal for the game. The Redhawks had a good scoring chance in the 52nd minute. Junior midfielder Emma Russell put a shot on goal off a rebound, but Lockport junior goalkeeper Liz Rock made the save to preserve the shutout—the Porters’ eighth  this season and sixth in a row.

“Today was a rough day as far as trying to find a connection,” said Redhawks coach Troy Adams, who had two players out of the lineup due to outside commitments. “Every time we played it out, we weren’t finding us; we were finding them. That made it harder. Our defense was under a lot of pressure today.”

The match was originally scheduled to be played in Lockport, but due to unfavorable field conditions, it was moved to Knoch Park Turf Field in Naperville.

“They’re a physical and aggressive team, and we talked about learning experiences,” said Adams. “I thought we did a lot better than we have in previous games. I thought our back four did a much better job staying organized, stepping out when they needed to.

“Obviously there’s still room for improvement, but that was a positive today. It’s something we had trouble with the last couple of games. We did a good job adjusting.”

Anchoring the backline for Naperville Central are the team’s only two senior starters, Lauren Thorne and Chloe Mowry.

“It was another game to continue to work with our team on ourselves as well as (it being) a nonconference game,” Thorne said, “so it’s a good chance to keep developing for those really big games — conference games and obviously just getting ready for the state playoffs.

“It’s just another game to improve and work on what we’ve been working on this whole season. We did a lot better this game in the back and holding them, although the score doesn’t really say it. We did a lot better job of adjusting in the back which is what we’ve been working on.”

Thorne returned this season after suffering a torn ACL in her left knee late in the spring last year.

“It’s been good,” she said. “It was obviously rough news and a hard recovery, but it’s so good to be back on the field. There are obviously things that come with it. It’s the other leg that’s kind of doing a lot of work now. The surgery leg is still not fully back, but it’s getting there. It’s a work in progress. There are certain things I’ve still got to work on yet, but it’s just great to be back.”

The Redhawks (5-3-0) host Benet (5-2-1) in their first game of the Naperville Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“They’re going to be good,” Adams said. “They’ve got nice players. At this point of the season, I’m still always more worried about us than I am the other team. It’s about what can we do better instead of ‘OK, how are we going to match up with somebody?’ We’ll worry about that when we play DVC games, when we play state tournaments, when the games are essentially if you don’t take care of business, you’re going to be done.”

Lockport will travel to Lincoln-Way West (6-6-0) Tuesday. Game time is 6:15 p.m. Then at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Lockport hosts Sandburg (4-4-2, 1-0-0) in its Southwest Suburban Conference Red Division opener.

“I have high expectations for our team,” Klutcharch said. “With our first place finish last year in conference, I know we can do it again.”

Starting lineups

Lockport
GK – Liz Rock
D – Meghan Mack
D – Alyssa Flood
D – Karolina Skubisz
D – Brinlee McNabb
D – Emma Czech
MF – Kaylin Klutcharch
MF – Yuridia Hernandez
MF – Natalie Zodrow
F – Ava Kozak
F – Tiffany Giannese

Naperville Central
GK – Emma Dram
D – Madison Lee
D – Lauren Thorne
D – Chloe Mowry
D – Eleanor Kane
MF – Nicole Sacek
MF – Rebecca Ruggiero
MF –Malia Shen
F – Bella Brozek
F – Emerson Burke
F – Emma Russell

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Yuridia Hernandez, fr., MF, Lockport

Scoring summary

First half
Lockport – Ava Kozak (Natalie Zodrow), 28’
Lockport – Yuridia Hernandez (Emma Czech), 36’

Second half
Lockport – Yuridia Hernandez (Emma Czech), 51’
Lockport – Ava Kozak (Unassisted), 62’