NORTHFIELD — “Big Five.”
 

New Trier junior midfielder Sybil Evans described what those two words mean to her team after its 2-0 win over visiting York in Thursday’s opening-round of pool play in the Naperville Invitational.
 

“We have a thing we call ‘Big Five,’” Evans said, “which is the first five minutes of every half, the last five minutes of every half, and then every time after we score or get scored on. It kind of directs the rest of the game.”

 

Five minutes of high-intensity soccer played in key stretches of a game can make all the difference, and New Trier had it throttled into fifth gear from the outset against York. The Trevians found feet quickly through the midfield in impressive fashion and capitalized before the game was four minutes old. Senior Josie Noble buried a shot on a run to the near post in the third minute after a feed from Honor Dold.
 

“Honor served a really nice ball in, and Josie was locked in and where she needed to be,” New Trier coach Jim Burnside said.
 

A tying goal was within reach for York until the game’s waning minutes, when Addy Randall made it 2-0 on a feed from Charlotte Dellin.

 

“Overall, it was a good back-and-forth game and a game where I really thought we did what we needed to do,” Burnside continued. “I'm really proud of our kids tonight for coming out and executing what we wanted them to do.”

 

Through roughly 15 minutes, midfielder Evans and company had their way against York in the middle third. Midfielders Randall, Jaime Elias, and Annie Paden all shined during the game’s first 20 minutes.
 

“Today was just really fun,” Dellin said. “We were connecting well, the energy was really high, and the combination of those two things makes it a really fun game to play. We haven't had that yet, so tonight was kind of the night we really clicked.”

 

The Dukes adjusted and much of the game’s remainder was a see-saw affair in first round Group G play between sixth-ranked York (10-1-0) and no. 9 New Trier (9-2-3).
 

The Dukes knew that marching onto the home field of a perennial state power like New Trier and grabbing a win would be a challenge. But in a fine season for York, the Dukes showed they were ready.
 

After about 20 minutes.

 

“I think one thing about our team is that we put it all out there, and I just think we came out slow,” York defender Ava Hansmann said. “We were caught off-guard.
 

“They had a really nice goal, so credit to them for that. But otherwise, for 70 minutes, I think we battled it out and it went back-and-forth. We both had chances — but not many — and it was played more in the middle of the field.”
 

After York coach Stevan Dobric saw his girls lose for the first time this season, he echoed Evans’ sentiment about the importance of answering every game’s opening whistle with energy and intensity.

 

“We made some adjustments at half and got into rhythm,” Dobric said. “We tried to get the ball to players’ feet more and tried to build off each other more.

 

“This was a good game to show our girls that they always need to pick up their speed of play, and always be sure we're communicating. Because if you let those things drop and the other team doesn't, you're going to lose. But I thought the girls put forth a really good effort, and it was a good learning experience. We’re one of the top seeds in our sectional, they’re one of the top seeds in their sectional, so it's really good for the girls to see this level of competition.”

 

Hansmann agreed.

 

“This is the hardest team we've played so far, ,” she said. “We have to keep building up to this level of competition, because that's what we’ll be facing in the playoffs. We don't want this to happen again.”

 

For most of the 70-plus minutes in between New Trier’s goals, air-tight backline play from both teams largely carried the day. Both teams earned a handful of corner kicks and free kicks, and found a few dangerous shots in the run of play, but it was the middle third of the field where the lion’s share of the action took place.
 

Getting behind either backline will be a tall order for anyone facing York or New Trier.

 

Heading into Thursday’s tilt, New Trier (9-2-3) and York (10-1-0) had 19 combined shutouts in 23 games. York had a 0.20 goals-against average through 10 games; New Trier had a similarly impressive average of 0.30 through 13 games.
 

New Trier whittled its to 0.28 with Thursday’s win, and York’s bumped up to 0.36. Whatever tale statistics tell, the reality is that however deep the run that York or New Trier make in the postseason, their girls in back will loom large in the state tourney journey.

York defenders Hansmann, Mia Barton, Catherine Carter, and Mia Pretzie have been rock-solid all year, and so has New Trier’s backline of Dold, Basie Shannon, Clara Deliduka, and Kennedy Cosgrove.

 

New Trier goalkeeper Annie Fowler and York keeper Ava Lewandowski will have to make quality stops when called upon but the two keepers can sleep well, secure in the knowledge that they are tremendously well-protected.
 

“I thought our backline played out of their mind, and our keeper made big saves tonight when she needed to,” Burnside said. Fowler tipped a shot over the bar on a free kick in the second half taken by York’s Stella Kohl.
 

For spearheading the spirited midfield play that got New Trier off to its fast start and early goal, Evans earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor.

 

“I thought Sybil Evans played great in the midfield and really controlled the midfield,” Burnside said. “And I thought that Charlotte Dellin up-top did a great job of holding the ball up, winning 50/50s, going forward and creating. She creates havoc, that's what she does.”
 

Dellin sees her role in uncomplex terms.

 

“I'm really just playing simple and looking to get the defense moving, get the ball switched,” she said. “I'm a target player, so being able to be that target, hold it up. Then get it out to other people and find others and hopefully find myself somewhere in the box. When everybody else is doing their job, and I'm doing my job, it ends up well.
 

“I thought Annie Paden did really well winning balls at midfield. I thought Clara Deliduka played well — but honestly, our entire backline is a brick wall. They will never let us down. And Annie Fowler is amazing.”

 

Like Fowler, Randall is a varsity freshman at New Trier.  And while sometimes a freshman on varsity can live among the shadows, Randall is standing firmly in the sun. Randall was a beast on the outside yet again on Thursday, and her speed, skill and toughness are turning heads.
 

“Addy had a great game tonight, and she has had a great season so far,” Burnside said.

 

York has an infinitely dangerous attacking duo in Sophia Musial and Michaela Quinn up-top, and Hannah Meyers was busy all day up top for the Dukes. An athletic, physical midfield features Kohl, Tatum Mailander, and Jordan Ebner.

 

“I thought our whole backline did a really good job,” Dobric said. “I thought Mia Pretzie had a phenomenal performance on the outside against (Randall), and I thought (Kohl) and (Mailander) had a really strong game.

We had a free kick that was really close and two or three good opportunities in the last 10 minutes with Maggie (Quinn) and then Adriana (Soupos) there on the right side outside the six. The shots just didn't come off the way we wanted them.”

Hansmann appreciated the lesson her girls got Thursday and believes the Dukes will be better for the loss.

 

“We've won a lot of our games by at least three goals, so coming out here we knew it would be a completely different game,” she said. “We got humbled. We know we're going to see this kind of competition in the state tournament, and we're going to have to step up in order to match that competition.”

 

New Trier topped Bolingbrook 4-0 Friday to clinch the quarterfinal berth from the group. York will complete the group stage against Bolingbrook at 11 a.m. Saturday at Fenwick.

 

 

Starting lineups

 

York
GK: Ava Lewandowski

D: Catherine Carter

D: Mia Pretzie

D: Mia Barton

D: Ava Hansmann

MF: Tatum Mailander

MF: Stella Kohl

MF: Jordan Ebner

F: Hannah Meyers

F: Sophia Musial

F: Michaela Quinn

New Trier
GK: Annie Fowler

D: Kennedy Colegrove

D: Clara Deliduka

D: Honor Dold

D: Basie Shannon

M: Sybil Evans

M: Josie Noble

M: Annie Paden

M: Addy Randall

F: Jaime Elias

F: Charlotte Dellin

 

Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Sybil Evans, sr., MF, New Trier

 

 

Scoring summary

First half
New Trier: Noble (Dold) 3’
 

Second half
New Trier: Randall (Dellin) 79’