NAPERVILLE – New Trier senior Charlotte Dellin is the kind of player every team wants and none want to play against.

The Fairfield-bound forward loves mucking things up in a crowd, with a keen determination to try to get shots on goal on restarts.

“I really pride myself on being able to get my head on the ball, or any part of my body on the ball,” Dellin said. “I want to create something dangerous. If one of our girls has the ability to make something dangerous happen on a free kick or a corner, we all try our best to really get something off of it.”

Dellin did just that when senior midfielder Annie Paden launched a corner kick from the right side with the Trevians clinging to a one-goal lead Saturday against Hinsdale Central.

After coming up empty on several earlier attempts, Dellin rose up and powered a header into the net with 8:10 remaining in the second half. That capped the scoring in a 2-0 win at the Naperville Invitational semifinals at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium.

New Trier, which is ranked fourth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, is the highest-ranked team left in a tournament which has seen a series of bracket-breaking upsets. The Trevians (13-2-3) advance to the championship and take on Cinderella and 23rd-ranked Benet (11-2-1), which upset no. 15 St. Charles East 3-1 in the other semifinal. The title match is set for 6 p.m. Monday at Memorial Stadium.

“That was an effort to get something dangerous on the goal and luckily it went in,” Dellin said of her fifth goal of the season. “I haven’t scored since March, so this was good for me to get one.”

New Trier coach Jim Burnside was delighted to see Dellin convert. It allowed the Trevians to finally put away the undermanned yet determined 14th-ranked Red Devils (12-4-0), who upset top-ranked Barrington on penalty kicks in Thursday’s quarterfinals. It was Barrington’s first regular-season loss in two years.

“She’s a force,” Burnside said of Dellin. “She is willing to do that grunt work, trying to get open and trying to get the ball on her head.

“That hard work, she put the ball in the back of the net on that one corner. That really was a game-changer. These are tough conditions to gauge that ball.”

The game was played in a stiff wind that tested every player’s mettle. And that wasn’t the only thing tough about the game – the two sides played a physical style and neither backed down.

The grueling match saw many collisions go unpunished. That hurt Hinsdale Central, which had six players who either missed the game due or played limited minutes due to injuries.

Coach Tony Madonia elected to remove his leading scorer, senior forward Cate McDonnell, from the game in the second half after she sustained two blows to the head.

“I thought our defense was miraculous,” Madonia said. “We couldn’t connect passes, because of how physical New Trier was. You can’t control what happens there. After we played two top teams in the state, we needed the game to be less physical. Unfortunately there’s not too much you can do about that.

“We’ve got multiple players out, but we’re still competing in big games. We’ve been full strength for one single game. When we’re full strength, we will be dangerous if we get there.”

Dellin said Hinsdale Central pushed the Trevians on counterattacks, but the Red Devils were not particularly dangerous in the offensive third. They managed only four shots; New Trier goalkeeper Annie Fowler made three saves to record the shutout.

The game was scoreless, and the Trevians had only taken one shot, until the 14:36 mark of the first half. That’s when Wake Forest recruit and Chicagoland Soccer all-stater Josie Noble rolled a 27-yard shot inside the right post for the game-winning goal.

Hinsdale Central goalkeeper Katherine Skinner, was apparently fooled by the shot.

“I had a couple shots earlier in the half that weren’t on frame,” Noble said. “Coach told me to keep it on frame, as long as it’s on frame it will be a dangerous ball.

“I kept it low; I kept it on frame. I thought she was going to dive for it. She didn’t.”

The Trevians get a chance to capture their sixth Naperville Invitational championship, which would break a tie with Naperville North for the most in the history of the prestigious event, which began in 1998.

“We haven’t been since 2018. It’s really exciting to get to a final of a tournament, because in our careers we haven’t been to a final yet,” Noble said. “I know we all want to prove to ourselves and everybody else who we are and show them how dangerous we are.”

Like the Red Devils, the Trevians weren’t at full strength, especially on defense. They played without outside back Honor Dold and Idaho-bound center back Basie Shannon.

“It was a nice effort,” Burnside said. “Some kids stepped in and played minutes that they haven’t seen, which is really good.

“Sophomore Eleni Kanellos stepped in and played great and Claire Gallagher, a freshman, played on the outside. Senior captain Sybil Evans gave us some minutes coming back from a sprained ankle, and Maeve Driscoll stepped in there and did a good job.”

Hinsdale Central, which is seeded third at its own sectional, and New Trier, the top seed at its own sectional, could meet again in the Dominican University Supersectional.

That would be fine with Hinsdale Central midfielder Peyton Rohn.

“I think it was a tight game all around,” Rohn said. “We had some strong moments, and I think they did, too.

“Hopefully we get to play them in the future.”
 

Starting lineups

New Trier
GK: Annie Fowler
D: Kennedy Colegrove
D: Clara Deliduka
D: Olivia Wilson
D: Claire Gallagher
M: Maeve Driscoll
M: Addy Randall
M: Annie Paden
F: Josie Noble
F: Charlotte Dellin
F: Jaime Elias
 
Hinsdale Central
GK: Katherine Skinner
D: Julia Marinaccio
D: Caitlin Snodgrass
D: Addisyn Krogstie
D: Adriana Giannini
M: Emily DiTomasso
M: Avery Edgewater
M: Peyton Rohn
M: Piper Bingham
F: Cate McDonnell
F: Chloe Anderson
 
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Charlotte Dellin, sr., F/MF, New Trier.
 

Scoring summary

First half
New Trier: Josie Noble (unassisted) 26’
 
Second half
New Trier: Charlotte Dellin (Annie Paden) 72’