NAPERVILLE – Freshman midfielder Kennedy Bertsch wasn’t staring off into space when Naperville North coach Steve Goletz addressed his team at halftime.

No, she was listening closely.

“At halftime, coach was saying, ‘Be the player that can step up and change the game,’” Bertsch said. “So that’s what I tried to do.”

Bertsch did. She scored her first-career goal and helped host Huskies soaring to a thrilling come-from-behind 2-1 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Metea Valley on Tuesday.

The Huskies (10-4-3, 3-0-0), who are ranked 13th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, now control their own destiny in the DVC race with two games remaining. Second-ranked Metea Valley (11-2-1, 2-1-0) now needs outside help if it is to win a third-consecutive league title.

The fortunes of each team turned on Bertsch’s alert play in the 68th minute. With her team trailing 1-0, Naperville North senior defender Reagan O’Malley lined a 43-yard free kick off the crossbar.

The rebound caromed straight to Bertsch in the center of the box. She settled the ball and ripped a 12-yard shot inside the left post with 12:32 remaining.

“It fell right to my feet, and the goal was right there,” Bertsch said. “So, I had to put it in.

“Metea is great. They are a really, really good team. It felt great to score.”

Bertsch was mobbed by her on-field teammates after her equalizer. The players on the bench went berserk, too.

“The team is great,” Bertsch said. “They are all so encouraging, and it just felt so good.”

Bertsch wasn’t the only one feeling good.

“Kennedy’s goal was incredible,” Goletz said. “We had talked about trying to have a little bit more composure around the goal, and to be able to bring that ball down in the box and finish it. As a coach you’re so happy for kids who go about doing things the right way.

“I’ve said Kennedy is one of the biggest leaders on this team as a freshman. She steps up, she talks, she’s encouraging.”

Bertsch has been that way since the start.

“What Kennedy has brought to this team as a freshman is just incredible. As (assistant coach Jim) Konrad and I are sitting there watching tryouts, she was one of those kids that kept showing up and we’re like, ‘There’s something to her in how she plays.’

“And now, to be in the grind of her first varsity season, and she’s still playing so well. She hasn’t hit a wall, and she’s only getting better. Nothing fazes that kid.”

Nothing seemed to faze the Huskies, including being down a goal after suffering consecutive 1-0 defeats to ranked foes St. Charles East and Lyons.

“We played a solid first half, but I think we all just wanted to come together,” Bertsch said. “And our mentality – we played a lot tougher, I thought, in the second half.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Ochsner, who needed only one save in the victory, agreed.

“In the huddle at halftime we all just wanted to win so badly that we really came together and were able to pull the win out,” Ochsner said.

Unlike the evenly played first half, the Huskies controlled more of the action in the second half. They enjoyed a 9-1 advantage in shots after intermission; Metea Valley’s only shot was a weak header off a corner kick.

Bertsch’s goal energized the Huskies, and they tilted the field toward the Metea Valley goal. Senior midfielder Audrey Hartmann’s 43-yard shot was saved by Metea goalkeeper Alyssa Gluting with 8:15 remaining. Almost three minutes later, O’Malley struck the crossbar again.

After that 35-yard shot, Naperville North kept the pressure on. It paid off less than a minute later when the Huskies went ahead on a Metea Valley own-goal.

Sophomore all-state forward Claire DeCook dribbled to the right endline and centered a pass which Gluting initially smothered. But the ball popped out from underneath the keeper and caused chaos in the crease. Ultimately, an attempted clearing pass ricocheted off a Metea Valley player and into the net with 4:41 to go.

“It feels good to be on the other end of a lucky bounce there,” Goletz said. “But as I told the kids, you’ve got to work to try to create your luck, and we did that.

“Reagan plays a great ball in, hits the crossbar, we score off a battle. Things happen.
You take what you get in those games.”

The decisive goal may have resulted from a fluky play, but the win went to the better team on the night.

“They’re a great team,” Metea Valley senior all-state forward Lucy Burk said. “They deserved that.

“(In the second half) they shut us down, especially in the midfield. They were winning every 50/50 ball, every header. They were just outworking us.”

The Mustangs, who had a six-game winning streak snapped and gave up more than one goal for the first time this season, lost Marquette-bound junior midfielder Olivia Hernadez to a leg injury early in the first half.

The visitors had taken a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute on what could be called a “Lucy Burk special.”

It came against the run of play. 

Naperville North had nearly scored when senior midfielder Jacey Sturek sent a 25-yard free kick into the left side of the box. From there, DeCook flicked it on frame.

Metea Valley senior defender Kyleigh Jannisch headed the ball off the line, but Naperville North kept the Mustangs pinned in and forced back-to-back corner kicks.

On the second send, Metea Valley junior forward Lily Senese booted a long clearing-pass up the left side to Burk, her fellow Northern Michigan commit.

Burk raced into the attacking third until she was just outside the box. She then cut back inside and ripped a 22-yard rocket over Ochsner’s head into the upper right corner of the net.

“It was a complete change of direction, all the way from the corner kick, and I just tried to hold it as much as I could until I could get a shot off,” Burk said. “I saw the opposite forward, Sydnie Bayless, running her butt off all the way up the field.

“I figured instead of trying to beat the player to the endline and maybe getting a cross off, I would just cut it in and try to get a shot off and hopefully it went back post. And if I don’t make it, Sydnie is there.”

Ochsner applauded her foe’s stunning shot.

“She’s such a good player,” Ochsner said. “She turned central, and I could see the ball, but even then, it was a rocket to the upper corner.

“So, they capitalized on their opportunity, but they didn’t have a chance like that again. After that happened, we realized we’ve got to step up.

“It was off a counter, and we had numbers down here. We kept that in mind the next times we had corners, to make sure they were covered.”

The Huskies usually do an excellent job of that. Ochsner hasn’t been called on to make a lot of big saves this season, largely thanks to the play of O’Malley and fellow defenders Emily Buescher, Abby Penn, Lily Radek and Addison Sitzmann.

“I haven’t seen that many shots,” Ochsner said. “A big thing for us is communication and the big amount of hard-working players we have in the backline.

“I have no doubt that as soon as someone gets clear, (the defenders) are going to work 110 percent to get the ball and keep it away from me.

“Even from our midfield, they all track back.  They all hustle and work so hard. They all care so much about the program.”

Goletz likes what he is seeing.

“Defensively, I thought we did a great job,” Goletz said. “We limited them to a few dangerous chances.

“Burk is a special player. She cuts inside, she buries the ball into the upper 90, and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Man, it’s going to be one of those days.’

“But I give the kids credit. They dug themselves out.

“Down 1-0 at half, I told them they should be proud of the first half they played. We just needed to clean a couple of things up, be a little bit better soccer-wise.”

The majority of the regular-season and conference slate are in the rearview mirror, but there are big challenges remaining for both teams.

Naperville North travels to cross-town rival Naperville Central at 7 p.m. Thursday, while Metea Valley visits District 204 rival Waubonsie Valley at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“We can’t expect to have a great result every single game,” Burk said. “Some things are going to happen, especially if we don’t work as hard as we can for it, but we have to keep our heads up.

“We have way more to go.  This is just a minor bump.”

 
Starting lineups

Metea Valley
GK: Alyssa Gluting
D: Kyleigh Jannisch
D: Sydney Phillips
D: Jessica Terada
M: Emma Strcic
M: Olivia Hernandez
M: Mckenna Wigfield
M: Kaylee Hansen
F: Lily Senese
F: Cydnie Bayless
F: Lucy Burk
 
Naperville North
GK: Olivia Ochsner
D: Lily Radek
D: Abby Penn
D: Reagan O’Malley
D: Emily Buescher
M: Audrey Hartmann
M: Kelly Wilson
M: Jacey Sturek
F: Annie Chang
F: Rachael Noren
F: Claire DeCook
 
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Kennedy Bertsch, fr., MF, Naperville North

 
Scoring summary

First half
Metea Valley: Lucy Burk (Lily Senese), 12’
 
Second half
Naperville North: Kennedy Bertsch (unassisted), 68’
Naperville North: Own-goal, 76’