LA GRANGE – The calendar has turned and many of the names on the opposing roster have changed, but that didn’t matter to Naperville North star Noah Radeke.
The senior forward felt satisfied if a little exhausted after leading the Huskies to a 1-0 victory over host Lyons on Thursday.
Radeke scored the only goal of the game as the Huskies exacted a bit of revenge for their 1-0 upset loss to the Lions in last season’s Class 3A state semifinals.
“I’ve never actually beaten Lyons in my years at North,” Radeke said. “So, it’s nice coming in my senior year and finally taking them down.”
The Huskies (1-0-0), who are ranked no. 1 in the Chicagoland Soccer preseason poll, return all but one starter from last season; no. 13 Lyons graduated all but one of its starters.
Even so, the Lions (0-2-0) didn’t make life easy for the Huskies.
“Lyons always plays hard,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “They’re the same as us.
“They’re always going to give you a tough game whether they’re up or down, going to be organized defensively. They’re going to play hard, and they’re going to take advantage of your mistakes.”
The Huskies didn’t make any glaring mistakes Thursday, which was fortunate for them because the Lions didn’t let them get many great looks.
The Huskies outshot the Lions 13-0. Lyons goalkeeper Joe Ratliffe was in fine form, making eight saves, but the match wasn’t as one-sided as those stats might indicate. The Lions were dangerous at times, but couldn’t get in behind Naperville North’s backline and failed to make the final connection when they did have chances.
“They had their chances today to score,” Konrad said. “I was glad we created some chances.
“Obviously a long way to grow. It’s the first game and against teams that play so hard, guys aren’t used to that in summer ball.
“It was a good test for us, thrilled that Noah found the goal. That is the start of what will hopefully be a special season for him.”
Radeke bagged 22 goals as a junior and with another year of experience figures to repeat or perhaps surpass that total. His game-winner came early when he met a cross from midfielder Juan Carlos Hernandez and sent a one-timer past the diving Ratcliffe and inside the right post with 29:33 left in the first half.
“Juan played a great ball in,” Radeke said. “It just went right over the top, and I saw it and hit the ball. It was not the best contact but it still found the corner.”
It wasn’t the last opportunity created by Hernandez, who is always looking to set up his strikers.
“We’ve got to serve Noah, because he’s always open,” Hernandez said. “We’ve always got to find him so he can score the goals.”
That was especially true Thursday as the Huskies played without their other star forward, Jaxon Stokes. Not having to deal with both returning Chicagoland Soccer All-Staters helped Lyon’s inexperienced backline gain some traction.
“I think not having Stokes in the game today played to our advantage, definitely,” Lions captain Mason Burda said. “I thought our centerbacks did a really good job of locking down Radeke.”
Indeed, Radeke didn’t get in behind much, and when he did get the ball near or in the box and tried to drive, he usually drew a crowd, which really is the only way to slow him down.
Seniors Fred Chen and Devin Wong manned the middle for the Lions, who were coming off a 1-0 loss Wednesday night at Plainfield North.
“I was more encouraged with the performance today, just that they could hang with a team like this and keep these guys in front of them, and our goalkeeper did a nice job,” Lyons coach Paul Labbato said. “We’re trying to build through effort, and we’re trying to find out who can play where.
“We did play 19 guys today, and yesterday we played all 22. We just keep rolling guys in this first week. We’re trying to be successful and win, but we’re definitely trying to see who can do it in these big games. We’re learning a lot about the kids and where they can play, what positions.
“It’s a new team for the most part. We have seven returning players, one returning starter.
Overall, I was really encouraged with how hard they played today.”
So was Burda, who is the lone returning starter for LT.
“We have a lot of guys that aren’t as experienced, but I’m very proud of all the guys today, especially after coming off last night, which wasn’t a great performance for us,” Burda said. “Mentally, having to turn around and play Naperville North, the no. 1 team, less than 24 hours later, it was a good performance for us.”
The Lions will need such efforts going forward. Burda knows no opponent is going to take it easy on them.
“Every team we play now, we have a target on our head after being the second place team in the state last year. It’s something we’re going to have to deal with all season.”
It’s something Naperville North has dealt with for years and this season will be no different.
“I definitely feel like we could have played a lot better today, but we still got the job done,” Radeke said. “It was very exhausting, but I’m sure soon enough we’ll figure it out.”
Hernandez, too, is aware the Huskies must improve in order to stay ahead of the competition and achieve their lofty goals.
“I think the best thing we did this game was play hard. That’s all that mattered in this game; just playing hard and we got the win,” Herandez said. “I’m excited and the team is too. We’ve just got to put more effort in so we can be state champs this year.”
Starting lineups
Naperville North
GK: Jack Bouska
D: Andrew Hebron
D: Sam Hess
D: Connor Hanrahan
D: Colin McMahon
M: Juan Carlos Hernandez
M: Dylan Healy
M: Niko Ladas
F: Noah Radeke
F: Anthony Flores
F: Josh Pedersen
Lyons
GK: Joe Ratcliffe
D: Fred Chen
D: Sean Dunne
D: Devin Wong
D: Johnny Rocha
M: Chris Medina
M: Kellin Bourjaily
M: Mason Burda
M: Filip Soldat
F: Ryan Siegel
F: Ryland Avants
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Noah Radeke, sr., F, Naperville North