NAPERVILLE – Those who watched it couldn’t believe what they saw.

Those who missed it – and there were quite a few people still getting situated in the bleachers – wished they had seen it.

No team is safe when Naperville North forward Noah Radeke is on the field. That’s true even when his team doesn’t have the ball, which was the case when Morton kicked off to start Saturday’s nonconference tilt with the Huskies.

The visiting Mustangs elected to kick the ball backward, which turned out to be a bad idea. A back pass to defender Nicolas Zaragoza resulted in confusion between Zaragoza and goalkeeper Kobe Ibarra.

Radeke took advantage, stole the ball and scored just 14 seconds into the match. The senior scored another unassisted goal less than two minutes later and that was all the top-ranked Huskies needed for a 2-0 win.

“That was demoralizing the first play of the game,” Morton coach Jim Bageanis said. “Once again it was a lack of communication, which we’ve had in all three of our games.

“We should have never played it back to Nico in the first place. I didn’t think we needed to do that.

“He probably should have cleared the ball out, and he’s waiting for the keeper to come. I don’t think the keeper should have come out anyway. He’s probably like, ‘What the heck are you guys doing?’”

Radeke, a First Team Chicagoland Soccer All-Stater last season, has scored all three goals for the Huskies (2-0-0) so far this season.

“I saw him pass the ball, and they were kind of confused,” Radeke said. “I just split the defenders. I intercepted that pass and luckily it went in the net.”

Nobody was shocked that Radeke found the back of the net against the fourth-ranked Mustangs (1-2-0), just that he scored so soon.

“He’s a great player,” Naperville North sophomore midfielder Dylan Healy said. “I was just surprised because I was still getting my mark, just to press, and all of a sudden it was a goal.

“Obviously, we were all happy. I think that just set the tone for the rest of the game.”

Indeed, it didn’t take long for Radeke to strike again. He went after a high-bouncing ball in the middle of the Morton box. Several defenders were present but were unable to stop Radeke from getting there first and firing a sharp 12-yard shot inside the right post at the 37:52 mark of the first half.

While the Mustangs have had some defensive lapses during the opening week, that does nothing to take away from Radeke’s fine performance.

“He’s a great player,” Bageanis said. “He’s a great player.

“That’s what I was talking about to these guys prior to the game. He plays like they’re a goal down the entire game and his work-rate is not going to change.

“It doesn’t matter what the score is. That’s the kind of player he is. We want guys like that on our squad, too, playing at that pace and that work-rate.”

Radeke was dangerous throughout the game and was unlucky not to get at least a hat-trick. The fast start only fueled his fire.

“It obviously gave us a great boost in the first 14 seconds and then we went on to score another one right after that,” Radeke said. “It felt great and then we continued our energy throughout the game, getting a clean-sheet. The defenders played a great game today.”

Naperville North’s backline of Andrew Hebron, Sam Hess, Colin McMahon and Connor Hanrahan helped Jack Bouska record his second shutout in as many games. The All-State goalkeeper had to make only four saves as the defenders, particularly Hebron and Hess, consistently hustled to shut off any line of attack.

“We’ve got to do a little bit better up-top,” Bageanis said. “We’re struggling connecting passes to get to that offensive third. We’ll get there.”

It didn’t happen against the Huskies, though it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“They had us on the ropes for a 20-minute piece of the first half,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “I thought our boys did a way better job in the second half of sorting things defensively, keeping the play in front of them, because Morton is so good on the ball.

“You have to be smart. If you dive in, you’re going to be in a bad spot.”

Teams are often in bad spot against Radeke, even if they don’t make mistakes.

“He’s so big,” Konrad said. “It’s an advantage to have a kid who can draw both centerbacks.

“Now Morton’s kid did a great job – it was a great 1-on-1 battle. Obviously when (Jaxon) Stokes is back it will make it a lot harder to double and triple down on Noah, because you’ve got another terrifying All-American-level kid playing wide.

“I give Noah a lot of credit to just take the game on his shoulders today. The first score you could say was lucky, but if you work hard, good things happen. He worked hard and tracked it down and then the ball went our way.”

It could have gone North’s way several more times if not for the play of Morton goalkeeper Miguel Jimenez, who entered the game with 31:56 left in the second half after fellow sophomore Ibarra suffered from the effects of a hard foul and had to come out.

It wasn’t the first time Jimenez has come off the bench cold for the Mustangs. As a freshman, Bageanis inserted him into the shootout against Riverside-Brookfield in a regional final and Jimenez responded by stopping three penalty kicks in the win.

“It’s pretty tough when you’re on the bench and looking at the game, but throughout the game, when you’re not playing, that’s how you’ve got to visualize as a goalkeeper – how they’re playing and what they’re doing, and what the team should do,” Jimenez said. “And that’s why when I went on the field, I locked in.”

Jimenez made six saves, including two great diving efforts to deny Hess on free kicks from 30 yards. He also made a brilliant play after Radeke stole the ball from a defender and walked in alone.

Jimenez raced out to confront the much bigger Radeke and blocked his shot about 10 yards in front of the left post.

“The kid played amazing,” Konrad said. “Made a great save on Sammy’s free kick, great save on Noah when Noah took it off the kid in the back. He flies.”

What was the key to denying Radeke a third goal?

“I put a body on him when he was close to me,” Jimenez said. “I had to put a body on him, and that’s when I reacted last minute, too, to save his shot.”

It’s the type of play many goalies live for.

“It feels nice. It’s adrenaline, but at the same time, you have to be ready as a goalkeeper to save your team,” he said.

Jimenez’s play came too late to save the Mustangs in this one, but they learned a valuable lesson.

“The key thing for us is we have to communicate right off the bat,” Jimenez said. “After that (first two minutes) we were doing good. It was just communication that was missing for us, but the rest of the time we were competitive with them.”
 

Starting lineups

Morton
GK: Kobe Ibarra
D: Nicolas Zaragoza
D: Rafael Ramirez
D: Dario Cisneros
D: Christian Valadez
M: David Perez
M: Giovanni Roman
M: Alfredo Campos
M: Moises Malavaez
F: Enrique Ayala
F: Angel Rodriguez
 
Naperville North
GK: Jack Bouska
D: Andrew Hebron
D: Sam Hess
D: Connor Hanrahan
D: Colin McMahon
M: Juan Carlos Hernandez
M: Niko Ladas
M: Dylan Healy
F: Noah Radeke
F: Anthony Flores
F: Josh Pedersen
 
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Noah Radeke, sr., F, Naperville North

 
Scoring summary

First half
Naperville North: Noah Radeke (unassisted)  1’
Naperville North: Radeke (unassisted) 3’
 
Second half
No scoring