Girls Soccer: Naperville North blanks West Aurora
Updated: May 1, 2012 10:04PM
Having your bus arrive late for a conference match may not be a good sign. Having had a 15-match win streak ended by a rival that you’re going to face in two more days isn’t always a good sign for focus.
Having a freshman not only moved up to varsity but making a first-ever start could be a sign of trouble. Having the host school’s marquee congratulating your opponent as a tournament champion isn’t too welcoming of a sign.
But when you’ve been ranked No. 1 in the state up until the past weekend, you learn to ignore all the signs and just take care of business. That’s exactly what No. 3 Naperville North did Tuesday in posting a 4-0 win over host West Aurora.
The triumph kept the Huskies unbeaten (5-0-0) in the DuPage Valley Conference and improved the overall record to 16-1-0 heading into Thursday’s home rematch with crosstown rival Naperville Central, the fellow unbeaten DVC side that pulled off the past weekend’s victory via a penalty kick shootout in order to claim the latest Naperville Invitational.
The Blackhawks, who were on a five-game victory run after capturing the Rosary Invitational trophy, dipped to 11-8-1 overall and remained winless in DVC action (0-5-0).
“We respect every opponent and knew they’re a capable team so we wanted to get off to a good start and this was a nice team effort,” said Cora Climo, who was instrumental in North’s 3-0 halftime lead.
Just 5:52 into the match, Climo’s cross found Abbie Boswell stationed five yards out front of the Blackhawk goal for her ninth goal of the year and second match-winner. Thirteen minutes later on a corner kick by Climo, senior defender Kirstin Deichstetter scored off a four-yard header when West Aurora keeper Cadmiel Rocha managed to block her initial try.
“It’s really nice to get to finish an offensive play, but I’m always happier just to see us win,” said Deichstetter in regard to her first goal of the season. “As defenders, we know we can always trust our forwards, so we like to help any way we can. We’re coming off a tough loss, but we’re also coming a great season last year and have a chance to do even better this year, and that’s our team goal.”
Having taken the team lead in assists with her 11th and 12th, Climo then posted her fifth goal with a stellar 15-yard left-footed blast.
“Whatever benefits our team, an assist, a goal, a pass, that’s all that matters when it comes to winning,” Climo concluded
The junior quad-captain almost added another assist on a through ball to the Huskies’ scoring leader, Zoe Swift, who was denied a 16th goal by Rocha. The West Aurora defense packed in tight and was continually clearing the ball until 8:07 remained when Sarah Feder was able to feed Caroline Rico for the final goal.
“They’ve been ranked No. 1 all year for a number of reasons and we told our team what to expect in the second half and how we needed them to cut off passes and defend hard,” West Aurora coach Laura Wagley said. “We did that in the second half with one late exception.”
North amassed a 17-5 advantage in overall attempts and a 10-1 edge in on-target tries with North freshman goalie Fiona Baezinger moving up to varsity to help the Huskies record the team’s 12th shutout of the season.
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