On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Naperville North boys varsity soccer team (7-4-2, 2-0-1 DuPage Valley Conference) defeated the Downers Grove North (7-5-1, 0-2 West Suburban-Silver Conference) Trojans, 3-0.

With strong players like sophomore midfielder Chris Sullivan and senior fullback Matty Sylvester, NNHS was in a good position to create offensive opportunity. Head Coach Jim Konrad was impressed by his team’s offensive tenacity.

“The boys did a great job of creating chances,” Konrad said. “We didn’t finish all of them. We should have scored a few more goals, but I’m really proud of the way the boys are taking advantage of defense, creating chances to score. We’re getting better every game.”

Early in the match, the Trojans fared quite well against NNHS. The ball went back and forth across the pitch, and both teams were ready to score. But the game changed when a header off of senior midfielder Connor McBride made the goal, at 16:07.

After the goal was scored, DGN dropped the low-pressure defense which they were holding, and the field opened up for the Huskies. NNHS was relentless in their goal pressure, and senior forward Chris Ensign sent one through the middle left of the Trojans’ goal at 26:11, widening the score to 2-0. At this point, the Trojans focused on defense, and although the ball remained on DGN’s side for most of the pitch, the Huskies were unable to score again in the half.

Around the 50th minute, Sullivan was awarded a penalty kick for excessive roughness near the Trojan’s goal. DGN’s goalkeeper guessed for his right, and Sullivan sent it left into the goal. With 22:30 remaining on the clock, NNHS swapped out many of their starters, including senior goalkeeper Christian Robert.

But Robert returned to the field with about eight minutes left to play, by the NNHS Dawg Pound’s request. Robert then played forward instead of goalie. Neither team was able to find the net again, and the Huskies won 3-0.

Despite the Huskies’ offense, there were a number of missed opportunities at the Trojan’s net. Ensign hopes that the team can capitalize on more of these opportunities in the games to come.

“All around, we definitely had a couple shots that we missed, that we needed to put away,” Ensign said. “When it comes to bigger games, we definitely need to put those away.”