NNHS girls soccer starts off tournament on the right foot
Photo by Kirubel Mesfin
The Naperville North varsity girls soccer team, led by gritty defense, began their run through the Naperville Invitational Tournament with a home win against Lyons Township High School.
The Naperville North Huskies (7-2-3) defeated the Lyons Township Lions (5-0-4) by a score of 2-0.
After the decisive victory the Huskies had last Tuesday against Glenbard North, Head Coach Steve Goletz knew that Thursday’s match would be a challenging one.
“[Lyons Township] is a really well-coached, physical team. We knew we were going to have to match that tonight, and we knew it would be a different game than Tuesday night,” Goletz said.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Huskies were once again impenetrable. Led by senior goalie Maddie Hausmann and the help of a great backline, Lyons Township was held scoreless. This has been a common feat so far as Naperville North now has seven shutouts on the season.
“They were a team that played the long ball,” Hausmann said. “We needed the mental and physical strength to get it out of there every single time.”
The Huskies’ scoring was led by senior midfielder Katelynn Buescher and sophomore forward Hannah Martin on the offensive side, who both had a goal a piece.
“Buescher scored a great goal right off a good combination between her and Shaina [Dudas],” Goletz said. “Then Hannah battles and scores a ugly goal, but those are goals that win games. She battled and held off two center backs and that put the game out of reach.”
Although Thursday’s offense wasn’t able to score like they did Tuesday night, Goletz praised the work his team put into a much tougher game, while still acknowledging the challenging road the girls face over the next few weeks.
“Great team win, but we have to keep it rolling because this tournament is a gauntlet in terms of the next couple of weeks,” Goletz said. “Sandwich that in with a DVC matchup against Neuqua Valley, and we got a tough two weeks ahead of us.”
The Huskies continue playing in the Naperville Invitational Tournament with another home game Friday night against Lincoln-Way Central High School (9-0-3) at 5 p.m.
For the full tournament schedule along with the updated tournament bracket, click here.
Kirubel Mesfin is a senior at Naperville North High School and serves as the Sports Editor and Multimedia Director for The North Star. He is looking forward...
A senior at Naperville North, Martin Herz is a staff writer for The North Star and this is his 2nd year on the paper. Martin’s writing plans is to not...
