Short-handed Mustangs hang tough with talented Huskies

 

 

By Matt Le Cren

With Zoe Swift out of the lineup with a sprained ankle, Naperville North has to rely more on its other star striker, Abbie Boswell, to produce.

Swift’s absence means defenses can focus more on shutting down Boswell, but the sophomore doesn’t seem to mind.

“I love playing,” Boswell said. “I don’t really get nervous that much because it’s not that much pressure for me, but I should have scored more than I did.”

Boswell scored twice against Downers Grove South on Saturday night, which was enough to lift the Huskies to a 2-1 victory in Downers Grove.

She now has five goals in her last three matches as the defending state champions remained unbeaten at 3-0-1.

Despite her production, Boswell and her teammates were far from satisfied with the victory in which they outshot the undermanned Mustangs 20-3.

“No, we had a lot of opportunities that we should have put away and obviously we didn’t,” Boswell said. “I had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t put away, either. I managed to score two goals but it should have been more than that.

“We should have played better. The other team did good but we just need to pick it up a little bit.”

Downers South goalie Jamie Furio played a big role in preventing Boswell from doing more damage than she did. The junior made eight saves, including a diving effort on a shot in the box by Boswell nine minutes into the contest.

Furio also stoned Boswell on a breakaway with 16:10 to go, but four minutes later Boswell had another breakaway and this time she juked Furio to the ground before dribbling around her and scoring into the empty net to give North a 1-0 lead. Emily Bromagen assisted on the play.

The Mustangs (6-3) tied it with 7:30 left when junior defender Caitlin Carr headed home a corner kick from Ava Porlier. It was the first varsity goal of Carr’s career and came 10 days after she suffered a neck injury against St. Charles North.

“It was a beautiful goal,” Downers Grove South coach Abby Anderson said. “She was struggling a little bit in the first 20 minutes, so for her to go back in and turn that around was nice.”

But that was all of the offense the Mustangs could mount. The hosts had only two other shots, both of which were saved by Huskies goalie Fiona Baenziger, who had one dicey moment when she had to range far off her line to knock away a 40-yard free kick by Porlier out of danger with 1:50 to go.

That the Mustangs were in position to possibly tie the Huskies said a lot about their determination while playing without three injured starters in forward Stephanie Zurales (hip flexor), midfielder Brittany Dietz (knee) and defender Lori Niehaus (ankle). It was a far cry from the 5-0 loss to Neuqua Valley just one week before.

“We battled right to the end,” Anderson said. “I thought we were going to sneak one in there in the end.

“I’m just proud of the effort, proud of the preparation and we’re really just focused on game-to-game right now and seeing improvement day to day. We’ve seen lots of improvement since Neuqua, since St. Charles North. If we can see improvement after losses, we’re going to be okay.”

So are the Huskies, who haven’t clicked on all cylinders yet but do not lack in talent or desire.

“We definitely have to step up our game if we’re going to do as good as we did last year,” Boswell said. “I just think last year we did good, but this year we need to [play] even harder than we did last year, otherwise we’re not going to make it. So hopefully it will be enough if we give it 150 percent all the time.”

Boswell is one player who always gives it her all. She tallied the game-winner with 35:18 left in the second half when she got the ball deep in the right side of the penalty box, dribbled back toward the middle of the field to shake a defender and then drilled a left-footed shot into the lower left corner of the net.

The sophomore sensation had plenty of chances to finish off a hat trick, creating her own openings with quick moves, but several of her rockets from 18-20 yards away were turned away by Furio.

Sophomore midfielder Claire Hilburger, who is seeing more playing time with Swift out, used her speed to cause trouble and just missed scoring when her 25-yard roller found the left post in the first half.

Cora Climo was another Huskie who was denied, once on a diving stop by Furio and another on a free kick that was deflected wide by the defense.

“We’ve got to finish chances,” North coach Steve Goletz said. “You’re not going to be able to hang in with some of the top teams in the area if you can’t score. To have 20 shots on goal tonight and only come away with two is a bit disappointing, but a win’s a win and I felt we played very well defensively.

“I think we had one lapse on a restart and they scored, but I told the girls it’s a lesson that we need to learn because you can dominate a game and have a slip-up and all of a sudden you’re in trouble.

“Credit to [the Mustangs] for obviously sticking with it and fighting. Obviously Zoe in the game tonight makes a huge difference, but we’re definitely capable of putting together a complete effort and I don’t think we’ve done that as a team. It’s early and the spring has forced a lot of teams around here to not be clicking yet and I think we’re one of them.”

The Huskies have played fewer games than most but still have dominated the run of play in all of their matches. Their talent level is unquestioned with Swift, Boswell, Climo, Bromagen, Christa Szalach, Angela Widlacki, Jillian Van Kampen, Maria Grygleski and Abby Mangefrida among the top-flight players.

“I think that’s something that we always have here; we have some depth,” Goletz said. “Claire Hilburger played some great minutes. She’s definitely done pretty well for herself so it’s definitely nice to have those options when one of your girls goes down.

“I would be more frustrated if we didn’t get chances,” he added. “We’re getting chances and I think on another day maybe a couple more of those go in. We obviously have a lot of things to work on and our schedule continues to ramp up.”

The Mustangs also have been getting contributions from their bench and Furio is showing signs of being a diamond in the rough in her first year on varsity.

“It’s been a lot different but I love it,” said Furio, who played on the sophomore team last spring. “I just think we played our best [tonight] and we’ll just learn from it.”

“We’ve got a couple freshmen, Lexi [Dimovski] and Autumn [Rasmussen], have to step in and just play some positions that they weren’t really accustomed to and have only prepared a couple days for,” Anderson said. “To see younger kids be able to battle at the varsity level is a real positive.”