Senior midfielder Hailey Rydberg insists she and her St. Charles North teammates aren’t looking ahead, even though they are considered legitimate state title contenders.
That’s too bad for teams like Neuqua Valley, which would have been OK with being overlooked by the North Stars.
Instead, Rydberg scored a pair of goals Saturday and Sarah Andrey added one as the host North Stars beat the Wildcats 3-0. All three goals came in the first half of what many thought would be a competitive game.
“We just like to take it one game at a time,” Rydberg said. “We knew coming into this game that this would be a tough match.
“So I think a lot of it had to do with mental preparations. We started off with high pressure.”
Gia Wahlberg and fellow forwards Claudia Najera and Chloe Netzel applied most of that pressure, and it didn’t take long for the Wildcats (0-2), who had played well in a 1-0 loss to reigning state champion Barrington, to crack.
Wahlberg was fouled in the penalty area in the 10th minute and Rydberg converted the ensuing penalty. The Iowa-bound Rydberg made it 3-0 in the 23rd minute with an aggressive run through the defense and a clean finish.
“We were talking at halftime looking at the stats,” Rydberg said. “We only had four shots on goal and we put in three, so that’s pretty good.”
Indeed, and Rydberg’s second goal wasn’t the most impressive of the three. Three minutes earlier, Andrey had scored after her teammates carved up Neuqua’s defense.
“It started off with a throw-in,” Andrey said. “I saw Gia running up on the side. It was all just quick little passes and I just happened to be in the right position.”
St. Charles North (3-0) just happens to have one of the deepest rosters around. The North Stars, who went unbeaten in 2017 before losing to New Trier in the supersectional, boast six Division I commits. Four of them are seniors.
“They’re a nice team,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “They had much better possession of the ball than us and they worked the ball well. The second and third goals were good goals.
“I thought defensively we were more solid in the second half. We just couldn’t get a good attack.”
The North Stars have outscored their opponents 16-1. Rydberg and Michigan State-bound Wahlberg lead with four goals apiece, while Andrey, Iowa State recruit Najera and Netzel, a freshman, all have two each.
“We have so many high-talented players on the team and we’ll always try our hardest,” Andrey said. “We’re not looking too far ahead, just keeping (focused) on with whatever is in front of us.”
Matt LeCren is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.
