Naperville North senior forward Brian Biederman stood on the field with his teammates during opening introductions for a Class 3A state semifinal on Friday and waited to hear his name.
Biederman wasn’t surprised when the public address announcer mispronounced it.
“Yeah, it happens a lot,” he said.
Biederman said the gaffe didn’t bother him. Indeed, he was in high spirits after scoring the only goal in the Huskies’ 1-0 win over Lane in Hoffman Estates.
Biederman’s strike with 19:29 left in the second half came on a rebound after Lane senior goalkeeper Evan Burgess made a diving stop on a sharp shot by Naperville North senior forward Josh Pedersen.
Biederman pounced on the ball and tucked a 5-yard shot inside the left post.
“Coach has been telling us to follow up shots, especially tonight with the surface being so wet and skittish,” Biederman said. “So when Josh shot it, I just immediately crashed the goal, and luckily enough for me, it fell to me, and I just kept my head over the ball and finished it.”
Biederman has 10 goals, the second most on the team behind Pedersen’s 30, and six assists. He has been especially productive lately, scoring four times in six playoff games, including two during the Huskies’ 4-0 win over Normal Community in the supersectional.
“There’s a ton of different aspects,” Biederman said. “It’s not all about me. Just because I was the one that scored tonight doesn’t mean I’m the main one.
“I think Josh did a great job creating tonight, and so did some of our other attackers like Dylan (Healy) and Tony (Flores) and Luke (Bouska). I was just the lucky one to put it in the back of the net tonight.”
Naperville North coach Jim Konrad was pleased with Biederman’s assessment.
“Perfect answer,” Konrad said. “I’m very proud of him.
“Obviously, having the wherewithal and the confidence and the composure under the big lights on the brightest night of the year to bury it, that takes some guts and courage. He definitely earned it. But his teammates did help get the ball there too.”
Indeed, the Huskies (24-0-4), who will play St. Laurence (24-2-4) for the state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday, have become a well-oiled machine.
They haven’t missed a beat even as playoff opponents have double- and triple-teamed the Bowling Green-bound Pedersen.
Senior defender Sam Hess, an Indiana commit who anchored a defensive effort that produced Naperville North’s 18th shutout, said Biederman’s play at center forward has been crucial.
“As games went on this year, I think Brian’s performance has improved pretty significantly,” Hess said. “He’s our main holder of the ball on top, and he’s a good guy to feed the ball to.
“So he can hold it and obviously find Josh and kind of build off him. I think he’s played that role fantastically throughout the season.”
The Huskies, who have yet to allow a goal in the postseason, were fantastic defensively against Lane (21-3), which was held to four shots. Senior goalkeeper Jack Bouska stopped all of them.
Hess and senior defenders Colin McMahon and Arnav Nagpal were steadfast, while senior midfielder Luke Bouska completely shut down Lane senior star Sebastian Wimmer.
“(Wimmer) is a stud,” Konrad said. “He’s dynamic. Luke knew his job today was to try to make life hard for him, and Luke was absolutely fantastic. It was his best game of the year, so I couldn’t be prouder of him.”
The Huskies always hang their hats on great defense.
“We take pride in our defense,” Hess said. “Defense comes first at all times, and we do all the little things, and we’re inside shoulder, we win headers, and those little things get us those shutouts.”
Naperville North’s defense reminds many of the group that anchored the team to three consecutive state titles from 2016 to 2018. Hess is aware of what those teams accomplished.
“Coming into North is like coming into Duke basketball,” Hess said. “The expectations are insanely high. Obviously with the three-peat, everyone knew about it, so we knew coming in it would be insanely competitive at all times.”
Now the Huskies are one win away from capturing their fifth state title. They are 4-0 in state championship games.
Perhaps the public address announcer will know Biederman’s name after his game-winning goal.
“It was a really incredible feeling, and it’s very special,” Biederman said of his feat. “I’ll remember it for a long time.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
