All of the players senior midfielder Madison Korosec has marked this season for Naperville North have one thing in common — none has scored a goal.
That is a major reason why the Huskies are unbeaten and one of the favorites to win the Class 3A state championship.
To outsiders, that might be an astonishing statement about a player who has never scored a goal in her two seasons at the varsity level.
Insiders know better.
“Madison was so good last year and she’s just gotten better and better,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “The thing I love about her is she’s so coachable.
“She’s just willing to do the dirty work at all times, and the thing that goes unnoticed is she’s a really good soccer player.”
While other, more offensive-minded players get the glory, Korosec quietly goes about her job of defending the opposing team’s best attacking player.
That limits the number of goal-scoring chances she gets for herself and thus the amount of attention she receives.
“She’s good at connecting passes, she’s good with both feet and she reads the game well,” Goletz said. “She sniffs out so much stuff for us that the casual fan would never know.”
That was the case Tuesday night during the Huskies’ 3-1 DuPage Valley Conference win over Neuqua Valley.
Senior forward Olivia Anderson, a North Alabama recruit, paced the attack for Naperville North (6-0, 1-0) with a goal and an assist while Korosec was busy completely shutting down Northwestern-bound star Brooke Miller.
“She did a really good job with that,” Anderson said. “Even if Brooke were to run past her, she would recover so fast and so well and always be good. It was really nice having her to count on.”
Korosec is no stranger to tangling with Miller. They faced each other three times last season and the Huskies won every game, including in the sectional semifinals.
“Brooke is really athletic and a lot of the girls who we play against are great athletes,” Korosec said. “I have to play my game and know what I can do to shut them down, not really focusing on what they’re doing.”
So how exactly does Korosec play such great defense?
“The key is just knowing where people are on the field and being able to read them,” Korosec said. “If I were driving at someone, where would I play? Then I try to cut off that pass and lead them into the direction of just laying it off rather than driving straight down the field.”
Korosec achieved that before the game even started.
“I focused on not really focusing on beating her one-on-one every time,” Miller said. “That’s not my goal.
“If she plays right on top of me, I’m obviously going to try and turn and take her on, but she does a good job of staying off of me. It’s just the right amount of space where I have time, I can see in front of me. But better options are on the outside, so I just play those.”
That played right into Naperville North’s strategy. Freshman forward Selma Larbi scored late in the game, but the Wildcats (0-3, 0-1) could not generate any other scoring chances in the run of play.
Miller was held to one shot, a 28-yard free kick that was saved by Huskies goalkeeper Abby Haskell.
Korosec’s performance against Miller is something her teammates have come to expect.
“Madison is amazing,” Anderson said. “She stays really composed all the time.
“She’s always encouraging, so it’s special playing on the field with her.”
This season will be special for Korosec, who will study psychology at Iowa but does not plan to play.
“Soccer has been a huge part of my life leading up to now and I’m just excited to move on from it,” Korosec said. “It’s really special that I’m going to end my season here on the North team.
“That’s something that’s important to me — that I’m going to go out having a past of loving the game and playing for North.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
