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It's been a while since the Naperville Central and Naperville North girls soccer teams faced each other this season. But even if they'd met in the past week, the previous game would have little to no bearing on Friday's matchup in the Naperville Central Regional final.

That's because -- as has been said many times, and again by North coach Brent Terada on Wednesday night -- you can throw the records out when these rivals meet.

Just for fun, I'll take a look back anyway. Central (19-5) won the earlier meeting 1-0 against the Huskies (7-7-4) at North. Casey Short scored in the 10th minute for the game's only offense. Goalie Hannah Oppenheimer needed five saves -- all in the second half -- for the shutout.

Redhawks coach Ed Watson was critical of his team's play that night after Short's goal, feeling his team sat back too much. Expect the Redhawks to continue applying pressure if they're able to grab another early lead.

The Huskies are a defense-first team, so they'll have to take advantage of whatever offensive opportunities present themselves. After scoring four goals against West Aurora on Wednesday, North's confidence got a boost.

If the Huskies are looking for even more revenge, they can harken back to 2006 when the Redhawks downed them 3-1 in the regional final, which also happened at Central's Memorial Stadium.

But no matter what, just remember you can throw the records out. Now where have I heard that before?

Neuqua Valley and Benet both won their playoff openers Tuesday night, now Naperville Central, Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley will try to follow suit Wednesday.

Of the remaining matchups, the one that looks the most intriguing is the Huskies' match against DuPage Valley Conference rival West Aurora. The teams meet at 7 p.m. in the Naperville Central Regional semifinals, their second matchup of the season.

The Huskies dumped the Blackhawks 4-1 back on April 23, continuing their dominance in the series. North holds an 11-0 all-time mark against them.

But North isn't entering the playoffs on a hot streak, having finished the season 0-1-3 after a win over Geneva on April 29. Losing Jessica Kodiak to a broken collarbone also doesn't help.

Still, the Huskies should have enough to make it a clean sweep for the Naperville-area teams. That is, if Central gets past IMSA and Waubonsie can survive Plainfield North.

It was an unfortunate situation that nobody ever wants to see that thrust Naperville Central freshman Krissy Many into the spotlight as the Redhawks goalie -- an injury to senior Hannah Oppenheimer.
But the plucky Many has risen to the occasion, providing the Redhawks with a reliable presence between the pipes. On Wednesday, she made 11 saves in Central's 1-0 overtime loss at Wheaton Warrenville South. It was the first goal Many allowed since Oppenheimer's injury last week.
Not bad for a first-year varsity player who had never played the position before filling in for Oppenheimer during the Naperville Invitational. In her five starts, Many has faced some pretty stiff competition -- Waubonsie Valley, St. Charles East, New Trier and WW South, among them -- and allowed only four goals.
"It was a lot of hard work and a lot of training," said Many, who played as a defender prior to moving to goalie. "It's nerve wracking getting out there, but I have a lot of fun. There's a lot of pressure put on me for my first season, but everybody is helping me deal with it, everybody is backing me up."

Naperville Central girls soccer earned its 400th varsity victory with a 4-0 win over Glenbard East on Tuesday.

Casey Short, Hillary Scott, Kelly Blumberg and Jackie Renn each scored and keeper Krissy Many made one save to earn the shutout for the Redhawks (6-0-0 DVC).

Join us in offering our congratulations to coach Ed Watson and the entire Central girls soccer program.

Waubonsie Valley may be without its leading scorer for the remainder of the regular season. But that's good news considering the Warriors could have lost sophomore Vanessa DiBernardo for even longer than the 10 days to two weeks she's expected to miss.

DiBernardo, an all-state and Sun All-City midfielder, sprained a ligament in her right leg in Tuesday's 1-0 victory over St. Charles North. An MRI taken Wednesday came back negative for any further damage.

If all goes well, DiBernardo should be back on the field in time to help the Warriors defend their Class AA crown. Waubonsie begins its pursuit May 14 in the Plainfield North Regional.

The Warriors did get some good news earlier Tuesday when the NSCAA released its latest national rankings. Waubonsie (13-0-1) moved up to No. 4 after falling as low as No. 11 in the days after its 2-2 tie at Lincoln-Way Central. Normal Community is the only other Illinois team to crack the NSCAA rankings, coming in at No. 13. For the complete poll, click here.

The last time Waubonsie Valley faced Fremd was a pretty good night for the Warriors. Actually, "pretty good" doesn't come close to describing how they felt.

Powered by a hat trick from then-freshman Vanessa DiBernardo, the Warriors rolled to a 4-0 victory, claiming the first state team title in Waubonsie history.

The teams will go at it again in about five hours after the Vikings (9-1-1) held off St. Charles East for a 1-0 win in the second Naperville Invitational semifinal.

The Warriors (11-0-1) put their 43-game unbeaten streak (41-0-2) on the line in the final, which starts at 6 p.m. at Naperville Central.

Fremd reached the semifinals by winning a weather-ravaged Group C. The Vikings played only 18 minutes Friday night against Neuqua Valley before the game was halted by a storm. The match had already been rescheduled from Thursday when another storm ripped through the area.

The championship also gives Fremd coach Steve Keller a chance to gain some revenge against his alma mater. Keller graduated from Waubonsie in 1990.

The 3-0 score showed Waubonsie Valley won in lopsided fashion over Naperville Central on Saturday morning in the Naperville Invitational semifinals.

But even the Warriors know that single statistic did not tell the story.

"I just thank God for Clare (Hanold), player of the game," Waubonsie midfielder Bri Rodriguez said of the Warriors goalkeeper. "She made like three incredible saves and kept us in it in the first half. If it wasn't for those saves, we probably would have had to come back from (a deficit)."

So it's no surprise defending state champ Waubonsie Valley was named to No. 1 seed in its own girls soccer sectional on Wednesday night.

Naperville Central, Neuqua Valley and Benet took the next three slots while Naperville North was the No. 7 seed.

Geneva was the fifth seed followed by Batavia at No. 6. Plainfield Central rounded out the top eight.

Would you have voted these seeds any differently?

Somehow Naperville Central and Neuqua Valley managed to put on an exciting, well-played match that featured dramatic momentum changes and late-game heroics. Anybody who was outside Friday evening knows why I wrote "Somehow."

On-and-off rain and a strong wind whipping across the field from the south made it feel more like mid-February than mid-April. The teams didn't let that get to them as the Redhawks escaped with a 3-2 victory against the host Wildcats, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit only to lose in the final seconds.

Neuqua goalie Rachel Suther, who kept the Wildcats in the game with several big saves after Central had taken its two-goal lead, was disconsolate after a low shot by Kristen Hall rolled past her outstretched fingertips and into the net for the winning goal. While the teams exchanged postgame handshakes, Suther stood crying as teammate Kendra Collins tried to console her.

"If I was her I'm sure I'd take it hard, too, but there was no possible way it was her fault, " Collins said. "She's done nothing but good for this team every game this season."

Check out a full account of the game in Sunday's Sun.

Heavy rain forced a slew of cancellations across the Chicago area Thursday night. But that's not why Naperville Central didn't play its girls soccer game at Wheaton Warrenville South, which plays on artificial grass. Instead, a family medical emergency for one of the officials forced the postponement because another official could not be found in time. The teams will try again May 7.

There was some speculation that Waubonsie Valley junior Rachel Bostick would lean toward accepting a basketball scholarship offer for college. But in the end, basketball never stood a chance.