Naperville North defenders Reilly Riggs, Emily Magee, Paige Sylvester and Kaitlyn Castillo weren’t alive when boxer Muhammad Ali used his famous rope-a-dope strategy to regain the world heavyweight title.
Neither was goalkeeper Amanda Johnson.
But they employed the soccer version of that strategy Saturday night — and it worked brilliantly.
The Huskies deliberately played defense for nearly all of the 100 minutes of regulation and overtime and stunned two-time defending state champion Barrington 1-0 on penalty kicks to win the Class 3A state title at North Central College in Naperville.
Naperville North (15-5-4) became the first team in Illinois history to win the championship game without taking a single shot. It is North’s fourth state title, three of which have come during coach Steve Goletz’s eight-year tenure.
“What these kids did (Saturday) defensively and just their willingness to do the little things and battle were incredible,” Goletz said. “We rode out every runner, we trapped every ball that went into the box, we cleared every ball.
“Amanda Johnson obviously stood on her head at times in regulation and in the shootout was incredible. I couldn’t be prouder of the kids.”
Knowing their team was unlikely to score against the faster, more talented Fillies, Goletz and assistant Jim Konrad, who has guided North’s boys team to the last three state titles, opted to let Barrington (22-2-1) go on the attack.
Aside from two early corner kicks, the Huskies barely got the ball across midfield. The Fillies, who beat the Huskies in the 2018 state semifinals and 2019 season opener, attacked in waves and had 11 shots and 10 corner kicks but couldn’t score.
“We just worked our butts off and that’s what Naperville North is,” said Riggs, the Northwestern recruit. “We don’t always have to be the better team. We knew coming into this we weren’t.
“We had to literally battle the whole game and we did exactly that. We ran our legs into the ground.”
Johnson backed up her defenders, making four saves in regulation. Then, for the second straight game, she saved two penalty kicks in the shootout and got her hand on a third. A fourth Barrington shooter missed wide.
“Last night definitely helped my confidence,” Johnson said of Friday’s 2-1 semifinal win over Lyons. “I told some of my girls when we went to overtime, just get me to PKs and we can do it. I was confident in all of our shooters.”
Leah Shumate converted the first penalty kick for North, which won the shootout 3-1. Katie Murphy hit the crossbar, but Emily Dulik scored to make it 2-0.
After Christine Batliner scored for the Fillies, Barrington goalkeeper Leah Eisenbarth stopped North star Hannah Martin. Johnson, however, followed by denying Juliana Moreno. Wisconsin recruit Maddie Schlecht then tallied the clincher.
It was a victory few outside the program thought realistic.
“We just had to keep battling,” Magee said. “We knew if we just put our hearts into it we would get what we needed to get done.”
Naperville North is the third Illinois school to win state titles in boys and girls soccer in the same school year, joining St. Charles (1995-96 and 1996-97) and Quincy Notre Dame (2011-12).
The players credited Goletz and Konrad for putting together a grueling schedule. Johnson called them the best coaches in the state, while Riggs said it was an honor to play for them.
Chicago Tribune Sports
“You’ve got to beat the best to be the best,” Riggs said. “It’s an amazing feeling to prove everyone wrong.”
Goletz gave kudos to his players for executing the strategy.
“I think these kids could have played another 30 or 40 minutes and not given up a goal,” Goletz said. “That’s how good they were defensively. Hats off to them.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.