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Neuqua tips Sandburg on Wilde’s late header
(Corey R. Minkanic~For Sun-Times Media)
Updated: April 29, 2011 2:02PM
The Naperville Invitational game between Neuqua Valley and Sandburg had a wild finish — literally.
Alexa Wilde’s diving header found the back of the net with 38 seconds remaining to give Neuqua a 2-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket on Thursday at Naperville North.
The No. 1 ranked Wildcats earned their seventh corner kick of the match with just over a minute remaining and the Wildcats sent forward eight players into the box. Hope D’Addario sent in a right-footed cross that was drifting away from the Eagles’ net that Wilde found through a wave of bodies and headed it in to the left corner, freezing the Sandburg keeper.
“On corner kicks I’m only watching the ball and not caring about anyone around me. I saw somebody run past it and then from that second I knew it was mine and I headed it in,” Wilde said. “I don’t remember much after that though.”
Wilde was mobbed by her teammates as her second goal of the game and 13th of the season solidified that Neuqua (15-0-0) would remain among the ranks of the unbeatens. Neuqua — playing without star sophomore forward Zoey Goralski who was training with the national team — got on the board first with 17:03 remaining the first half. Wilde corralled a Sandburg (12-1-1) clearance from 28 yards away. The senior took two touches and shot the ball that seemingly had eyes and found its way into the corner of the net.
“The shot really wasn’t that hard. I think I just hit it in the right place,” Wilde said.
Sandburg had only one shot on goal the entire game and they made it count.
Meghan Carmody split the Neuqua defenders with 6:13 remaining in the opening frame and took a sliding shot from 10 yards away. The ball beat the keeper, just not the post. However the ball took a fortunate bounce off the sidebar and came right back to Carmody who was tripped up just as she was setting to shoot in the rebound.
Carson Moesie buried the penalty kick with her right foot to tie the game.
Neuqua had the play for most of the game, outshooting Sandburg 15-1. The Wildcats also held a 7-0 edge in corner kicks.
“They (Sandburg) did a nice job on us defensively and forced us into taking some far shots,” Wildcats coach Joe Moreau said. “We need to get better opportunities and that happens when we get the ball wide and get crosses in with numbers in the box. We had only a few of those today.”
Neuqua plays today at 7 p.m. in the semifinals at Naperville Central against Thursday’s Geneva-Barrington winner.
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