Four of state's best meet at Naperville North Sectional

By Curt Herron

It would be bad enough if two or three of the state's top teams were jammed into the same sectional tournament.

But when you have a field featuring four teams in the top 10, including the state's consensus number one squad, that's downright brutal.

However that's the situation that faces the four squads who will ber competing in this week's Class 3A Naperville North Sectional.

The tournament, which features a doubleheader on Wednesday and plays its title match on Saturday, was moved from Downers Grove South.

Top-ranked Neuqua Valley (25-0-1) gets things started at 5 p.m. when it takes on Naperville Central (15-3-2) in the first match.

Then at 7 p.m., Naperville North (16-2-4) meets up with Wheaton Warrenville South (19-4-2) in the other semifinal clash.

The two winners advance to Saturday's noon finals with the champion earning a berth in next Tuesday's Benedictine University Super-Sectional.

Coach Tony Kees' Wildcats are riding a 22-match winning streak since settling for a 2-2 tie with Jay Konrad's Huskies on September 1.

North, who has won five matches in a row, also owns a 1-0 victory on September 24 over the Redhawks, who are coached by Jay Konrad.

Central has won four straight and gone 8-0-1 in its last nine matches but needed to rally for regional wins over Oswego East and West Aurora.

North's first concern is avenging a 1-0 loss to Guy Callipari's Tigers on October 6 on the same field that the sectional will be played on.

In the other result of note involving teams in the sectional, Central claimed a 4-1 victory over WW South on October 13.

The Wildcats are looking to capture their third straight sectional title while the Huskies last won a sectional championship in 2005.

The Tigers' last sectional title was picked up in 2003 while the Redhawks haven't captured a championship in a sectional since 1998.

Neuqua is hoping to play for third third straight sectional championship while Central's last sectional final trip was in 2007.

North played in its last sectional title match in 2006, the same year that WW South last reached that level of tournament play.

NAPERVILLE NORTH SCHEDULE

Wednesday
Neuqua Valley vs. Naperville Central, 5:00
Naperville North vs. WW South, 7:00

Saturday
Championship, 12:00

Recent Sectional Championship matches
(Naperville Central, Naperville North,
Neuqua Valley and WW South)