Jake Hadaway didn’t play on Naperville North’s Class 3A state championship team last year. He didn’t even play on the top junior varsity team.
But Hadaway is making his presence felt in his first and only varsity season. On Tuesday, the senior forward scored against crosstown rival Naperville Central for his team-leading third goal.
“I don’t think I’m gonna have any better feeling this season,” Hadaway said. “To put us up 1-0 against our rivals like that, especially when on paper we were the underdogs, that is going to mean a lot to me looking back.”
With just eight seconds left in the first half, Hadaway took a long outlet pass from Will Boniface and put the ball in the net. They connected again early in the second half when Hadaway’s deep cross led to a goal by Boniface.
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The Huskies, who began the season with only one returning starter, then added another goal to stun the visiting Redhawks 3-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference showdown.
“You know, soccer’s funny,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “We’re not three goals better than Central for sure.”
But the Huskies (2-1-2), who didn’t lose last year and had their 31-game unbeaten streak snapped early this season, played well enough to win by that margin. The more experienced Redhawks (1-1-1, 0-1) controlled play for almost the entire first half but failed to find the back of the net.
“Soccer’s a cruel game,” Naperville Central coach Troy Adams said. “You know ultimately, obviously, we were not the better team today. Yeah, for stretches in the first half, I thought we played very well. But when you’re in front of the goal, it comes down to who finishes more.”
Dylan Healy, Naperville North’s only returning starter, showed how that’s done. With the Huskies leading 2-0 midway through the second half, Ukiah Morris found a seam up the middle, raced toward the net and unleashed a rocket that caromed off the crossbar. Healy corralled the rebound and buried it for a 3-0 lead.
“Everybody built off each other, and everybody did the little things correct today,” Hadaway said. “Our first touches were on point today.
“We got a lot of good players, but we don’t have too many amazing players. With a lot of good players, if you do everything correct, you can get three goals against your rival.”
Even if the roster is full of former JV2 players.
“A lot of the players here I played with my freshman year, so I still have a lot of chemistry with them,” Hadaway said. “Our JV2 team was really good last year, and we have plenty of those players on the team now.”
Hadaway, who scored 28 goals for the JV2 team last year, typified Naperville North’s effort.
“There’s good soccer players, and there’s kids that just want to win,” Konrad said. “Jake is a good soccer player who wants to win, and there’s a difference there. He ran and ran and ran tonight.”
Like Hadaway, Boniface is enjoying a larger role this season after so many players graduated.
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“We got Jake Hadaway, and this kid has been amazing,” Boniface said. “We just don’t really have a superstar, but we just have everyone playing together for each other.”
Stan Goff is a freelance reporter.