Girls soccer: Cortlyn Hefty scores five goals for Belvidere North as DeKalb drops opener

DeKALB – Belvidere North would attack, and the DeKalb defense and sophomore goalie Beth Meeks would turn the Thunder away.

At least, for every player except Cortlyn Hefty.

The senior forward scored five goals, and the Thunder sank the Barbs 8-0 in the opener for both teams on Tuesday.

“We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted to, but I think we showed a lot of compassion for the game and didn’t quit, which was huge,” said coach Kay Brooks, at the helm of the Barbs for the first time. “We definitely have a lot of things to work on. We’re a young team with only two seniors and a few returning varsity players. ... We can only go up from here.”

Hefty entered the season with 104 goals in her career and signed Monday to play at Cleveland State. She scored career goal No. 105 on a breakaway at the 37:57 mark of the first half.

She later added her fifth goal of the night to make it 7-0, cutting the clock time in half to eight minutes left in the game.

“I think we gave her too much space,” Brooks said. “We let a few balls get in behind us, and she was able to get on top of them and get a couple chip shots. We had a couple of miscommunications on those, so we’ll have to work on that. A good player like her, giving her too much space you just can’t do that.”

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DeKalb's Carla Murrieta and Belvidere North's Keyla Suarez collide going after the ball during their game Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at DeKalb High School. (Mark Busch)

Down 1-0, the Barbs had a chance to score when freshman Quinn McLane broke away down the middle of the field. She got goalie Ruby Herrera one-on-one but couldn’t get a shot off.

A couple of minutes later Hefty broke through in front of an empty net and tapped in her second goal. She added two more by the 28th minute for a 4-0 lead.

“Scoring in those first couple minutes, we want to set the tone offensively,” Belvidere North coach Jeremy Naff said. “She was able to do that. She’s a really dangerous player. It’s a handful for any opposing defense.”

But for all of Hefty’s success, Meeks and the Barbs’ defense turned away the other Thunder attacks, at least in the first half. In the closing minutes of the first half, Julianna Phommachanh let loose a rocket from the right side. Meeks slapped it away and the Barbs turned away the corner kick.

“I think Beth did great,” Brooks said. “She’s still a sophomore so she’s kind of considered young even though she has some varsity experience. Overall on the ones she could save she did a good job and there were a couple maybe she could have saved. She’s going to improve, she’s a great kid and you’re going to see great things come out of her. It’s an off-game, I think.”

A second Thunder player finally connected in the second half. Phommachanh connected in the 49th minute and Keyla Suarez added another three minutes later for a 6-0 lead for Belvidere. Nelly Galicia added the eighth Thunder goal with just under 7 minutes left.

Aside from McLane’s run the Barbs didn’t have any good looks at the net.

“I think we’re more of a defensive-sided team, so we just need to figure out who we can play up at the top and on the outsides and get the ball to them,” Brooks said. “It’s a little bit of soccer IQ and that will come. We have a lot of players who never played together before. Once we get through Barb Fest, that will be good for us, get a few extra goals in there.”

DeKalb opens their Barb Fest tournament at 5:45 p.m. Thursday against Guilford at the NIU rec fields.