Boys Soccer: Naperville Central holds off Hinsdale Central, heads back to state for first time since 2013

AURORA – Everyone has done their part for Naperville Central this season.

That team effort earned the Redhawks their first trip to state since 2013 after beating Hinsdale Central, 4-3, in Tuesday’s Class 3A East Aurora Supersectional.

“It’s a great group of kids and it’s been everybody having to rise up at different times,” Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “Patrick (Bohan) getting a goal today and Dylan (Scott) being a goalie again for us and really stepping in and holding down that position. With this team you just never know who it’s going to be.”

Naperville Central (24-3-1) will face Stevenson (21-0-3) in the second state semifinal at 7 p.m. on Friday at Hoffman Estates.

Hinsdale Central (17-5-1) certainly got off to the start it wanted with a quick goal from Ardit Abdullai in the first five minutes. But the Red Devils couldn’t sustain such a terrific opening with the Redhawks having to adjust to Scott replacing all-state goalkeeper Austin Waite, who was out with an injury, but could return this weekend.

Still, the Red Devils would hold off the dangerous Redhawks from netting the equalizer until junior Michael Cavalleri buried a header from junior Carter Adams, the oldest son of coach Troy Adams, with 15:47 left in the half.

That would prove to be just the spark the Redhawks needed. Just a couple minutes later senior Nathan Kwon sent a 40-yard pass to senior Joey LoDuca who got past the goalie and simply tapped in the go-ahead goal with 13:33 still to go in the half.

“Kwon played me a nice ball,” LoDuca said. “He saw me wide open as I was making a run between two defenders and played me a great curving ball that led me to a 1v1 situation and it was just a simple tap in.”

The goal that provided the Redhawks with a huge 3-1 lead at halftime came in the final minute and truly was a team effort. Bohan blasted a ball about 50 yards on a free kick where it bounced at around the six and over the goalkeeper. A stunner.

“I’ve got to just thank my forwards because they did an absolutely amazing job,” Bohan said. “It was a good kick, but if they had not been pressing the defenders and the goalie, there’s no way that gets in.”

It proved to be even more important after Red Devils senior Dray Glashin scored on a rebound with 25:45 left in the second half to pull Hinsdale Central to within 3-2.

The Redhawks answered right back just 37 seconds later as freshman Chase Adams, youngest son of the coach, wove his way into the box with 25 minutes remaining to make it 4-2.

Glashin and the Red Devils continued to fight back, with his goal with 16:14 remaining cutting his squad’s deficit to 4-3.

“For me on those two goals I just started working a little harder off the ball, got myself to open space and that’s how I got the goals,” he said. “The team was under a lot of pressure so we just tried to stay composed and play the way we played to get this far.”

Ultimately, the 16-minute three-goal stretch to close the first half proved to be too much for the Red Devils to overcome.

“They had that stretch of about 10 minutes there in the first half where we just couldn’t seem to get out of their end and they got those two quick goals,” Red Devils coach Mike Wiggins said. “And I think that certainly shifted momentum in their favor, but I thought we hung in there with them and started to really generate some chances.”

Speaking of chances, the Adams family will have a chance to make school history: the Redhawks have appeared at state four times but have never won a state title. When they took third in 2013, Carter was just 7 and Chase was only 5 and they attended the games.

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