Boys soccer: Owen Suda’s goal lifts Lyons over Naperville North in 3A semifinal

HOFFMAN ESTATES – Owen Suda is used to being the guy behind the guy.

On Friday night he was the guy whose goal sent Lyons past Naperville North in a Class 3A state semifinal as his goal late in the first half was the difference in his team’s 1-0 victory at Hoffman Estates.

Lyons (20-6-2) will try to win its 10th straight game as well as a state title at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I’m usually the man running behind the flick and in this case on this throw I was the man with the flick,” Suda said. “My job was to run with the ball and flick the ball into the back of the net.”

Senior Collin Sullivan makes his presence known with his stingy defensive play, but it’s his jaw-dropping long throws that make the Lions dangerous on their attack. His throw-in in the 39th minute proved to be the difference between playing for a championship and getting up early for a third-place game.

“Defensively, one of the hardest things to do is reading throws because they are so precise and have a lot of heat on them,” he said. “I’m mainly aiming for the flick and sometimes I’ll underthrow or overthrow, and (Owen) Suda was just there with the perfect flick, and it’s so tough to defend a redirect on a throw-in.”

Suda was humble about his goal, which will have Lyons playing in only its second title game and first since winning in 2009.

“I got lucky bounces,” he said. “Honestly, luck is a part of the game. I saw it go in. It bounced over at least two defenders and went into the back of the net.”

Naperville North (22-2-3) saw its 26-game unbeaten streak end. The Huskies opened the season with a loss against West Chicago and had not experienced what it felt like to lose since late August.

“I thought we played incredibly well tonight,” Huskies coach Jim Konrad said. “I couldn’t be prouder with the way the boys handled the big lights and the big stage. Obviously, we’ve been lucky to be here a number times and that’s about as good as we played on this field. I don’t even remember the teams that won it all playing as well as the boys played tonight. They were almost perfect.”

The Huskies were awarded 12 corner kicks and outshot the Lions, 16-7, but the equalizer proved to be elusive.

“We knew we were the better team in getting more chances,” Huskies sophomore Sam Hess said. “I think we were getting our chances in the second half, we just couldn’t finish. We were all doing our jobs and we almost made the best out of every play that we got. It just didn’t work in our favor.”

A lot has worked in favor of the Huskies this season, but Lyons continues to have their number. While the regular season game between the teams was canceled due to the heat index, Lyons defeated Naperville North, 2-0, in both 2021 and 2022.

“It was a monumental win for us,” Lyons coach Paul Labbato said. “It’s just been one of these runs that you just got to believe. You’ve got to believe we could do it and every time adversity hits, these guys respond. It’s been great.”