Naperville Central’s Kent Emden is hard enough to beat in an evenly played game.
Give the U.S. youth national team member a four-goal lead in the first period, that task becomes even more daunting.
Emden held down the fort with 15 saves and even scored a goal from across the pool. The junior goalkeeper’s offense helped the Redhawks to a 12-6 win over defending state champion Stevenson in Thursday’s state quarterfinals.
The Redhawks (32-1) will face Conant at 10:15 a.m. Saturday for a chance to get back to the state finals for the first time since winning the championship two years ago.
Fenwick plays Lyons, who handed Central its only loss, in the other semifinal.
“After the first goal, we were hyped,” Emden said. “The team spirit was incredible. We’ve been working for this all year, and it’s finally happening. We came out and really showed who’s boss.”
Four players scored for Naperville Central to open the game. Bender Russo got things started, followed by Dominic May, Brad Sanford and Cam Dougherty, as the Redhawks owned a 4-0 lead with 1:20 left in the first quarter.
“Our offense starts with Kent in the goal,” Naperville Central coach Bill Salentine said. “Offensively, everybody stepped up, spread the ball around real well.
“It always helps when your goalie scores a goal. That was fun to watch.”
Emden scored one goal in the field for the Redhawks this year and put in his fifth from the goal to end the third quarter. He held on to the ball until the final seconds and fired a rocket across the pool to push the lead to 12-3.
It also fired up the crowd.
“It definitely helps the team out,” Emden said. “It pumps up the team.”
A big factor was Naperville Central’s prowess scoring in man-up situations. Half of the Redhawks’ goals came in those situations. Stevenson (29-5) did not score once in the man-up.
“It’s something we practice a lot,” Salentine said. “We try to work on select individuals that we know play defense with their hips down or are in bad positions, so we focus on getting those guys ejected to get those man-up situations.”
Sanford scored three times, while Dougherty, May and Lucas Nervig all scored two goals.
Stevenson is a familiar foe for the Redhawks. Naperville Central beat Stevenson in 2016 to win its first state title. The Patriots returned the favor last year, topping the Redhawks in the state semifinals on the way to their first state title.
This year, Central beat Stevenson three times, most recently 7-6 on May 5 when Emden was fulfilling duties with the national team .
“That was a close game, and a couple of our players got sent to the hospital (with injuries),” Salentine said. “We just wanted to come out with a little more everything than we did a couple weeks ago, and we certainly did that.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.