On a sunny afternoon, Neuqua Valley junior Allessandra Russo was ready to unleash the thunder.
The Marquette commit changed a DuPage Valley Conference game with one swing of her powerful left leg, sending a free kick nearly 50 yards into Naperville North’s penalty area.
“I was just really hoping to get it far post,” she said. “I saw that we had our runners stacked on that side, so I was just kicking and hoping someone got on it.”
Russo’s serve landed in a crowd. Yale-bound senior forward Selma Larbi pounced on it and scored with 19:28 left in the second half.
Larbi’s goal was all the host Wildcats needed to win 1-0 and claim a share of the DVC championship in Naperville on Tuesday. It was their first victory against Naperville North since 2015.
Larbi, who has returned to the team after playing club soccer last year, knew Russo had the strength to get the ball to her despite the long distance.
“She hit it, and I knew that it was going to bobble in the box a little bit,” Larbi said. “I realized that it was going up, and the defender that was on me was probably a little bit taller, so I didn’t want to risk heading it.
“So I kind of waited for it to settle at my feet, and I just picked it. It was kind of just like timing.”
Timing played a crucial role in Russo’s transformation from standout defender to leading scorer, a shift that has coincided with the Wildcats’ reemergence as an elite team.
Russo had always played defense, including as an outside back on her Galaxy club team that won back-to-back national titles.
But an ankle injury caused her to miss a few weeks at the beginning of last season. While she was out, Neuqua Valley coach Arnoldo Gonzalez found an adequate replacement for her on the back line. But the Wildcats needed offensive help.
“Gonzo talked about moving me up to forward and getting me chances in front of goal,” Russo said. “So I was excited about that, and then this year especially, I’ve played a lot of forward.”
The move has paid dividends. Russo has 11 goals and seven assists, leading the Wildcats (13-3, 4-1) in both categories.
“Even her freshman year, we knew she could be that winger because she has it in her,” Gonzalez said. “She has the endurance to do it, so we tried that a bit last year.
“We knew right off the bat she was going to be our winger. We had our left back, and it just worked out beautifully. You know, sometimes injuries happen for a reason, right?”
Russo will most likely play defender in college. But she’s enjoying the chance to create goals rather than prevent them.
“It’s definitely different, and I had to learn, like, to keep my composure in front of goal and make sure I didn’t just sky it over,” she said. “But I think the more I’ve played it, the more comfortable I’ve gotten on the ball in those kinds of spaces. And I think that’s really helped.”
Russo’s play has given Neuqua Valley a confidence that had been missing in recent years. The Wildcats began DVC play by stunning Naperville Central 2-1 on April 8 and finished it by beating Naperville North (11-5-3, 3-2) for the first time since the Class 3A sectional semifinals in 2015, when they lost to New Trier in the state championship game.
“It’s been so fun, and she’s just helped our team a lot, especially being a left-footed threat,” Larbi said. “You don’t get a lot of left-footed players.
“I think a lot of defenders have a hard time defending her because they’re not gonna realize that she can kick it with her left. So I think that makes her a really unique player.”
Russo is left-footed, but her power is the result of hard work.
“I do a lot of weightlifting,” she said. “I’ll do that before school sometimes. I’ve weightlifted for the past two years, but I really picked it up this last two months.
“I feel like I have noticed a difference since I started that. I just developed a little bit more power.”
But Russo hasn’t sacrificed accuracy for that power. Gonzalez said that through 14 games, Russo had put all 28 of her shot attempts on goal. She also takes most of Neuqua Valley’s corner kicks and free kicks, like the one Larbi scored on Tuesday.
“She’s going to play that type of ball, and it’s going to be a ball played with a purpose,” Gonzalez said of Russo. “She definitely gets our offense going.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
