Naperville North’s Lucy Fitzgerald had to wait a long time to get regular playing time.
Fitzgerald didn’t make the varsity team until her junior year and only earned a starting spot about two months ago. But the senior defender never came off the field during her final game — the Class 3A state championship game, which went to double overtime Saturday night.
“It really meant so much to me because at the beginning of the year I didn’t start,” she said. “Throughout the year, I’ve just been working my hardest, and to be able to play all 100 minutes on the field feels really good.”
There were tears in Fitzgerald’s eyes, of course, because O’Fallon halted Naperville North’s stirring playoff run. The Huskies’ 1-0 loss at North Central College in Naperville also ended an era.
Fitzgerald is the last of three sisters to play for the Huskies (17-6-3), whose underdog run to the final was reminiscent of the 2019 state championship team that included her oldest sister, Nora. Both wore No. 11.
Their sister Maggie Fitzgerald, who graduated from Naperville North in 2023 and flew into town to attend the game, wore No. 11 and No. 19 during her time.
“To have Maggie come back and surprise her sister at the state championship game, that’s just what makes this program special,” Naperville North coach Steve Goletz said. “Families like the Fitzgeralds, the DeCooks, the Polaviejas, the Bueschers, there’s a reason these girls were where they were.
“Nobody thought that this team would be in the state championship tonight outside of our group.”
The Huskies had no Division I recruits except Tennessee-bound junior forward Claire DeCook, who played her last game because she will graduate early, and Minnesota-bound senior defender Emily Buescher. But Lucy Fitzgerald was respected for her grit and perseverance.
“Something that’s incredibly special about Lucy is just her willingness to work all the time, and she never lets that negative feeling overcome her,” Buescher said. “Every time she’s given a chance, she proves that she deserves it.
“We do an awards banquet before the year ends, and her thing was most improved player because there were days when she would stay 40 to 50 minutes after practice. She would ask for me to stay or for other people to stay to help her with certain things.”
Buescher, whose sister Katelynn captained the Huskies to third place in 2018 before playing at Illinois and Illinois State, added that Fitzgerald’s work rate pushes teammates too.
“It makes it so easy to work hard when you’re next to Lucy because you know how hard she’s working,” Buescher said. “Our last game, she absolutely saved us, so it’s so easy to cheer her on because she’s such a special person and a special player.”
Goletz said Fitzgerald showed that Saturday, helping the Huskies hold the Panthers (23-1-1) scoreless for almost 90 minutes until Allie Tredway scored on a 22-yard rocket with 5.7 seconds left in the first overtime.
“Lucy’s an incredible kid, a kid that ran the process of being in this program,” Goletz said. “The reason you play state championship games is because you have kids who care more about the program than they do themselves.
“Lucy was such a rock back there. She was a great target on restarts, and tonight she’s put on an island at times 1v1, moves her feet well.”
Like most of her teammates, Fitzgerald will not play in college. But she cemented her family’s legacy and set a great example.
“It’s a tough thing for a high school kid to check your own ego at the door and continue to fight for your teammates,” Goletz said. “Lucy did that day in and day out for four years, and for her to step in at the moment she had the opportunity this year and seize that spot in the back made us better.”
Although her sisters’ varsity careers were longer than hers, the 6-foot Fitzgerald is the tallest and strongest. But like them, she walked off the field in a Naperville North uniform for the final time having given her all and leaving behind no regrets before she heads to Tennessee, where she can cheer on DeCook.
“I feel like it was a good ending, a happy ending,” Fitzgerald said. “Even though it’s sad that it’s over, I’m really happy I got to do it with this team with every single one of the girls.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
