Naperville North sophomore forward Anthony Flores didn’t flinch.

Instead, he finished with a flourish.

Flores was all alone in the left side of Romeoville’s penalty area when junior forward Noah Radeke passed the ball to him Wednesday night.

“I knew Noah had two defenders on him,” Flores said. “The ball was very slippery. I was going to hit it on my left foot. But I really didn’t have enough time, so I just hit it with my right foot.”

Flores’ shot beat Romeoville goalkeeper Alex Duda with 14:44 remaining in the second half and gave the Huskies the lead for the first time.

Flores’ goal ended up being the game-winner as top-seeded Naperville North rallied to beat fourth-seeded Romeoville 3-1 in the Class 3A Plainfield North Sectional semifinals.

The Huskies (20-1-3), who extended their unbeaten streak to 23 games, will play fifth-seeded Naperville Central (12-5-7), which beat seventh-seeded Oswego 1-0, in the sectional final at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“To score was an amazing feeling,” Flores said. “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Flores is making a habit of doing that. It was the sixth goal of the season for the varsity rookie and his second in three playoff games.

“Obviously, he’s a sophomore, and he came into the team as a young guy,” Radeke said. “We knew he was going to be something special, and he’s obviously showed that this season and provided a lot of goals and assists and has just dominated the middle.”

Flores is part of a tremendous sophomore class of seven players, five of whom started against the Spartans (17-6-3), who finished second in 3A last year.

“They’re young, but they’re not really sophomores anymore soccer-wise, right?” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “These kids all play at a high level offseason, and then they come in and have played 24 games now. That’s a lot of high-pressure games, and it’s neat to see how cool that they’ve been.”

Flores has been overshadowed by the sensational seasons of Radeke, who recorded a goal and two assists Wednesday, and junior forward Jaxon Stokes, who scored his team-leading 28th goal. But Konrad knows how valuable Flores is.

“Tony is a kid who has played hard all year,” Konrad said. “We’ve moved him around. He’s played up top some, he’s played in the midfield some. Today he played in both places.”

And Flores made a difference at both positions.

“In these big games, he does a great job winning balls in the air,” Konrad said. “Obviously, he hits a heavy ball, and he’s a technical kid. So if the ball lands at his feet, he’s going to do a pretty good job of picking the corner and finding it.”

Which is just what Flores did to give North a 2-1 lead.

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“Tony was so cool under pressure,” Konrad said. “That’s a big-boy goal. It was open, but everything gets a little tight, and the keeper had made a couple big saves before that.”

The Spartans took a 1-0 lead when Manny Casillas scored on a perfectly placed 25-yard free kick midway through the first half. It held up until Radeke crashed in a header off a corner kick from sophomore forward Josh Pedersen at the 22:34 mark of the second half.

“We knew they were a great team,” Flores said. “We just had to stay calm, do what we do best and win the game.”

Which is what the Huskies did by dominating the final 20 minutes. Radeke, who has 20 goals and 18 assists, passed up a partially open shot and fed Stokes for the final goal with 6:50 left.

It was a demonstration of unselfishness not unlike the play Radeke made to set up Flores’ goal, in which he drove up the middle of the box in traffic before passing.

“I took the ball past one, and then I saw Tony wide open on the other side,” Radeke said. “I’m like, ‘Why not play it?’ So I played it, and he scored.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.