Wheaton-Warrenville South knew it had a tough task in front of it if it wanted to make its first final four since 2003.

Standing in its way was Naperville Central, the top-ranked team and No. 2 girls soccer team in the nation according to Max Preps, which also happened to be the Tigers’ only loss of the season heading into Tuesday’s Class 3A St. Charles North Supersectional.

And unfortunately for the Tigers, the RedHawks proved to be too much again, scoring two goals in the span of five minutes on two separate occasions to secure a 5-1 victory, ending the Tigers’ season in the supersectional for the second straight season.

“We just had a few breakdowns and it all just spun one way, and it is what it is,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. “You’ve got to be prepared for those moments, and they’ve built a good, positive idea to this moment, and when you’re invited to the party and are one of only a few left, it’s a good place to be. But I just wish we could have had better of it.”

The Tigers (17-2-5) managed to fend off the RedHawks on defense for the majority of the first half, only allowing three shots on goal, which were all promptly kept out of the net thanks to squared defense and solid play in net from junior Lauren Buchalski.

“We were all just giving it our all and playing together as a team,” senior defender Grace Rodakowski said. “We were just believing in ourselves.”

Naperville Central managed to squeak its way onto the scoreboard in the 36th minute when Paige Connelly got her foot on a deflected shot into an open net. Just three minutes later, with 53 seconds left in the half, Natalie Liesch added another score to make it 2-0 going into the half.

“I didn’t think it being 2-0 necessarily meant it was over,” WWS senior midfielder Lucy Jethani said. “At halftime we were very positive and knew we still had a chance. We had 40 minutes left, and we thought we could make a change.”

It didn’t take long for the RedHawks to find the back of the net again, with Emerson Burke earning a penalty kick and converting in the 44th minute to make it 3-0.

“That PK at the beginning was soft on our part,” Callipari said. “It is what it is, and that went against us, and unfortunately it was against a team that possess the ball well and had pretty good defense that made sure the offense held the ball.”

Naperville Central scored two more goals in the 66th and 69th minutes, both by Nicole Sacek. But even while trailing 5-0, the Tigers never backed down.

“Our coaching staff never never gives up a game, they’ll never say it’s over,” Jethani said. “They’re very encouraging and make us keep going. And we knew we didn’t want to end it on a shutout.”

“It was a whole mindset of just always giving it our all,” Rodakowski said. “There’s always still a chance with time left. And the players were very motivating during that span.”

The Tigers did manage to get on the scoreboard in the 71st minute when junior Kelsey Clousing made a quick recovery after getting tackled just outside the box before taking a quick shot to the bottom-left corner for the score to prevent the shutout.

“They tried to take her out but she bounced right back up, and that’s just Kelsey,” Callipari said. “She wasn’t going to go down softly and I’m glad she had the finish. It was proper and the way we would have loved to finish. One it takes away the clean sheet and it also got her on the board to continue to add to her totals to the season.”

Despite coming short of making the state tournament, Callipari said he’s proud of the group for its efforts on the season and the loss should be a big motivator for the returners.

“This team broke offensive records when I thought last season’s group was very offensively built, and we got to this point because of our defense,” Callipari said. “We’re heavy junior-oriented. That core has been together for a long time, and they’ll all return.

“We just have to plug in a few holes with that senior class that’s graduating, but we feel like we can return back to this moment again. And hopefully we’ll have another chance to do it again.”