Liz Smith’s hat trick leads Johnsburg past North Shore Country Day for Class 1A sectional title

RICHMOND – Johnsburg seniors Ava Jablonski and Natalie Oeffling grabbed ahold of the sectional plaque, held it high in the air and jumped up and down in celebration with their just-as-happy teammates.

Led by junior forward Liz Smith’s second hat trick of the playoffs, top-seeded Johnsburg defeated No. 1 North Shore Country Day 4-0 on Tuesday to claim the Class 1A Richmond-Burton Sectional championship for the Skyhawks’ third sectional title in program history.

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Johnsburg’s Liz Smith, right, is embraced by Lauren McQuiston after Smith scored the Skyhawk’s fourth goal of the game against North Shore Country Day in IHSA Class 1A Sectional Title Game action at Richmond-Burton High School in Richmond on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer/for the Daily Herald)

“It’s a great moment being here with my friends,” said Oeffling, one of two senior starters on the Skyhawks, along with Jablonski. “I’ve played soccer with these girls most of my entire life. I’m going to be sad to lose it after this season. This is just so important to me. I love soccer.”

“All these girls play travel, I don’t, so I feel really included when I play with them,” Jablonski added. “I gain a lot of confidence when I’m on the same field. It’s pretty cool to be here.”

Johnsburg (11-6) moves on to play No. 1 Willows Academy in a Dominican University Supersectional match at 11 a.m. Saturday in River Forest. With one more win, the Skyhawks would make it to state for the third time in school history (third place in 2017, fourth in 2013).

Smith earned her second hat trick of the postseason after also doing so in the Skyhawks’ 4-2 regional final win over Harvest Christian. The junior forward opened the scoring Tuesday when she took a long feed from junior Lauren McQuiston, ran 20 yards and fired a shot past Raiders goalkeeper Margaret Fitzgerald with 27:29 remaining in the first half.

“Honestly, this is something I’ve been wishing for since freshman year,” Smith said. “I’ve been working up to this moment. And I know my team has been working just as hard as I have. I couldn’t do it without the support of everybody around me.

“I just needed to take my role as striker and do that for the team.”

After a goal by Charlie Eastland on a header gave the Skyhawks a 2-0 advantage with 24:24 left in the second half, Smith added two goals in 57 seconds to put them up 4-0 with 15:48 remaining. Freshman Brooke Butler had the assist on Smith’s final goal.

In three postseason games, Smith has scored eight times.

“She’s a great talent. When she’s on, she’s almost unplayable,” Johnsburg coach Rob Eastland said. “I think Lauren [McQuiston] really complements her out there. You can tell that they’ve played together since they were young. Lauren does a lot of the dirty work, and Liz gets a lot of the breakaways. But she is sticking them in right now. She’s found another level.”

Sophomore Charlie Eastland’s goal came off a beautiful cross from junior Jacquelyn Douglas on a free kick. The ball sailed toward the far post where Eastland, who had three goals in the sectional semifinal, headed the ball directly into goal.

Johnsburg had 11 shots on goal to North Shore Country Day’s four, with Skyhawks junior Lila Konrad making all four saves.

Rob Eastland felt his defense really stepped up Tuesday.

“We’ve played some tough competition,” said Eastland, whose team has two straight shutouts. “[Douglas and junior London Baidinger] in the back are kind of like Liz and Lauren, they’ve played together so long and they read each other so well. It’s really hard for teams to get through us, and I think teams have found that to be difficult all season.”

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Skyhawks, who started the season 7-2 but lost four of its last five matches in the regular season.

Now, they’re one win away from state.

“We’ve definitely had some highs and lows,” Smith said. “We expected to have a better conference season, but it was great to see us all pick each other back up. We knew we had it in us to keep going.”