Trevians come out firing as they punch their state-finals ticket

New Trier junior Dami Balogun is explosive on a soccer field.

But apparently explosive plus frustrated is a dangerous combination, as Hinsdale Central learned right before halftime Tuesday night.

“Coming into that (moment), I was a little frustrated. I felt like I was making runs but not really finishing how I wanted to for my team,” Balogun said. “I just got that ball and was like, this is my spot. I know I’m 1-v-1 right now and that’s something I’m confident in. I’m just going to go for it.”

With time winding down in the first half, Balogun collected a feed from Peyton Colegrove near the top left corner of the goal box, turned left and beat her defender, touched past another defender, and hit a left-footed shot near post and into the net — with 2.6 seconds on the first-half clock.

The demoralizing goal gave New Trier a 2-0 lead, which they extended to 3-0 in the supersectional victory Tuesday, June 2, at Dominican University in River Forest.

Balogun’s individual brilliance was something, but Trevs coach Jim Burnside made sure to also mention Colegrove, whose pass to Balogun came while the junior was in full sprint down the sideline and while Burnside was yelling instruction.

“I give a lot of credit to Peyton Colegrove,” he said. “She’s flying down the sideline and I’m screaming at her, ‘Hit it to Dami.’ She didn’t even look up.

“I always say to our players: What we need are great athletes who are intelligent, creative and good soldiers. And that’s what good soldiers do: They go when something is asked of them. That’s what Peyton did and Dami got on the end of it, and I will take that any day of the week.”

The win pushed the Trevians through to the IHSA Class 4A final four for the second time in three years. They won the state title in 2024 in a penalty-kick thriller against St. Charles North.

New Trier will next face Edwardsville (16-3-2) in a semifinal match at 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 5, at North Central College in Naperville. Then, the Trevians will either play in the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday or the third-place contest at 11:30 a.m. Saturday — both at North Central.

In an effort to punch their state ticket, New Trier grabbed the advantage early.

Junior star Addy Randall ripped a left-footed goal to the near post just 2 minutes 29 seconds into the match.

The Trevians aggressive early play was intentional, Burnside said.

“After the last two games of getting scored on first, it might have been a point of emphasis in every sentence I said to them over the past couple days,” he said, referring to 5-1 and 2-1 sectional victories against Lane Tech and Evanston, respectively. “We came out and played great.”

The Trevians kept the pressure on, and Balogun had multiple close calls in the box with attempts just off target or just off time.

Balogun’s late-half goal put New Trier in strong position with 40 minutes to play, but the Trevians again struck quickly to open the final half.

Streaking far post, Catherine Shean took a pass in deep from Randall and muscled home a goal to make it 3-0 with just under 35 minutes to go.

Despite playing aggressively the rest of the way, Hinsdale Central could not muster many legit scoring opportunities. Their best attempt did find the net, but a Red Devil was called offsides.

Trevians goalie Annie Fowler made a handful of rather routine saves en route to the clean slate.

“We played them earlier in the season and beat them (2-1) and had that confidence with us,” Balogun said. “We came into this game playing our game, and if we come with our energy, we can beat any team.”

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