Lancers tie with R-B in season opener
By Matt Le Cren

The 2012 season opener had a little bit of everything for Lake Park.

The Lancers had to deal with strange calls, luck of both the good and bad varieties and another bite from the injury bug, but in the end they were able to tie Riverside-Brookfield 2-2 on an unseasonably warm evening Tuesday in Riverside.

Senior tri-captain Nicole Moore scored both goals for the Lancers on penalty kicks, the last coming with 3:33 left in the second half to pull the visitors even.

“I was definitely nervous but I knew I had made the one before that, so I kind of had the confidence to go into it,” Moore said. “I’ve always felt comfortable with penalty kicks so I just knew I had to finish it for the team.”

Fittingly enough for a match that featured several moments in which both sides were at sea, there was confusion prior to Moore’s kick. Lake Park was awarded the penalty as a result of Riverside-Brookfield handball, but Moore’s teammates and the Bulldogs thought the call was on the Lancers.

“I think I was the only one who saw it was a hand ball and then I go to take the penalty kick and everyone was leaving and I was the one who was confused,” Moore said. “I was like, ‘did I miss something?’”

Lake Park coach Chris Fruehling credited freshman forward Lexi Ruffolo with earning the penalty kick.

“Lexi was on the near post and when she went after the ball I think she was able to get a deflection off the defender’s hand,” Fruehling said.

It wasn’t the first time Moore had taken a penalty under dramatic circumstances. She actually took two in the first half, converting the second to give the visitors a 1-0 lead with 4:45 remaining in the first half.

The Bulldogs were whistled for a hand ball to set up that kick, which Moore sent clanging off the right post. She immediately pounced on the rebound and scored, but the goal was waved off thanks to two infractions – Moore was somehow ruled offsides and the Bulldogs were called for being in the penalty area too quickly.

Moore couldn’t understand how she could be offsides when the ball was between her and the goal, but because R-B was in the area too soon she was allowed to re-take the penalty and this time she didn’t miss.

“They were lined up inside of the circle,” Moore said. “Technically since I touched it again it was offsides but because they were inside the circle I got to re-kick it. That’s what [the linesman] raised his flag for. I was confused.”

The Lancers were confused again two minutes later when they had a goal disallowed on a play that was costly in more ways than one. Junior midfielder Ruth Garippo made a run up the right wing and crossed it to sophomore forward Jordan Gonser in the box. Gonser collided with an R-B defender but was able to pass it to her left to Ruffolo, who hammered a shot past R-B keeper Elena Duve.

But the officials waved off the goal and awarded a free kick to the Bulldogs at the point where Gonser, who was helped off the field with a knee injury, went down.

Gonser, who didn’t return and was sporting an ice pack and bandages after the match, is one of eight injured players on the Lancers’ 21-player roster, six of whom have knee injuries, including four torn ACLs.

Junior tri-captain Megan Lindbert, a midfielder who has committed to Kent State, senior midfielder Kelsey McNeela, sophomore forward Jessica Berkshire and senior forward Jessica Franz all are out with torn ACLs and only Franz, who is slated to return in late April, will play this spring.

In addition, sophomore goalie Jamie Crowley has a knee injury of undetermined severity midfielders Jillian Kent and Bridget Lachowiez have concussions, though both are expected to return at some point.

“I’m knocking on wood every day [that there are no more injuries],” Fruehling said. “We have been stricken by the injury bug so a lot of people are new and some people are playing in a little different positions and I was really happy to see tonight, for the first game, us being able to have a little composure, have some combination play out there. Not having as many subs, I did see us having some tired legs but they were able to fight through it, which I was happy with.”

The Lancers had the better of the run of play for most of the match and outshot the Bulldogs 15-8, but the hosts began the second half with a new-found aggressiveness and scored twice in span of 3:50 to take the lead.

Rachel Corcoran tied the game at 1-1 when she took a cross from Carmen Shelbrack and fired under the crossbar at the 33:31 mark. Shelbrack then scored when she latched on to a deflected pass, beat a defender in front and put a 15-yard shot into the upper left corner even with 29:41 to go. Sophomore goalie Rebecca Thorne, who made two saves for Lake Park, leaped and got a hand on the ball but wasn’t able to stop it.

But that proved to be the Bulldogs’ last good scoring opportunity because the Lancers started to put some combinations together and peppered Duve with seven shots in the final 20 minutes. Duve was up to the task, making 11 saves and not allowing a goal in the run of play, though Ruffolo, Moore and sophomore Lindsey Troyke were able to put several hard shots on frame.

Moore plays left back for her club team and Troyke is a defender but both were playing midfielder and even forward at times because the Lancers, as Moore said, are in desperate need of attackers because of all the injuries.

“I think our effort was great,” Moore said. “At the start it was really good but we just need to swing the ball more and we’ll learn how each other plays in general. And if we spread the field and make some connections rather than just kicking the ball I think we can do well.”

If not for injuries, the Lancers would have had nine returning players from last year’s 14-5-3 team that won a Class 3A regional championship before losing to state semifinalist Conant in the sectional semifinals. Fruehling, whose squad will rely heavily on Moore and stalwart senior sweeper Briana Small, expects this to be a learning year with eight sophomores and three freshmen to work into the lineup, but that doesn’t mean the Lancers will have a poor record.

“We won regionals last year so I hope we can continue that and I just really want to put it together as a team and I feel like as long as we’re playing together, the wins are going to come,” Moore said. “But [chemistry] is what’s most important. I think we’ll have a good season.”