Chicagoland Soccer

Lions top Wheaton Academy on Mazur goal
By Dave Miller

Lyons Township didn’t take long to bounce back.

Coming off its first loss of the season, the Lions struck first on Sarah Mazur’s goal in the 16th minute and made it hold up for a 1-0 triumph over Wheaton Academy in a Pepsi Showdown consolation match Saturday afternoon at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

“We were obviously disappointed after Thursday’s game,” Mazur said about the Lions’ 2-0 Showdown loss to Plainfield North. “We thought we could have done better, but either way, whether we’re still in it for the championship or not, we just come out every game and try to win and do our best.

“It was good to back up a loss with a win. You have to get past losing and just go on to the next game. It was definitely good to get the first goal and set the momentum.”

Mazur found herself with space when she spun with the ball on the right side of the box. The senior’s right-to-left shot traveled through traffic and into the net for her fourth goal of the season.

“I just turned and no one was really stepping up to me so I just had time,” Mazur said. “I kind of got lucky because it went through a couple people and then hit the side netting of the back post. It was just a good hit, I guess.”

Lyons (7-1-1) possessed the ball for the majority of the match, but Wheaton Academy (4-3) remained within striking distance as Warriors goalkeeper Kristen Morency denied the Lions on a handful more scoring chances.

But Wheaton Academy never figured out a way to beat the Lyons defense and goalkeeper Maggie Orlowski.

The Warriors perked up down the stretch, but the Lions were up for the challenge in every instance. Lyons defenders Ari Kowalski, Emily Thuma and Catherine King cleared the ball on late Wheaton Academy advances. Then Orlowski made a trio of saves in the final five minutes, the last coming in the final minute when the senior stopped Molly Thorson’s free kick with a leaping save of the shot heading to the high right corner of the net.

“It was a little anxious toward the end when they were getting a lot of free kicks, but we stood strong,” said Orlowski, who recorded her sixth shutout of the season. “I think we did great defensively today.”

Wheaton Academy coach Dave Underwood knew the final score could have been worse.

“Oh man, that was rough,” Underwood said. “We kind of knew it would be. We don’t have much depth at all this year and you could see that. Trying to play a team of that caliber, that physical at the end of a week where we’ve already played four games, we knew it was going to be a real, real tall order for us to come away with anything.

“And I’m not blaming tired legs. They’re a better team than us. They just have more, and we know we just don’t have a ton of depth. We’ve talked a lot about we’re not as technically proficient as many as the other elite level teams that we’re going to play in this tournament, so we know for us to have any chance we’ve got to work just as hard, defend well, and hope for a chance or two to score a goal.”

Wheaton Academy has stepped up in class in the Showdown. The Warriors were coming off a 2-0 loss to top-seeded Metea Valley.
“I don’t want to say that we’re pleased with the result because we’re never pleased with a loss, but we know this prepares us for the 2A tournament,” Underwood said. “The last two games we played Metea and Lyons Township. You’re not going to run into too many teams like that in the 2A tournament. This helps us tremendously raise our level of play, our speed of play. Overall I’m pleased with the effort.”