Griffins struggle offensively in loss to red-hot Joliet Twp.

By Randy Whalen

Lincoln-Way East ran into a team on a streak Thursday but unfortunately for the Griffins, they couldn't halt that streak.

Joliet Township won its seventh straight with a 1-0 victory over East in a SouthWest Suburban Blue battle at Joliet West.

Junior Morgan Graves tallied the only goal during the opening half and the Steelmen defense did the rest.

East coach Brian Papa had his team down for five shots on goal, with four of those coming in the second half.

"I told the girls they didn't quit, they played hard," Papa said. "They will go through a wall for me.

"The girls are trying, but they are looking for someone else. We have to figure it out or we are going to struggle to score goals."

JT (7-2-1) has only allowed one goal during the span of its current winning streak.

"A really strong defense has helped us get to this point," JT coach Jeff Lundeen said. "You only need one then and we were able to get that one.

"It's always nice to get a big win over a team like Lincoln-Way East."

The score happened midway through the first half and came after East (7-6, 1-1) had a rush going, but knocked the ball out of bounds.

"It all started with Kim (Vertin) punting to begin the play," said Graves of her senior goalie.

"I just ran it down and had some space. But there was a girl coming at me, so I had to shoot it with my left foot.

"That got their goalie (East senior Arianna Nie) to go to her left. She got a slight tip on it, but it went in."

It certainly did, and the goal, with 19:54 to play in the first half, was Graves' fourth of the season.

"All they needed was one break and they put it in goal," Papa said.

"Defensively we played well, but we make one mistake and we pay. That was a big loss because they (JT) had defeated H-F."

The Steelmen beat highly-regarded Homewood-Flossmoor in a shootout in Flossmoor on Monday.

After a scoreless regulation and two overtimes, JT prevailed 5-4 after six rounds of penalty kicks.

JT stepped it up on defense in thursday's match and East only had a couple of good possessions in the first half.

One of those resulted in a nice attempt by junior forward Erin Mangia on a restart from the left side. But Vertin went down to her knee to stop a one-hop shot.

In the meantime, the Steelmen had first half shots by juniors Krista Mehrl and Marissa Graves (Morgan's twin sister) that were turned back or missed the mark.

Sophomore Taylor Adler and senior Kristine Dorre also added first half shots for JT.

In the second half, East came out and went on the attack.

Mangia had a long pass that resulted in a junior midfielder Kelsey Kurey ripping a shot that had Vertin moving to her left to grab it out of the air two minutes in.

Griffin senior defender Theresa Tynski added a long shot in the opening six minutes.

"We didn't really pass the ball well," Papa said. "When we did pass it, it had no purpose."

JT had two golden chances to add to the lead. Morgan Graves and freshmen midfielder Yessica Reyes each had one-on-one opportunities.

But the Griffin keeper came out of the net to nullify both of them.

Nie also does the restart kicks from midfield for the Griffins.

She sent one in that resulted in a great chance for sophomore defender Rebecca Dobrich, who got a shot off in a scrum that trickled wide right with 13:35 to play.

With just over 10 minutes left, Mangia sent in a corner that Dobrich hit wide right and Tynski added a long shot with just over four minutes to go.

A pair of restart kicks by Nie in the final two minutes looked good, but East couldn't get off a clean shot.

"Arianna must have had seven opportunities (in the game) and put the ball on the doorstep each time," Papa said.

"It was an exciting finish, right down to the wire."

Fittingly the game ended with Morgan Graves in possession of the ball.

"Last year we won a regional for the first time and we want to prove that wasn't a fluke," Morgan Graves said.

"A lot of credit goes to Kim (Vertin) and the back four for limiting corner kicks and shots on goal."

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