Griffins settle for a split at Saturday's Lemont Cup

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By Curt Herron

Things both started off and finished well for Lincoln-Way East during its final match at Saturday's Lemont Cup.

The Griffins, who've had troubles finding the net of late, scored to open and end their match with Hinsdale South.

But unfortunately for coach Brian Papa's squad, they allowed twice as many scores in between those two goals.

As a result, East earned a split for the day and wound up claiming sixth place in the eight-team competition.

The Griffins dropped a 4-2 decision to Hinsdale South after opening the day with a 2-0 win over Plainfield Central.

After trailing East (8-12) less than 14 minutes into the match, the Hornets (7-12) rallied for a 2-1 halftime lead.

They scored the first two goals of the second half and allowed a goal to the Griffins before closing out the victory.

Erin Mangia had a goal and an assist while Kelsey Kurey had the other score and Kelly McGovern assisted Mangia.

Leading the Hornets in the win over East was Meagan McPherson, who scored a pair of goals and added an assist.

Meagan DeSalvo and Jackie Belmonte also scored goals while Brenda Maugeri and Brittney Noble also contributed assists.

South had also struggled to score goals recently, collecting only 11 during its past 10 matches prior to Saturday.

But the Hornets followed up on a 3-0 win over Downers Grove North by equaling their best goal total of the season.

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East didn't have many first-half chances but did get a shot from, Nicole Ernat just under six minutes into the match.

South's best early chance came about 12 minutes in when Jaime Walker headed a shot attempt just wide of the net.

The Griffins found the scoreboard with 26:43 left in the half to seemingly grab the early momentum.

South keeper Vanessa Niestrom stopped a shot try by McGovern, who passed the ball back toward Mangia.

The Griffin junior lined a long shot into an empty net to collect her squad the quick 1-0 advantage.

But South responded by putting the pressure on East keeper Arianna Nie on shot tries from Belmonte and Julie Vezzani.

Shortly after Colleen McPherson bounced an attempt to Nie, the Hornets finally found the net for the first time.

With 9:48 left before the break, Maugeri sent a pass to Meagan McPherson, who fired in a shot from the top of the box.

About two minutes later, South's initial goal scorer was stopped on a free kick but she struck again with 4:42 left.

Following a collision in the box, Meagan McPherson placed the subsequent penalty kick in to give her squad a 2-1 lead.

Not long after the break, the Hornets connected again to grab a two-goal advantage over the Griffins.

Meagan McPherson sent a pass toward DeSalvo, who scored from close range with 33:20 remaining in the match.

After Jessy Mutters had a shot deflect off of a defender, East threatened again on a grounder from Hayley Gerdes.

Nie later shut down a scoring effort by Walker and then hauled in a liner from Belmonte to keep her team alive.

But the Griffins' hopes were largely dashed with 12:05 left when Belmonte connected, following a pass from Noble.

East got a score back with 8:25 remaining when Mangia sent a corner in front that was knocked in by Kurey.

The Griffins tried to make things more interesting but only managed one more shot from Gerdes, which Niestrom halted.

In Saturday's first match, McGovern scored a pair of goals to lead East to a 2-0 win over the Wildcats.

Theresa Tynski and Kurey chipped in with assists while Nie recorded the shutout in goal for the Griffins.

East closes out regular season play with a Tuesday match at Lockport and a Thursday home game against Reavis.

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