Tigers, Warriors share Wheaton Cup following 2-2 draw

By Paul LaTour

The Wheaton Cup will remain in the Wheaton Academy trophy case, but only for half of the year.

The rest of the time it will be on display at Wheaton Warrenville South. Both teams’ names will be engraved on the trophy.

That was the decision reached by Warriors coach Scott Marksberry and his counterpart with the Tigers, Guy Callipari.

Sharing the trophy became the only option after the Warriors and Tigers battled to a 2-2 tie Saturday afternoon at Wheaton Academy.

"We'll share the cup," Marksberry said. "We'll take a picture with it and let them have it. We'll switch it from one school to the other halfway through the year.

"We'll be happy to keep it in our trophy case for a little while longer."

Part of the reason stemmed from the two teams not involved in Saturday’s match, Wheaton North and St. Francis.

Those teams won't play this season, so Callipari and Marksberry decided it wouldn't be fair to use games against the Spartans in the standings for the cup.

Crystal Thomas scored both goals for the Warriors (11-3-1), while the Tigers (13-3-3) scored on an own-goal in the opening minute and a penalty kick only 20 seconds after falling behind 2-1 late in the game.

"If you looked at quality of goals, don't mention that as the Wheaton Cup tiebreaker," Callipari said, laughing. "I think I'd have to give the nod to them, absolutely."

The Tigers struck quickly Saturday, pushing the ball deep into Warriors' territory from the start. Jill Langlas had the ball down low to the left of Warriors keeper Emily Mulder.

Langlas sent a cross into the penalty area and the ball was redirected into the goal by a Wheaton Academy player.

There was so little fanfare it took a few seconds before fans realized the Tigers had grabbed a 1-0 lead.

The goal seemed to inspire the Warriors, though. They controlled play for the next 15 to 20 minutes, but couldn't even the score until the 33rd minute.

Meghan Grant saved the ball along the end line and passed it back to Thomas, who booted a twisting shot that found the far side of the net to tie it 1-1 with 7:26 left in the half.

The Tigers began asserting themselves in the second half, controlling the ball and having the best of the scoring chances, including a header by Bridget Shrigley that bounced off the crossbar in the 44th minute.

Despite fewer chances, it was the Warriors who managed the next goal, which came on a pretty give-and-go play started by Thomas' pass to Caley Kopp.

Thomas got the ball right back and sent a low shot into the goal past keeper Kelsey Graham, who finished with four saves.

"That combination play was great," Marksberry said. "We had been asking for more combination play, more passing and moving.

"That was our talk at halftime essentially, and we saw it there. Great pass by Caley, and great finish by Crystal."

"My teammates gave me great passes," said Thomas, who scored 18 goals as a freshman in helping the Warriors to the Class 2A title.

"On the first one I shot it far post and the second one, (Kopp) put the ball in the perfect spot and I just had to kick it in."

But the lead lasted only 20 seconds. The Tigers pushed into the penalty area and during a wild scramble, midfielder Dana Miller was taken down by a Warriors player.

Nicole LaPetina took the penalty kick, placing a perfect high shot to the right upper 90 to beat Mulder, who finished with nine saves.

"That was calmly put away by Nicole," Callipari said. "I was wondering who might step up and I was glad she showed the leadership.

"She typically doesn't put it in the top corner. It ended up in a good spot at the end of the day."

Neither team had a quality scoring chance as the final six minutes ticked down, leaving it as a tie game.

“We knew we had to play with more intensity,” LaPetina said. “We were kind of flat in the first half. We were getting opportunities but they weren’t as good as they could be. As a team we came right back at it. It wasn’t one or two people – it was the whole team. That’s what made the difference.”

Callipari was pleased as well with his team's second-half response, especially the speed in which the Tigers were able to tie the game.

"We had played very well throughout the entire second half where we had the majority of the play and created the majority of the chances," Callipari said.

"We finally got the ball played through the seam and (Dana) Miller made a terrific run on the inside and the touch to the back post that started the scramble."

The Warriors started the game without senior sweeper Christi Dithrich, who was nursing a slight leg injury.

The decision to keep her on the sideline came so late Dithrich's name was announced during the starting lineups.

But after going through some warm-up exercises while play went on, Dithrich entered the game in the 26th minute and played the remainder of the match.

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