Spangler pulls one out of the fire for the Lions

CLICK HERE FOR GAME PHOTOS

By Gary Larsen

Just when Lyons Township seemed doomed in its attempt to win its 14th game of the year, somebody cued up the theme music from an Indiana Jones movie and one of the Lions swooped in on her white horse to save the day.

“Hope came through for us,” LT senior Katie Nasenbenny said.

With less than two minutes remaining in a scoreless tie between the Lions and host Prospect, LT senior Hope Spangler sent a shot on net from 23 yards out that hung high in the air for what seemed like an eternity.

When the shot finally descended, it nicked the post near the crossbar and fell into the goal to give the Lions the win.

“I told (Nasenbenny) to lay it back to me. There was no way we could dribble through their defenders, so I just figured I’d hit it,” Spangler said. “I was just waiting for it to come down and I think we were all relieved, because we felt like we deserved to win the game.”

For almost 80 minutes, Prospect (12-7-2) and Lyons Township (14-4-1) locked horns in a friendly that saw the Lions’ possession game shine and the Knights’ defense shine just a little brighter.

As well as the Lions knocked it around the pitch, the Knights worked to make life difficult in every space on the field.

“They have some very talented players, so offensively they were able to create some great chances,” Prospect coach Tom Froats said. “They’re a great team, one of the best in the state. So if we can stay with them and create chances to win like we did today, that bodes well for the postseason.”

Lyons Township coach Bill Lanspeary was glad to see an exceptional possession game by his girls end in victory.

“At this point in the season, the last game before the playoffs, I was very happy with how we played,” Lanspeary said. “Especially coming off a rough game the other day. We knocked the ball around real well today, and our backs did a great job.”

“There were some times when it looked like we had players open and we missed some seams, or ended up hitting a defender instead of finding those seams. But (Prospect) also defended very well.”

The “rough” game to which Lanspeary referred was a 3-2 overtime loss to conference foe York on Tuesday.

The Lions had the conference title seemingly sewn up with a 2-0 lead late in the contest, but the Dukes knotted the score in the game’s final minutes before winning the game – and the West Suburban Conference Silver Division – in overtime.

While it naturally hurt to be less than 10 minutes away from a conference championship only to see it slip away, Tuesday’s loss to York paled in comparison to the positives that came out of Senior Day in LaGrange, where the Lions held Pink Out Day.

“It was definitely a frustrating game, but it was really a cool event. It was a bummer that we lost but we raised over $5,000,” Nasenbenny said. “We moved on, and we showed today that we’re still a good team and we can play with the best of them.”
The $5,000 will be donated to LT's Relay for Life and the Karen Dove Cabral Foundation, which helps working mothers with breast cancer.
“That loss stung for about a day but we got back to practice on Wednesday and had a little fun,” Lanspeary said. “The game itself was a tough loss, but what the kids did to help raise money – we really focused on that and the money that was raised for a good cause.”

On Saturday, the Lions tested Prospect keeper Megan McCabe from the outset with a bevy of shots from distance, off the feet of Spangler, Katie Nasenbenny, Kelsey Holbert and company.

Until Spangler’s winning goal, McCabe showed throughout that the Lions offense was in for a long day.

“(McCabe) did a great job and they had a couple nice defenders, too, that did a nice job of locking us down. They frustrated the heck out of Kelsey (Holbert). They had a player all over her and one right behind her,” Lanspeary said.

Prospect was mainly dangerous on the counterattack on Saturday, and Knights’ forward Susie Lello had Lanspeary concerned throughout. Lello sent the second of two good shots in the first half on Lions keeper Renata Butikas, who handled them both in helping the Lions to their 9th shutout in 19 games.

Lauren Grissim tested McCabe in the 55th minute, and Nasenbenny streaked in up the left side on the dribble but McCabe took the shot off her foot.

Lello fired on Butikas late in the contest, and Prospect’s Jessie Petrovski sent a follow-up shot just high of net, before Spangler finally made her side’s effort pay off.

“Yes, it was very frustrating,” Spangler said. “We controlled the game and had it in their half almost the entire time, aside from a few counters. It was definitely frustrating but (McCabe) had a real nice game. She’s very good.”

“I think they did a really good job defending. They’re fast and physical,” Nasenbenny said of Prospect. “But I thought we had a lot of good chances. We just didn’t finish them the way we need to be finishing.”

The Lions finished the regular season by scoring 45 goals and giving up 14 in 19 games. They’ll host a Class 3A sectional as its top seed, beginning with a regional opener at Argo on Wednesday, against the winner between No. 17 Juarez and No. 16 Proviso East.

CLICK HERE FOR LIONS' TEAM PAGE

CLICK HERE FOR LIONS' PHOTO PAGE