Warriors kick off postseason with victory over Rich East

 

 

By Curt Herron

Although the final score might indicate otherwise, Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss wasn't thrilled with his team's opener in the playoffs.

For the record, the Warriors coasted to a 9-2 victory over the hosts in Tuesday's Class 2A Rich East Regional semifinals in Park Forest.

West led 9-1 at the break so the match was reduced to 60 minutes, which was a positive on the first 90 degree day thus far this season.

Despite the easy triumph, Theiss wasn't pleased by how his team performed at the beginning of the match against the Rockets.

While that type of start was more than adequate on this day, the Warrior coach realizes that a similar effort could prove costly later.

With the win, West (14-6-2) advances to Friday's 4 p.m. championship against either Crete-Monee or Marian Catholic, who meet today.

The Warriors, who are second-seeded to Lemont in their own sectional, have high hopes as the kick off postseason play.

They hope to go well behind last year's playoff effort, when they fell in four overtimes to Providence Catholic in the sectional semis.

Natalie Tannura, Emily Wyskiel and Cori Brennan each had two goals in Tuesday's win, which marked a season-best total for scoring.

Brittany Walleck, Hope Rackelin and Jenna Serrano also connected for the Warriors, who won for the fifth time in their last six matches.

"You hope that with a group of seniors that have started on the varsity for four years that there's a little bit more of a sense of urgency after getting off of the bus to get organized and ready to go," Theiss said. "I think that we need to improve on that.

"But we're not going to dwell on it, either. If we can learn from it, then I'm glad that it happened. We got through today and have to get used to playing on a different surface. But we can't make excuses. We have to come out a little hungrier on Friday.

"The girls are athletes who have been in the game a long time so they understand what they're capable of doing. We did some very good things but at the same time there were some breakdowns and if those happen in a different situation, that can be your season."

One of the big positives that came out of the match for the Warriors was that Theiss was able to let everyone see some playing time.

And that was beneficial since players from both sides hadn't experienced weather like this during what has been a very cool spring.

"It was nice to see the JV kids get some good opportunities since they've been working hard all year long," Theiss said. "We told them as we started the postseason that their goal now was to get the top 11 ready by providing a solid training environment.

"But it's great to see a situation like this where they get the reward as well and I thought that they did some very good things. They were composed on the ball and were targeting feet. It's good for them to see the next level to prepare for the future.

"Credit to Rich East, which played hard until the last minute and did a good job of preparing this field. We're not looking past anybody. Our goal right now is taking it one at a time and getting this one on Friday, since the seniors want to play again at home."

The Warriors took a 2-0 lead after the initial five minutes and were up 5-0 by the time that the match reached the quarter hour mark.

Walleck scored the initial goal, off of an assist from Brennan, while Rackelin connected following a pass from Katie Brncich.

Brennan scored off of a Rackelin assist before Tannura got the next two goals, with Wyskiel and Brennan helping out.

Rich East got a score from Kasey Boyd a short time later but the Warriors responded with a Wyskiel goal, off of a Serrano assist.

Following the half's midpoint, Wyskiel connected again, this time thanks to a pass from Walleck, to give West a 7-1 lead.

Shortly after Brennan converted a penalty, Serrano worked her way past defenders to collect her team's ninth goal of the day.

Boyd picked up her second goal of the afternoon early in the final half, in what proved to the last score recorded by either side.

Although it didn't connect again, West received threatening attempts from Brittany Stover, Kaitlyn Souder and Hailey Souder.

The Warriors own a 4-0 victory over Crete-Monee from their own tournament. They have not met up with Marian Catholic this season.