Griffins settle for scoreless draw with Mother McAuley

 

 

By Curt Herron

While Lincoln-Way East didn't generate a whole lot of scoring opportunities on Wednesday, it also didn't allow very many chances.

That proved to be good news for the Griffins when they met up with Mother McAuley in an opening-round match in the Stagg Invite.

Two days after seeing its second scheduled date in the round robin event cancelled by bad weather, East finally got to compete in Palos Hills.

But Brian Papa's squad wasn't able to follow up on recent offensive successes as they struggled to make things happen against the Mighty Macs.

Although McAuley had some good chances in the opening half and East had its share of opportunities after the break, neither could connect.

As a result, the Griffins were blanked for the second time this season but also posted their second straight shutout thanks to a 0-0 draw.

That result didn't come easily for East (1-3-1), however, since its defensive unit was in a state of flux throughout the entire match.

Just seven minutes in, Tracy Brinkman exited due to an injury and was replaced by Amy Bauer, who remained in for the rest of the half.

And then just past the midpoint of the final half, Lindsey Murphy got hurt and missed the next quarter hour as Bauer returned to the field.

Meanwhile, Jessica Bicek and Kelsey Elam worked well with whatever combinations were along the backline to slow down potential threats.

McAuley had its share of those, especially as the opening half wound down and then again as it made a push prior to the final whistle.

So while the Griffin boss wasn't thrilled by the lackluster offense, he liked what he saw from his defense and keeper Katie Kazmierczak.

"We got a result by getting a zero and keeping them off of the scoreboard," Papa said. "We had some opportunities and they had a lot of opportunities and they squandered them and we were able to survive. I thought that our defense played pretty well again.

"Our problem came when we were passing the ball. I don't know if that's because it was cold but we really struggled. We refused to put the ball behind the defense and when you do that, they're going to go back down your throat and that's what happened in the first half.

"I thought that we did some pretty good things in the second half but we just never could pull the trigger. and then at the end, we had some breakdowns because of injuries and they came at us real hard. Jessica was our only healthy defender and she's got an ankle brace.

"In the long run I guess that I should be happy because the girls are battling. We don't have numbers but there's not one person out here who isn't trying and no one is complaining. We have more practice to do and hopefully we'll get it together."

Most of the limited Griffin offensive threats came at the start and end of the match, with the vast majority coming as time ran down.

Just before the midway mark of the final half, Kazmierczak made a nice stop on a Mac threat on a counterattack of a long Elam free kick.

Shortly after Murphy's injury, Bona Shin found McKenna Fuggett on the wing and she got off a good attempt, but her effort was thwarted.

Following a shot try by Jill Kilrea that was halted with a quarter of an hour left, Elam deflected a threatening try by the Mighty Macs.

In the final 10 minutes, Kilrea sent a pass to Shin, whose liner was stopped. McAuley had two more chances but those attempts went wide.

As bodies fell by the wayside due to injury, Papa had few options available since he only had three reserves on the bench for the match.

"We spent a lot of time in practice at the beginning of the year on defensive shape and how to cover," Bicek said. "We don't really train any more than five people in the back so it's nice when we have people step up and go in and play with us back there.

"We have good ball movement in the middle of the field and have been getting chances up top. I think that we'll get everything together by the time the middle of the season comes around. We're all really close and we've played together for awhile, so that's nice."

In the first half's last quarter hour, a Mac corner kick was deflected by a Griffin defender and an effort off another corner was halted.

Not long after Kazmierczak hauled in a liner, McAuley nearly connected but a try hit the post and things remained scoreless at the break.

The Griffins have a pair of matches next week. They play at Bradley-Bourbonnais on Tuesday and face Peotone at Stagg the following day.