Porters start slow at Lincoln-Way North, suffer first defeat

 

 

By Curt Herron

During the course of a season there are going to be several matches which take place where valuable things are learned.

But some of those lessons come at a cost, which was the case for Lockport on Monday when it played at Lincoln-Way North.

The Porters found out the hard way what they already should have realized in their nonconference match with the Phoenix.

If you don't come ready to play against a quality opponent, it's a good bet that you're going to wind up with a defeat.

That's what happened to Lockport, who was off of its game from the outset and paid for it with a 2-0 halftime deficit.

Although the Porters competed better following the break, they could only manage a late goal and fell 2-1 in Frankfort.

After earning a draw in their opener before claiming wins in their next two matches, it was Lockport's initial setback.

While Porter coach Todd Elkei can live with a hard-fought loss, he doesn't like defeats caused by a lackluster effort.

"Before the game even starter the girls were flat and didn't seem to be interested," Elkei said. "If we play hard and play aggressively and you lose, that's one thing. But in the first half we were tentative and getting beat to balls.

"We're looking for that leader on the field and we're looking for some leadership to step up and right now we don't have that. We're kind of just going through the motions and waiting for someone else to do it and that's frustrating.

"The first goal that they played was beautiful and that's how we're trying to get our forwards to play. One forward checks and flicks it on and the other forward is already moving behind them. We're doing everything one pass at a time.

"In the second half we moved Taylor Burek out of the back and put her up front and she was flying around out there. She gave a nice ball to Lacey Clarida and she finished but unfortunately it was just a case of too little too late."

After putting only one good try on goal during the initial 40 minutes, the Porters had more chances after the break.

But those opportunities mostly resulted in frustration as North (5-0-2) did a good job of defending its 2-0 advantage.

The final 10 minutes saw the Porters on the attack, beginning with a Frannie Vargas corner kick that was deflected.

With under five minutes left, Lockport got more bad news as Taylor Stortz got hurt and was carried off of the field.

That injury didn't distract the visitors, however, who continued to push to get a goal as time started to tick away.

Ally Brehm had a short shot deflected away with just over two minutes left to set up a corner kick for the Porters.

Following a corner kick from Vargas, Brynn Feeley nearly connected but her line drive deflected off of the crossbar.

Then with just 31 seconds remaining, Taylor Burek found Lacey Clarida, who put in a close-range attempt for a goal.

But the Phoenix were able to run off the remaining time to remain unbeaten during the early portion of the season.

That's come as a nice surprise to coach Mike Murphy, whose squad lost great talent from last year's fine campaign.

"The girls have far exceeded my expectations," Murphy said. "I knew we were going to have a good group since our seniors are dedicated. But we lost a lot of talent last year and I didn't know who was going to score for us this year.

"We've had different people step up in every single game. Amber Huppert and Rachel Pappas put beautiful ones in and we were up 2-0 at halftime against a good Lockport program. The girls are coming together and starting to believe."

North was on the attack from the outset as Amber Huppert's short try and Grace Sheetz's rebound were both deflected.

A subsequent corner kick from Huppert was headed away by Jenny Meyer as the Porters attempted to keep North at bay.

Not long after seeing a shot thwarted by Alyssa DeYoung, Rachel Pappas connected in the 12th minute for the winner.

Pappas nearly made it 2-0 in the 27th minute but DeYoung was able to punch her line drive over the top of the net.

The lone Porter threat of the first half came a short time later as Clarida's free kick beyond the box was denied.

North added to its advantage in the 36th minute when Huppert fired in a liner that just sailed inside of the post.

A limited number of chances went back and forth between the sides during the initial 20 minutes of the final half.

After DeYoung stopped a try by Unique Manns, Maura Alroth returned the favor on an attempt from Alexis Hernandez.

Then shortly before the midpoint, Vargas sent in a long try that was halted and DeYoung thwarted a Pappas attempt.

The Porters host Bradley-Bourbonnais on Wednesday and then meet Saint Ignatius on Saturday in the Pepsi Showdown.

Lockport drew the sixth seed in the 32-team competition, which has first-round play at Schaumburg's Olympic Park.