Trevians use fast start to beat Scouts in Pepsi Showdown

 

 

By Eric Van Dril

Maddie Mulford began Tuesday night's game against Lake Forest in a sprinter's stance, and the New Trier junior began sprinting forward one second before the referee blew his whistle to start of the game.

As Mulford blazed down the left flank, midfielder Tricia Lybrook received the ball near midfield and immediately launched a long pass toward the all-conference forward.

Mulford, one of the state's fastest players, received the ball after it skipped over the outstretched leg of a Lake Forest defender and, less than 10 seconds into the game, she was in on goal.

The junior forward dribbled quickly toward senior goalkeeper Liz Clark and struck a left-footed shot which hit the crossbar and crossed the goal line. Just 12 seconds had passed and New Trier had already scored a vital first goal.

Twenty-two seconds later, New Trier's high-powered offense struck again. Junior Sarah Connors beat Clark with a header on a long free kick struck by sophomore defender Jackie Welch.

Although Lake Forest outplayed New Trier for the majority of the first half, the Trevians coasted to a 4-0 victory in Northfield to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pepsi Showdown.

“I thought we warmed up pretty well, but obviously not,” Lake Forest senior defender Dani Loeger said. “I know the first five minutes are always the most important, and they came out with more intensity than we did. The first two goals in the game kind of shifted the whole momentum and gave it to them. And so we kind of had to fight back from there.”

Although the final scoreline would suggest a lopsided game, Lake Forest (2-1-2) rebounded from the initial shock of conceding two goals – the Scouts had only conceded one goal in their first four games of the season – and outplayed New Trier (7-0-1) for long stretches of the first half.

Defensively, Loeger tried to pick up sophomore defenders Kendall Hoke and Bailey Ehrens and keep the team's three-person defensive unit organized against a New Trier team which has scored 26 goals in its first eight games.

“We usually play four in the back, but we played three in the back this time,” Loeger said. “It was different playing in the beginning, so I kind of had to talk to (Hoke and Ehrens) and be like, 'We have to mark up, we have to stay on them. We can't let them turn.' We kind of had to talk more during the game and stay compact, and try to shut them down.”

Lake Forest's midfield controlled the game following Connors' goal. It held the majority of possession and continually tested New Trier freshman Dani Kaufman in net with long, wind-aided shots.

Kaufman was up to the challenge, although junior Lucy Edwards nearly scored with 29:27 remaining in the first half and Brooke Green nearly cut Lake New Trier's lead to 3-1, 12 seconds before halftime.

Edwards struck a long shot from Lake Forest's left side of the field, and it seemed to pick up speed after skipping off of the turf. Edwards' strike beat Kaufman, but missed the far post by inches.

New Trier sophomore Maggie Armstrong scored with 1:52 remaining in the first half – Mulford once again broke down the left side of the field and then assisted on Armstrong's goal – and Green nearly answered.

The sophomore forward struck a near-perfect header toward the goal, forcing Kaufman to jump to try to make the save. Kaufman couldn't reach the ball, but New Trier's 3-0 lead was kept intact when Green's header hit the cross bar.

“I try to encourage the team to keep fighting, and we definitely didn't give up after they scored their two goals,” Loeger said. “I thought we did very good in the midfield; we won a lot of head balls and we kept it compact in there. I thought the midfield did really good.”

New Trier coach Jim Burnside said he was impressed with the way Lake Forest responded after conceding two goals in the match's first 34 seconds.

“It's hard to do that,” Burnside said. “Any type of team, that's hard to do. But they did a great job. They kept pressuring us. I told the girls, 'They're not going to lay down.' It's a tribute to them and their coaching staff that they kept going.”

The way Lake Forest kept fighting in the first half was the primary positive Loeger and Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager took away from Tuesday's lopsided loss to New Trier.

The Scouts' midfield – including sophomore Carly Hoke, freshman Adrian Walker, freshman Paige Bourne, Edwards, freshman Sheridan Bufe and junior Sydney Johnston – were all important in doing that.

“This was the first game against someone big and physical, fast and good,” Stuckslager said. “And so it was a bit eye opening for some of the girls... Being young, hopefully we'll learn from it. Because if we don't, we're just knocking our heads against the wall.”

Lake Forest controlled possession in the first half and out shot New Trier 11-4, but couldn't rebound from Armstrong's goal near halftime.

The Trevians, with the wind at their backs, controlled the second half and out shot Lake Forest, 8-0. New Trier senior Jenny Egerter scored the game's fourth goal with 5:07 remaining, driving home a major point of emphasis for both teams.

Both Burnside and Stuckslager routinely stress the importance of scoring – and preventing – what Burnside calls “Big Five” goals, which are goals scored in the first five minutes and the last five minutes of each half.

“It's frustrating to dig yourself a hole like that,” Stuckslager said. “One of the things we talked about is we made a point about the first five minutes and the last five minutes of every half; they scored four goals and (nearly) all of them were in the first five minutes or the last five minutes. Hopefully it will be a lesson to them, that they have to come out ready to play, especially against a team as good as New Trier. But it's tough (to concede), especially 12 seconds in."

Conceding the first goal will always be difficult for Lake Forest, largely because it's not a high-powered offensive team. The Scouts have scored just three times through their first five games, and both of their wins were 1-0 victories.

“I think if we would have come out and scored the first goal, it would have been a completely different game,” Loeger said. “But with them scoring the first two goals, it kind of set us back and I felt like we rebounded from there. We just unfortunately couldn't get one in.”

Both New Trier and Lake Forest will play Pepsi Showdown games on Thursday. New Trier will travel to Metea Valley and play the Mustangs at 5:30 p.m. The Scouts will host Hersey at 4:30 p.m.