Porters fall to Glenbrook North in Pepsi Showdown

 

 

By Curt Herron

Todd Elkei couldn't have asked for a much better start to Tuesday's Pepsi Showdown second-round match with Glenbrook North.

But the Lockport coach definitely didn't like much of what he saw after those opening minutes of play against the Spartans.

Glenbrook North overcame an early 1-0 deficit by tying things at the break and adding two more scores during the final half.

As the result of its 3-1 victory in Lockport, North advances to Thursday's quarterfinals, where it entertains Buffalo Grove.

"Even in the warmup, it seemed like the attitudes weren't there and that mentally we weren't ready to play," Elkei said. "Then we scored one and thought that we'd be okay but once they got their first goal, all of the heads went down and we started feeling sorry for ourselves.

"We stopped working and lost control of the game and we had a hard time defensively checking with their forwards and that's how they got two of their three goals. This is probably one of the two times in my three years here where the girls just didn't seem to have that fight.

"They seemed to win every 50-50 ball and we didn't give the extra effort that we need to do to win. I don't know if people were waiting around for others or it was because one of their good friends is out, but we were giving the ball away, and when we do that, we're in trouble."

Senior midfielder Jessica Liutkus, who had worked her way back from a knee injury, got hurt in an accident over the weekend.

"She worked her tail off to come back," Elkei said. "She made a huge difference for us on Saturday. She's just an emotional leader and the kids see how hard she works. So we have to adapt and start playing for her since she'd give anything that she could to be out here."

With the recent loss of sophomore Taylor Stortz due to injury, the Porters (4-2-1) have to reshuffle things in the midfield.

That was apparent against the Spartans (4-1-2), who controlled possession, which allowed them to generate many good chances.

"The girls responded very well after we went down 1-0," North coach Craig Loch said. "Early in the first half we had chances but just didn't finish them. But we took advantage of our chances as the game went on and made ourselves extremely dangerous.

"We had a lot of talk and moving off of the ball today. Quickly moving the ball and not holding on to it made our forwards very dangerous. This is a high point for us so we're going to keep working hard in order to keep improving.

"It's good to be in a tournament like this so that we can see what type of a team we are. We're playing against some very good teams so it's a test to see how skilled and how much fight and energy that we have as a team this year."

The Porters struck in the sixth minute when Leah Plescia fired in a liner that keeper Jen Liberman deflected but Mary Licata put in the short rebound.

Shortly after that, Lacey Clarida sent a cross to Ally Brehm, who sent a header toward the net that was cleared by a defender.

A few minutes later, Plescia was stopped on a short try and then Taylor Burek sent in a long free kick that was also halted.

North started to make things happen prior to the half's midpoint, beginning with a liner from Montana Paley that was denied.

Then Alyssa DeYoung came out of the net to thwart a short attempt by Maggie Doar, who had a subsequent header deflected away.

Not long after Doar was stopped again, Paley got past defenders put a shot into an open net to tie things in the 27th minute.

As the first half wound down, Liberman halted two efforts from Clarida, which came before and after a long shot from Plescia.

The Spartans went on the attack quickly in the final half, starting with a short try by Maggie Washelesky that was punched away by DeYoung.

North moved ahead for good when Washelesky was tripped up in the box in the 50th minute and Rachel Hirshman converted the subsequent penalty.

Lockport tried to regain some momentum but all it could muster was a wide shot from Alexis Hernandez and a short try from Clarida.

Not long after Allie Herriott was wide on a short shot and Washelesky was stopped on another, North ended things with another goal.

In the 69th minute, Washelesky got free to create a 1 v 1 opportunity, which she made the most of thanks to a well-placed attempt.

The Porters close out play in the tournament with a match at Oswego on Thursday followed by another in Schaumburg two days later.