Short-handed Porters defeat Manteno to halt losing streak

 

 

By Curt Herron

Lockport entered Monday's nonleague match with Manteno needing a victory in order to give it some confidence heading into the final stretch of the season.

But that would prove to be easier said than done for the Porters, considering that they were short-handed due to injuries and the Panthers hadn't lost yet.

On a rainy afternoon in Lockport, last year's Class 1A runners-up indeed gave the Porters all that that they could handle throughout the 80 minutes of play.

After battling back from an early 2-0 deficit to force a tie, Manteno put itself in a position to claim a win over the Porters for the second-straight year.

But despite having no bench left by the end of the match, Lockport moved back in front and then held on for a 3-2 victory to snap a two-match losing streak.

The Porters (5-3-1) regained the lead in the 53rd minute following a sequence in which their top scorer, Lacey Clarida, got injured, resulting in a penalty.

So despite seeing another top player get hurt and having no reserves available in the late going, Porter coach Todd Elkei was happy about a positive result.

"We hadn't won in awhile and had some games where we thought that maybe we could have had a different result if a play or two went our way," Elkei said. "we're struggling and a lot of times it's not what the other team is doing but instead what we're not doing.

"We've given the ball away at times when we shouldn't, especially when we're unpressured. We're making some simple, technical mistakes and if we clear those up, I think we'll be alright. But then when you look at the bench and see no numbers, it's hurting us.

"This is my 16th year of coaching and I've never had a situation like this. This year it's just been one thing after another but eventually we're going to get some good news concerning our injuries."

With few cards to play due to his team's injury situation, Elkei went with a different look on Monday, one which the Porters were not yet familiar with.

"Our option today was to change the lineup a little bit and to go to a different formation," Elkei said. "We went with a 3-5-2 to try to get a little more creative play through our midfield and get some people running forward to create dangerous situations.

"We didn't have a practice on Sunday so we went over it for five minutes before the game started. We'd never played it before because it wasn't in our plans but now with all of the injuries, we kind of had to improvise. The girls are working hard but we just need some luck to go our way."

Despite the recent set of injury woes, the Porter coach is pleased with some of the many fine performances that he's been receiving throughout the lineup.

"Taylor Burek and Leah Plescia have been workhorses day in and day out for us," Elkei said. "Lacey has been our player finishing around the net, we moved Ally Brehm to left outside mid and she's starting to create some things and Frannie Vargas does a great job serving balls in on restarts."

Those players had a hand in the Porters' initial two scores on Monday, as the hosts grabbed a 2-0 advantage about a quarter of an hour into the match.

The first goal came on a corner kick from Frannie Vargas to Leah Plescia, who picked up an assist on the second tally, which was collected by Clarida.

Manteno (9-1-1) answered a few minutes later to cut the gap to just one goal and that's how things remained as the squads reached the intermission.

Lockport had the first chance in the final half, but Clarida's short attempt was halted. Not long after that, the Panthers managed to tie things up.

In the 46th minute, Emily Gaither got free following a defensive breakdown and put in a shot from close range to suddenly give the visitors new hope.

After Clarida was just wide on a header off of a Vargas corner kick, Jenny Meyer made a stop before Alexis Hernandez was denied on a short attempt.

The Porters moved in front for good on a play that didn't go over well with Manteno. Clarida went up for a header when she collided with the keeper.

A foul was called which resulted in the keeper receiving a red card and the Panthers losing a field player. Then Brynn Feeley converted the penalty.

Both teams had chances in the late going, but the last good try was broken up with less than two minutes left on a slide by Vargas to clear a ball.

"We've a lot of injuries this season and another one in today's game to our highest-scoring forward, but it was important that we stayed strong and kept playing like how we were," Taylor Burek said. "It was hard because of the weather conditions but I think we fought through it and adjusted.

"This game was really important to us since we had a tough loss to them last year. We were on a two-game losing streak so hopefully this win will turn things around for the rest of the week. We're all really good friends off of the field and that helps us to communicate better on the field."

The Porters hit the road for their other two matches this week. They play at Minooka on Wednesday and then travel to Joliet West the following day.