Warriors defeat hosts to claim Lemont Cup championship

 

 

By Steve Millar

Waubonsie Valley junior Kristen Dodson is having a blast with her teammates this season.

“Honestly, I think this is our best team since I’ve been here,” she said. “There’s never been much of a low. It’s been like a peak the whole way. I hope it can continue from here.”

Saturday brought another high point for the Warriors, who topped the hosts 3-1 in the championship match of the Lemont Cup.

It was the second win of the day for Waubonsie (15-3-1), who earlier defeated Sandburg 2-0 in a semifinal.

In the title match, Lemont (13-3-2) created some early offense and drew a pair of free kicks from striking distance in the opening minutes, but both were broken up by the Warriors’ defense.

Waubonsie turned it on and quickly put the match away, scoring three times in the opening 13 minutes.

Dodson got the Warriors on the board five minutes in on their second consecutive corner kick as she headed home Jori Romano’s cross.

“It’s been a while since I got a header for a goal,” Dodson said, smiling. “It felt good to finally get one. It was a great ball from (Romano).

“We just wanted to get as many goals as possible in the first half so we could get a lead and not have to press as much in the second half.”

Dodson went into distribution mode on the Warriors’ next two goals.

Two minutes later, Dodson sent a ball into the box where Kristen Brots went up for it.

Brots collided with Lemont goalie Kelly Fritz (9 saves) but was able to direct a header towards Tori Christiansen, who scored into the open net.

“We built that play up really well as a team,” Brots said. “I just contributed. I went up and got hit and luckily got a head on it. That was a great team play.”

Brots got in on the scoring as Dodson made a run down the left side of the field and slipped a pass to Brots in the middle of the box where she finished.

“(Dodson) really made the play,” Brots said. “She just laid the ball out there for me and I didn’t have to do much, just put it in.

“The whole team really came out ready to play and we got off to a great start.”

The Warriors nearly added to the first half outburst as Brots fired a laser off the crossbar with 6:55 left before the break and Fritz made a terrific diving save to deny Christiansen moments later.

Lemont coach Rick Prangen knew what to expect from the Warriors.

“They’re a very good team,” he said. “They’re technically strong, they have great pace, they have everything you want.

“The level of concentration we had to play with to be able to stay with them in the second half was off the charts. This match will definitely benefit us going forward.”

The Indians played a strong second half, but the damage was already done.

“We gave up two goals on crosses that we should have handled better, then on the third goal I think we had a bit of a pity party,” Prangen said.

“We got caught feeling sorry for ourselves. We talked to the girls about how if we keep it 2-0, it’s still a game. Then we get that goal and it’s 2-1.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the girls that were out there in the second half, though. I thought they worked their socks off for us.”

Lemont, which made the championship game for the first time in the 10-year history of the tournament, broke the shutout thanks to an own goal with 12:19 left in the second half as the Indians’ Kim Walsh struck a shot that was deflected in by a defender.

Waubonsie held on from there. For the Warriors, the win was more impressive considering four seniors were out of the lineup to attend Senior Prom.

“It always feels good to win and this was even better considering the whole team stepped up,” Brots said. “It shows that the whole team can come together and pull out a big win.

“I definitely think we’re peaking as a team. We really work well together and if we can keep working together, I think we can do really well in the playoffs.”

In the semifinal, Jenna Romano scored on a free kick from just outside the box with 6:51 left in the first half and Paige Filipek added a goal early in the second half in the 2-0 win over Sandburg.

Emma Rigby posted her second shutout of the tournament.

It was a big weekend for Filipek, a freshman. She also scored Friday in the team’s 4-0 quarterfinal win over Plainfield South. Dodson led the way in that one, with a goal and two assists.

The Warriors play at Elgin on Tuesday and in the UEC title match at St. Charles North on Wednesday before beginning the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the loaded Bolingbrook Sectional.

“I’m really excited,” Dodson said. “I want to see how far we can get and how well we can do.”