Warriors strike quickly, post shutout victory over Titans

 

 

By Curt Herron

As Lincoln-Way West's players walked off of their home field on Tuesday, there wasn't any extra emotion.

Although it was the team's last home match of the regular season, they expect to be back playing there soon.

Of course, to do that requires that the Warriors to capture a second-straight Class 2A regional championship.

But with tonight's match at Lincoln-Way North being the last test before the playoffs, the squad feels confident.

West won its fourth in a row, including its third straight shutout, as it blanked Tinley Park 3-0 in New Lenox.

The Warriors, who improved to 13-5-2, hope to not only get back to a sectional but to play two games in it.

Last year, West fell in four overtimes to Providence Catholic in the semifinals of its first visit to sectional competition.

This time, the expectations are higher as coach Jeff Theiss' squad is second seed to Lemont at its own sectional.

"We can't look past anybody and we have a huge game with North, which is where our minds need to be at now so that we make sure that we utilize that game in order to get better," Theiss said.

"We play in the regional at Rich East, which is a different surface than what we're used to playing on, and we're not taking any of the teams there lightly. It's going to be a tough test, but I think the girls are up to it.

"They've been so hungry since walking off of the field against Providence last year. This is what they've been looking forward to and I'm confident that they're going to get the results that they're looking for."

The Warrior coach was upbeat after his squad scored an early goal and built a 3-0 halftime lead over the Titans.

"We knew that Tinley Park has definitely changed things around this year and they're a different team that's had some nice results recently," Theiss said. "So we knew that they would give us trouble in certain aspects of the game.

"We thought that it was critical to dictate the pace early and impose our will. Luckily, we earned a corner and Meghann Lange sent a great ball in and Emily finished it which took the weight off our shoulders and allowed us to just start playing.

"Our possession today was excellent and girls were very composed on the ball which allowed us to dictate the pace and that set the tone. The composure of taking the touch and allowing the run to occur started creating the seams."

The Warriors moved in front in the fourth minute when Meghann Lange sent a corner kick to Emily Wyskiel, who scored.

West made it 2-0 in the 28th minute when Brittany Walleck found Cori Brennan, who put an attempt into an open net.

Then in the 33rd minute, Natalie Tannura dribbled past defenders before putting in a short try for the third goal.

"We possessed really well tonight," Kendall Watson said. "When our heads are in it, we are hard to beat. We're going in a really good way and we're going to push as far as we can and hopefully get to the super-sectional and state.

"We said on the field that this wasn't our last home game, it's just a regular season game. We're not going to look past any teams, but we want to be back here and play again on this field.

"We're so close and we know each other so well and just work well together. One very important thing for us will be staying healthy. The other thing will be to stick together and to keep fighting for our goal."

The Titans sent a few long-range tries toward Kayla Lojas, but she stopped them all to post the team's 11th shutout.

In the final half, West had several good opportunities but were unable to put any more goals on the scoreboard.

Shortly after the break, Kara Winans and Brennan were denied on liners and then Brennan was just wide on two tries.

Tinley Park had a great chance shortly before the half's midpoint but nice efforts kept the ball out of the net.

After Lojas deflected away a long free kick, Tannura made a clear on the subsequent corner kick to end the threat.

West had a good chance in the late going but Winans was thwarted on a header, following a free kick from Wyskiel.

"They were a good opponent but we came out really strong and possessed well and finished it early," Katie Brncich said. "We were finding feet very well today. This was probably games that we've played so far.

"Even when we hit our lowest points this season, we came together and fixed our problems and pushed through it and never gave up. We're going to have to try to stay healthy and remain mentally strong, too.

"We want to make it as far as we can since we feel like this is our year."