Lemont tops Hornets in a shootout

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By Bill Scheibe

After splitting the defense with a dribbling display reminiscent of the Harlem Globetrotters’ Fred “Curly” Neal in basketball, Hinsdale South’s Meagan McPherson stumbled like a train skidding off of its tracks.

In soccer, that type of foul tends to draw a free kick, and with 40 seconds left in the first half Friday night, senior midfielder/forward Jackie Belmonte stepped up and blasted a shot past the Lemont wall.

The ball pinged off the short-side left post to freshman forward Jessica Koziol, who buried the rebound into the right corner of the gaping, wide-open net at 12 seconds remaining for the 1-0 halftime lead.

“There are so many times you kick it over or kick it too far,” Koziol said of one-timing a shot into an empty net. “I was shocked and I was happy, but I also was a little bit surprised that it went right in.”

Surprise begat surprise.

Right when Koziol’s goal appeared to be a sure thing as far as being the game-winner, the host Indians netted the equalizer with 1:32 to play in the second half and then dominated the penalty-kick shootout by a 3-0 margin in posting a 2-1 victory over Hinsdale South in first-round action of the Lemont Cup.

Unmarked sophomore midfielder Wendy Mazur converted a cross from freshman forward Kim Jerantowski into the near-side left corner to force the 1-1 tie for Lemont (13-3). Junior midfielder Kelly Trojak, senior stopper Elise Cody and junior midfielder Shannon Briggs scored the shootout goals.

For Hinsdale South (8-8), Koziol had the goal and Belmonte the assist. McPherson, the Bethel-bound midfielder/forward, deserves credit for setting up the sequence. But after a pair of 35-minute halves without overtime, the bane to the Hornets’ existence ended up being freshman goalkeeper Kelly Fritz.

Eight saves in regulation were nothing compared to Fritz’s shootout heroics. She coaxed Belmonte to shoot wide left on the first attempt, caused senior midfielder Brittney Noble to sail her second-round shot over the crossbar and capped the PK effort with a dramatic, clinching kick save on McPherson.
Kudos, basically, to Fritz.

“I thought their keeper just did a great job,” McPherson said. “I think we tried really hard at our PKs, but she did a great job of coming out every time. She knew exactly what she was doing and she did it.”

“PKs stink,” Belmonte said. “We were winning the game the whole time, but we let down for the last two minutes and that’s ridiculous. Their keeper did a great job in PKs. She was bouncing around on the line, but I don’t think we should have brought it into PKs. We should have won it in regular time.”

Of course, that fact also bothered Lemont coach Rick Prangen, and his team actually won. The Indians were outshot 9-5 in the first half and played only even-steven in the second half, escaping the verdict when Jerantowski’s quick cross fortuitously found an all-alone Mazur on the other edge of the box.

“I was disappointed in the overall effort,” Prangen said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t think we played with any sense of urgency until the last 10-15 minutes of the second half. It was very frustrating to watch the first half because it wasn’t tactical or technical – just lack of work rate and concentration.”

On the flip side, the Hornets owned those categories in the first half. McPherson was constantly in the thick of things, setting up shots by Noble and freshman midfielder Maggie Nocisia. Only the stellar clearing plays of Lemont senior sweeper Amy Skowronski kept the score at 1-0 heading into halftime.

And, then, poof during the PKs.

“It’s a tough situation to be in,” Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf said. “I think for the majority of the game, we did some great things. We made some nice passes, we controlled the play, and when they got back in it the last two minutes, that gave them the excitement and it was really theirs for the taking.

“After they hit the first one in PKs, it gets hard. You have to respond right away, and we didn’t. Sometimes, when that first person doesn’t make it, there’s a downer, and give Lemont credit. They had great placement on their shots in the shootout and their keeper did a great job for them in goal.”

While sophomore goalkeeper Vanessa Niestrom would notch eight saves for Hinsdale South, the lone goal the Hornets did score was textbook, especially as Koziol beat the Indians’ defense to the loose ball.

“That was good,” Wolf said. “I liked that. It was a solid strike and I was hoping Jackie was going to put it in, but Jessica was smartly there. A lot of times, players just stand around on a free kick and they’re not ready for anything and something happens. Jessica was ready to play, ready to go, and that was good.”

“Oh my God, yeah, all the time,” Koziol said, when asked whether she has missed the empty net before. “We work hard on that in practice, and we should have won. We possessed the ball the whole game. We have to work on staying up the entire game because when we give up goals, we let down a little bit.”

Afterward, Prangen was more than a bit perturbed by the 1-0 deficit entering the final 92 seconds, mentioning how Lemont will play Waubonsie Valley and Hinsdale South will meet Lincoln-Way East in Saturday morning’s second round. And, as always, the postseason looms large at this time of the season.

You can’t, or shouldn’t, do that.

“It’s a horrible habit to fall into come state playoff time,” Prangen nodded. “If it’s a regional or sectional final and you wait until the last two minutes, you’re going home. But I do give our kids credit for finding something, coming back and carrying that over to the PKs. I just don’t like it when it gets to that point.”