Junior Juliet Lusson and senior Lauren Moberg don’t generate a lot of headlines, but that’s okay with them – they’re busy helping manufacture victories for Lyons Township.

The two have been doing an outstanding job of that this spring, and on Tuesday the pair played a starring role in the Lions’ 3-0 West Suburban Conference Silver Division victory over host Downers Grove North.

Lusson scored the game-winning goal, her first tally of the year, while Moberg dished out two assists, one of them to Lusson. Abbie Pasquinelli also scored her first goal of the season for LT, which improved its record to 7-1-1 overall and 2-0 in league play.

“It feels good,” Lusson said of finding the back of the net. “I like passing, I like getting the assists, so it’s always nice to get something that’s a little out of the ordinary and I think some of our other players like Abbie Pasquinelli, she was just ready for that first goal, so she was just really happy that she got it. It was just a fun game to get it in.”

Lusson was a key reserve for the Lions’ sectional championship squad a year ago and has moved into a starting role in the midfield, replacing Katie Nasenbenny, who now plays at Iowa. Moberg, a veteran forward who is tough to knock off the ball, lacks the flashiness of stars like teammate Kelsey Holbert but provides crucial ball-control and passing skills.

“She does [the grunt work],” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said of Moberg. “She holds the ball well for us. She’s a nice target forward that possesses the ball, lays it off nicely. She’s the set-up player.”

Moberg leads the team with five assists. She set up Lusson’s score in the third minute against Downers North and four minutes later took a cross from Sarah Michaels in front and tapped it on to Kristina Fiflis, who finished to give the Lions a 2-0 lead. It was Fiflis’ second goal of the year and second in three games.

“[Moberg] has the physical and tactical presence that’s really good,” Lusson said. “She has a great first touch and I think we’re really lucky to have that balance where we have some of the fast, quick forwards like Emily Lange, but…Moberg, she’s just one of those critical players where we need her touch, we need her for possession. Her insight into the game in general is just really good.”

So is her attitude.

“If I work hard and do what I have to do and we win, who cares who scores just as long as we win,” Moberg said.

The Lions made sure they would win by jumping on the Trojans (1-6, 0-1) early and often. Pasquinelli scored off a pass from the midfield by Holbert in the 14th minute to complete the scoring, but LT dominated throughout. That pleased Lanspeary, who was worried his club would be looking ahead to Thursday’s Pepsi Showdown quarterfinal at unbeaten New Trier.

“It was kind of a trap game,” Lanspeary noted. “We could easily have been looking ahead to New Trier, and we’ve got a chance to win the conference this year and we can’t afford a slip-up. It was big to come out and get three early and then kind of hold down the fort in the back.”

Lusson agreed.

"Obviously being part of the Pepsi Showdown, we’re focused on that but we can’t look past this at all,” she said. “Winning conference is one of our goals and so we always have to keep telling ourselves this came first. This is Tuesday, Pepsi Showdown is Thursday, so this is one thing that we had to get done.”

Though the Trojans, who have eight freshmen on their 20-player roster and are without senior goalie Maddie Fitzpatrick [broken hand], are struggling, they did present one challenge to the Lions. Downers North likes to use an offsides trap, which can disrupt the flow of the game. A speedy forward and a couple of good distributors in the midfield can defeat the strategy, but it takes some getting used to.

“Our game is more of a possession-style game and I think we connect well when we play possession, so [the trap] kind of throws off our style of play, which you could kind of see a little bit,” Moberg said. “As much as you know they play that, it’s always hard to have that in the back of your mind that, okay, you’ve got to watch offsides. You can’t always plan everything and make sure that you’re not going to get an offsides. It’s going to happen.”

But not often enough to stop the inevitable. The Trojans never threatened the Lions, who recorded their seventh shutout as goalie Maggie Orlowski made two saves.

“It’s still a nice opportunity to try and get to practice because we don’t know who we’re going to run up against later in the season, whether it be in the Pepsi Showdown or in the playoffs,” Lusson said. “It’s always good to play against teams that have different styles and in a game like this where we’re able to practice on that, it gives us another opportunity.”