Lyons senior Elise Gordon has been battling a sore right hamstring for much of the spring.

LT coach Bill Lanspeary had his star defender sit out a couple of early games and then gradually increased her playing time as a precaution, so Gordon only began playing full matches this week.

So it was a bit ironic, as well as a great sign of her health, that Gordon used that same leg to blast the decisive penalty kick that clinched the Lions’ 1-0 shootout victory over Glenbrook South in the Pepsi Showdown semifinals Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

“It’s good to get back into it and it’s feeling really good,” Gordon said.

The Lions (9-1-1) were feeling good after Gordon sent her penalty kick into the upper right corner of the Titans’ net to win the shootout 4-2. The victory lifted them into the championship game for the first time in the four-year history of the prestigious event, which is billed as the largest regular-season high school girls soccer tournament in the nation.

LT will take on Loyola, which edged Lake Forest 1-0 in the other semifinal, in the title match at 5:15 p.m. Sunday at Toyota Park, following the Chicago Fire-Los Angeles Galaxy contest.

"I tried not to think about it too much,” Gordon said of her penalty kick. “I just kind of wanted to get up there and just put it away. I’ve been practicing taking PKs and it definitely paid off. The team played so well so it’s great to get that win.”

In Glenbrook South (6-4), the Lions defeated a team that has now shut out its last six opponents and has not given up a goal during the run of play in 566 minutes.

“They’re a tough team and all their players played very hard,” Gordon noted. “It was a great game.”

Certainly it was a great day for the defenses, who flourished in the cold, windy and wet conditions. Lyons goalie Maggie Orlowski shined the brightest, making two saves in regulation and two more during the 20 minutes of sudden death overtime to get her team into the shootout.

The Titans went first in the shootout and their first shot hit the left post, giving the Lions an early advantage they never relinquished. LT made all four of its attempts, with Mackie Furlong giving her side the lead and Kelsey Holbert and Juliet Lusson following suit.

Glenbrook South converted its second and third attempts, but Orlowski saved the fourth try, setting up Gordon’s game-winner.

he Titans’ Kathryn Ficho, perhaps thinking Orlowski would dive to either side, fired the ball right down the middle, but Orlowski stayed put and grabbed it.

“I was glad I got it in front of me and kept it in front of me,” Orlowski said. “[On penalty kicks] I’ve just got to follow the ball and I did my best.”

That wasn’t easy to do considering the weather, which added extra stress to an already pressure-packed situation for the goalies.

“The rain is hard, the ball is slippery, the wind was atrocious, but we played through it and we got through it,” Orlowski said. “You’ve just got to stay mentally tough, stay in it and do your best.”

The Lions’ back line, led by Gordon, sophomore Ari Kowalski, senior Emma Meyering and junior Sarah Mazur, has been outstanding this spring, especially lately. LT has won its last five matches by shutout and has nine clean sheets overall.

The fifth-seeded Lions have yet to allow a goal in the single-elimination tournament and blanked previously unbeaten and top-seeded New Trier 2-0 on the road in Thursday’s quarterfinals. They will be a slight underdog against No. 3 seed Loyola (10-0-2), which has previous Toyota Park experience, having beaten St. Ignatius there in the 2009 championship game, but that’s okay with Gordon.

“I think we were a little underrated coming into this season,” Gordon said. “We lost some great players [from] last year. That was what a lot of people were worried about but the younger players have been stepping up and I think we just work really well as a team. We work hard and it’s been a really fun season so far.”

Loyola boasts one of the top goalies in the state in senior Carly Stevens, who has 10 shutouts. But LT has one of the most dynamic attacking players in Holbert, who tallied a goal and an assist against New Trier and nearly beat Glenbrook South at the end of regulation when her 25-yard free kick got through the Titans’ wall but was saved by goalie Kelsey Byers, who dove to her left to make the stop as time expired.

“This next step is a big one for us,” Orlowski said. “Our eyes have been on that prize since the beginning of the year and we’re just so excited to be there.”