Griffins break scoreless drought in loss to rival Knights

 

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By Bill Scheibe

"Hey, we scored a goal."

Walking the sideline nearest his bench, Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Papa smiled at his own words as sophomore forward Jessica Bicek threw her hands, and arms, excitedly in the air to celebrate the Griffins' snapping of a three-game scoreless drought – a span that actually seemed like forever.

On a through-ball assist from freshman forward Samantha Fiorella, Bicek converted to cut the deficit to 3-1 with 22:58 to play in the second half Tuesday night. At halftime, Papa switched the Griffins from a flat-in-back 4-4-2 to the much more offensive-minded 3-4-3, the result being aggressively obvious.

Viola. A goal.

"It has been a little bit frustrating, a little bit difficult, not being able to score," Bicek said after visiting East dropped a 5-1 decision to district rival Lincoln-Way Central at Jonas R. Lashmet Field in New Lenox. "So it felt pretty good, and I was really happy that we were able to double up our goals for the season."

Sometimes, the first step can be the biggest step. One goal became a leap for East (0-5-1), which had not found the back of the net since senior midfielder Erin Mangia, the North Central College recruit, scored on a direct kick during the second half at home against Downers Grove South.

For Central (2-3-3), junior midfielder Rachel Post picked up a natural hat trick by scoring three consecutive second-half goals. Sophomore forward Anna Yonkaitis and junior midfielder Nikki White also added goals for the Knights, who grabbed a 2-0 halftime lead and rarely looked back.

One sustained instance would be the opening 20 minutes of the second half. Even though Central gained a 3-0 lead on the first of Post's tallies at 25:46 to go, East came right back when Fiorella found Bicek and she powered a low, sharp shot underneath junior goalkeeper Becca Petrone (7 saves).

"I was really excited because it was our first goal in a long time," Fiorella said. "We were really frustrated in the first half, but after we scored in the second half, we wanted to get another one in and that's different. We tried something new in the second half and hopefully it will work from now on."

"We're trying," Papa said, remaining upbeat. "Their second goal with a minute left in the first half killed us. That took us right out of what we wanted to do and what we've been practicing. Now, you take something like (the 3-4-3) and throw it at them on the fly just trying to get them motivated, and …"

Well, it worked.

The trio of Bicek, Fiorella and senior Elise Bicek began as forwards, Mangia and senior Kelsey Kurey took over as attacking midfielders, juniors Abby Madden and Stacy Sons started as defensive midfielders, junior Rebecca Dobrich was the stopper and senior Cassidy Cassello was one of two sweepers.

Immediately, East created a pair of corner kicks and a direct kick, all taken by Mangia. Dobrich sent a header wide of the left post on a Mangia corner only 3:05 into the second half. After getting outshot by a 14-4 count in the first half, including a 10-2 margin in shots on goal, the Griffins were transformed.

"I think it's a lot better than what we did before because it gives us an opportunity to get the ball up and get it to people so we have opportunities to score," Mangia said. "When we scored, our momentum was higher, we got more into the game, and we wanted to score and to win. We definitely needed that."

Needing to change the pace, Central coach Dan Radz brought senior forward Kim Rietveld back into the midfield and teamed her inside with Post. And, eventually, Post scored on two assists from junior forward Caley Michalak and via another helper from sophomore midfielder Katie Bartuch.

"We told the girls at halftime about how you can't let a team like this come back," Radz said. "Sure enough, they get a corner and it's a mess. We wanted to build in the midfield instead of letting them go long and direct and we did force them to play more defense, but that took at least 10-15 minutes."

"We were trying to get balls behind the defense in the first half, but we were afraid to make mistakes," Papa said. "If you don't shoot the ball, you're never going to score. Hopefully, this will break the ice, and it's a baptism by fire for this group. Until we mature, we'll keep going through it and fight to the end."

The battle on the scoreboard was, for the most part, over with 27:54 left in the first half when Elise Bicek tried to clear a header by Yonkaitis off the goal line – the ball ricocheting off the crossbar and rolling into the net. Junior midfielder Somer Druszkowski's corner service set up the sequence.

With exactly one minute to go until halftime, the goal that Papa called the killer came as White followed up a shot that senior stopper Katie Sieloff launched off the crossbar. White's beautiful header barely eluded the diving fingertips of senior goalkeeper Emily Boyich, who made all eight of her saves in the first half.

"We were getting a little frustrated in the first half because none of our shots were going in," Post said. "But we kept playing and going at it in the second half and we were able to put a couple of them in."

Three to be exact, each of them by Post. She responded to Bicek's blast by netting the rebound of a breakaway shot by Michalak that junior goalkeeper Cristal Kurkowski (3 saves), who replaced Boyich early in the second half, appeared to have smothered. Post also buried a shot under the crossbar.

"I think that might have been the first hat trick of my high school career," Post said. "Caley Michalak was working real hard up top, getting some shots off, and I was just able to clean it up in the box for her."

After going to the 3-4-3, East competed in the box as well. As Jessica Bicek noted, "it helps to have an extra player up there." Ultimately, the final score will be forgotten by the Griffins, who will cling to the forward progress proclaimed by Papa after Bicek's shot spun like a top off the back of the netting.

Hey, they scored a goal.

"I think that's a big confidence booster for the team and for Jessica who scored," Mangia said. "We'll continue to do that if we make those same passes. That has been our biggest issue right now – connecting those long passes with our runs. Now that it happened we’ll continue to do it more."