Defense shines as Warriors blank Tigers for first shutout

 

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By Curt Herron

Jeff Theiss definitely believes that his Lincoln-Way West squad will have success finding the net this season.

But the key to how successful the Warriors will be could ultimately be based on how well they stop other teams from scoring.

That's why the performance of the defense in Monday's nonconference home match with Joliet West proved to be very rewarding.

Even though the Warriors switched up their usual defensive alignment, they got the result that each teams seeks, a shutout.

And that's good since Theiss's squad had few offensive chances but made one of the count to claim a 1-0 win in New Lenox.

Kara Winans put in a loose ball from in front of the net following a free kick rom Kylie Hermanson in the 25th minute.

After that, it was up the the Warriors defense to stop the Tigers in order for the hosts to record their first shutout.

A shift to a sweeper-stopper alignment on defense paid off with Lea Gindville holding down that position on the new defense.

Ashley Sichak, Colleen Kinsella, Kendall Watson and Hermanson provided additional defensive support for keeper Kayla Lojas.

West also blanked Bloom Township during the last 54 minutes of its last match, providing its coach with plenty of optimism.

As a result, the Warriors improved to 2-3 heading into Saturday's SouthWest Suburban Conference opener at Bradley-Bourbonnais.

"We gave up 20 goals during the first three and a half games that we played," Theiss said. "During the second half against Bloom we put a zero on the board and today we did the same today, and that's what we've been working toward.

"This was the first game where we've played a sweeper-stopper system after playing a flat-four for the past year," Theiss said. "Lea did an excellent job of giving depth and communicating with her backs.

"Kylie and Kendall did a phenomenal job of shutting their forwards down in the first half and Kalin Winans did a great job of shutting down Morgan Graves in the middle of the field, so we definitely worked both sides of the ball."

The Warriors weathered a real storm during their first three matches, when missing players resulted into some rough outcomes.

But now that West has most of its key people back, it hopes that efforts like this will be the rule rather than the exception.

Neither squad threatened much in the opening half, with the Tigers getting the first shot in the 14th minute from Taylor Adler.

The hosts put together their first good threat of the match in the 23rd minute when Cori Brennan forced a corner kick.

Hermanson sent the subsequent corner kick into the box but Sichak's chip shot attempt sailed over the top of the net.

A short time later, Hermanson's free kick proved to more successful as Kara Winans got a touch on it for the lone score.

"In a lot of games you might get outshot but you have to be able to take the chances that you get and be able to take advantage of them, and that's what we did today," Kara Winans said.

"We work on free kicks a lot and we know where we're supposed to be and to go and we all just crash the net and hope for the best. And Kylie does an excellent job of getting the ball in.

"Everything starts from the back and makes its way forward and our defense did an excellent job. It was nice to get our first shutout and getting our second straight win is good for us."

Less than a minute after the goal, the Tigers looked for the equalizer but Lojas came out of the net to stop an Adler shot.

Not long after that, Katie Brncich sent in a long free kick but Tiger keeper Courtney Robinson was able to make the save.

One of the match's key moments came during the 34th minute when a Tiger was fouled in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.

Morgan Graves lined up for the PK with the intent of tying things back up but her attempt wound up bouncing off the post.

Both teams had one more chance shortly before the break with Hermanson sending in a long free kick to the Tiger keeper.

Shortly after that, Adler was driving toward the net but the Warrior defense cleared an attempt away to end the threat.

Little happened during the first part of the second half as Adler and Morgan Contreras each were denied on shot tries.

In the 63rd minute, Contreras almost made it 2-0 after her long pass took an odd bounce and landed on top of the net.

Kalin Winans kept Morgan Graves under wraps throughout most of the match, thus greatly limiting what the Tigers could do.

The Tiger senior did manage to get free for a close attempt in the 77th minute but her try was cleared away by Kinsella.

"We're a very defensive team and we work on that a lot in practice," Kalin Winans said. "We watch film and go over why we gave up goals and drill that and it doesn't happen again. We help each other so that we work well together.

"Morgan is a very strong player and coach had me marking her through the whole game and by shutting her out, that was one of the main reasons that we won because we knew that we couldn't let her just run right through the midfield.

"It took us a few games considering that a lot of starters were injured. But now that we're all back on the field, we've been able to bond and communicate as a team. We're working together so much better and it's obviously showing."

While the results of the last match and a half don't indicate a trend, they're a positive following the first three outings.

Now the Warriors hope to build on their recent successes as they prepare to compete in some of their more-anticipated matches.

"I told the girls that we still have a long ways to go, but this effort was huge as a morale-booster," Theiss said. "The girls are showing a lot of growth in a very short period of time so I'm happy with what I'm seeing right now.

"We've been setting small goals and simply trying to keep the ball out of the net is one of the things that we've been trying to do, and it paid off. Kylie put a good ball in and we took advantage of one of our few opportunities.

"We've been working on set pieces and just crashing the box since you never know what's going to happen. The ball kicked out and I saw three white jerseys running in and Kara had the last touch, but we got a few others on there."