Late goal dooms Panthers in Pepsi opener

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By Paul La Tour

It’s too early in the season to panic, but that doesn’t mean frustration isn’t setting in for Oswego.
The Panthers lost two leads and gave up a tiebreaking goal in the 78th minute in falling 3-2 to visiting Sycamore on Tuesday in the Pepsi Showdown. It marked the third time the Panthers (1-4) have lost a game by that score.

Senior Cathy Tram scored both goals and freshman Amy Annala made an impressive debut in goal for the Panthers, who gave up two goals in the final 22 minutes.

“We did well overall,” Panthers coach Jamie Bartkowiak said. “We’ve got some things to work on, but it definitely could have been worse. It’s always nice to see you can put some (goals) away. We just have to put more away.”

Tram got it started early for Oswego, which was coming off an 8-0 victory over Romeoville on Thursday. Tram popped a high shot into the net from a standstill 20 yards out to make it 1-0 just over six minutes into the game.

That came just moments after Lisa Bajkowski had a shot blocked by a Sycamore defender standing on the goal line during a scramble following a corner kick.

The Panthers continued to apply pressure throughout the half and missed several opportunities to add to their lead. They instead settled for the 1-0 advantage at the break.

“We didn’t continue to play as hard as we did the first (six minutes),” Tram said. “We scored early on, so maybe we thought it was going to be another Romeoville game. If we could have played like we had been (at the start) we could have had this one.”

The Spartans (2-1) struck early in the second half to spark their attack. A pass from midfield sprung Emma Norris for a long run past the Panthers back line. Norris scored on a breakaway to tie it 1-1 at 35:50.

Just over three minutes later Tram restored the Panthers lead with her second goal of the game. Taking a pass from Kelsey Dano, Tram cut across the top of the penalty area to her right before blasting a high shot past Elena Baj for a 2-1 lead.

Both teams exchanged scoring chances in the next 10 minutes before Rachel Steuber scored the first of her two goals for the Spartans.

Almost everything was coming up twos for Steuber. Her goal came at 22:20 to tie the game 2-2 and she wears jersey No. 22. It then took 20 minutes before she came up with goal No. 2 of the day.

Steuber scored after Annala stopped a breakaway shot by Michelle Doran. The ball struck Annala’s outstretched right arm but got behind the goalie. Steuber, coming off the weak side, was there to knock in the loose ball with 2:23 remaining.

“We just didn’t have time to respond to that goal,” Tram said.

Annala made four saves in her first varsity start, but many of her best highlights came on plays in which she didn’t earn a save.

“I like to be aggressive – it’s how I learned to play goalie,” Annala said.

She showed that midway through the second half on another Norris breakaway just after the Panthers had taken a 2-1 lead. As Norris closed in on the penalty area, Annala raced out to meet her. Before Norris could get a shot off, Annala swallowed up the ball and thwarted the chance.

“You want to see a goalie with a couple screws loose,” said Bartkowiak, joking about Annala’s aggressive play. “She’ll definitely come out quick for balls, and I like to see that, especially for a young goalkeeper.”

Her play earned praise from Sycamore coach Dave Lichamer as well.

“We got a couple nice looks on some through balls, but their goalie did a nice job on several of those opportunities,” he said. “She came out and did what she needed to do. But in the end I think (our pressure) was just a little too much.”

The Spartans were able to get behind the Panthers defense by utilizing their speed and endurance. But Bartkowiak still liked what she saw from her back line of Kendall Craig, Alex Tiffany, Gina Schultz and Jessa Early.

“We had some breakdowns here and there, so we have to make sure we stay strong on defense the whole time,” Annala said. “We can go a long way this season because we bond really well. I think we can get it going.”