Red Devils tie with LW Central to end DGS tournament

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By Matt Le Cren

Eryka Hawkins enjoyed the first two-goal game of her career as host Hinsdale Central snapped a two-game losing streak by playing to a 2-2 tie with Lincoln-Way Central Saturday in the third place match of the Downers Grove South Invitational.

The Red Devils (2-3-1) finished the round-robin tournament with a 0-2-1 record and while they weren’t thrilled at blowing a 2-0 second-half lead against the Knights (1-3-3), the result was a much-needed tonic after being blown out in their previous two matches.

“We couldn’t finish in the second half, but we came out with a tie which is better than a loss,” Hawkins said. “I think the communication level went down.

“I think we maybe got ahead of ourselves, assuming we could keep going and keep up the pace and it just got in our head. So next time we really should continue what we were doing in the first half and build on that.”

Hawkins, a senior forward who will play at Hartwick College, a Division III school in Oneonta, NY, scored twice in the first half on nearly identical plays, heading home a pair of corner kicks from senior Mallory Feinstein.

The first goal came at the 28:16 mark as Hawkins headed Feinstein’s serve down into the ground and the ball went through the legs of the Knights’ freshman goalie, Lisa Meister.

Hinsdale Central made it 2-0 with 12:18 left before halftime. This time Hawkins’ header was powerful and went inside the left corner of the net. It was just the sixth goal of the season for the Red Devils and marked the second time they have scored more than once in a match.

“It’s good,” Hawkins said of her career day. “I wish we could have gotten a third and gotten the win but we’ll take a tie.”

Hawkins barely missed scoring a third goal just a minute after her second when she got the ball on the run and slipped past two defenders on the right wing. But her 15-yard shot skittered wide of the left post. She almost completed the hat trick with 16:00 left in the second half, turning and shooting from 20 yards out but missing the right post by a couple feet.

“She had two goals and that was nice to see,” Hinsdale Central coach Skip Begley said. “She’s going to have to score up front if we’re going to play Mallory in the back.”

Begley has shuttled Feinstein, who is regarded as Central’s best all-around player, between forward and sweeper in an attempt to field the strongest lineup. The Red Devils are stronger defensively when Feinstein plays in the back, but that hampers their ability to put pressure on the other team’s defense.

Central’s inconsistency was on display against the Knights, who after being outshot 7-3 in the first half were able to turn the tables on the Red Devils after intermission, enjoying a 7-4 edge in shots and salvaging the draw thanks to two goals from Rachel Post.

Post broke up the shutout with a 12-yard shot with 18:16 to go, then tied it when she nodded home Somer Druszkowski’s corner kick with 8:52 showing.

“I was happy 40 minutes ago, but not so happy now,” Begley said. “We play to find out where we’re at. We find we can play but we have not been consistent for 80 minutes.

“Today we played much better in the first half and played very poorly in the second half, so we’ll just have to figure where we’re at and why we’re that way.”

The Red Devils played the entire tournament without a true goalie. Senior defender Julia Gesior, who had never played the position before, was between the pipes for all three games and got better with each passing match, making three saves against the Knights. Begley said Gesior will probably start against Proviso West on Tuesday before giving way to freshman Riley Glenn when Central travels to Plainfield Central on Friday.

“She ended up looking like a goalkeeper after three games,” Begley said. “She did a nice job. She’s a good kid, a hard worker and athlete. It was a good effort.”

And one that did not go unappreciated by Gesior’s teammates.

“We kind of said, two days before we were playing one of the ranked teams, that, hey, you’re playing goal,” Hawkins said. “She didn’t complain once, so we were all really proud of her for that.”