Lions headed downstate with win over Freeport
By Mike Garofola

 

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Tuesday night, Katherine Petrovich would strike the game-winner at 85 minutes - ending the storybook post-season run of Freeport - while sending Saint Viator into the semi-finals of the 2A state soccer championships this Friday morning.

The Lions will play St. Francis at North Central College in Naperville.

Petrovich's golden touch past a sprawling Fiona Neary ended a hard-fought match at Barrington Community Stadium as the Lions (15-8-4) edged the upstart Pretzels 1-0 to send Katelyn Hammarlund and her mates back to the tournament for the first time since 2010 when the Lions’ captain and five others on the current team were runners-up to Belleville Althoff.

"It's all about tradition and pride in getting back to the state tournament, and for a few of us who are seniors, it's a great way to see our final season end," said Hammarlund, who along with her running mate up top, Chloe Luthringhausen provided plenty of pace and energy throughout the match. Hammarlund was also the architect of Petrovich’s game-winning goal.

"They were far better than we thought they would be, but Hammar and Chloe just never really stopped running at them, and creating a lot of pressure in their end, and as the game went deeper you could sense they were beginning to tire along the back, and that's when we created a bunch of chances leading up to the game-winner," said Lions head coach Mike Taylor.

"I know (Taylor) has been thinking all along that we would be in the state finals next weekend,  but I have to admit with all of our injuries, and especially the latest when we lost Molly (McMahon) to a concussion, I was beginning to believe that it was going to be very difficult to advance that far," admitted Petrovich.

"But he obviously knows what he doing, and he's been here so many times with our boys’ teams, and now the girls, so when he said to trust him that we were going to be playing this coming weekend, then he's the guy to believe."

In opening stages, Taylor and his staff likely saw their lives pass before them when the Pretzels’ Darice Brooks got through on the far side, and in on keeper Morgan Hess. Hess’ quick challenge off her line had a lot to do with talented sophomore Brooks’ decision to shoot with her right foot  instead of her left, thus sending her shot just wide of the far post.

"That certainly was one of our hopes was to score early, to immediately put the pressure on the favorites, but it didn't quite work that way, and we had to really work hard to keep them out of our end, and the back of our net for the first 40 minutes," said Freeport head coach Nick Namio, who listed eight freshmen on his tournament roster.

The game was the prettiest to watch for the first half hour, as the Lions struggled to possess. The Pretzels’ tight and compact style begged their opponent to play wide but the Lions only did so on a few occasions during the first period.

"They were a little chippy, not in a bad way, but they always seemed to get to the ball first, or to just knock it away or back at us, and we never really found any flow in that first half, and we didn't look very good at much of anything that we did," said Taylor.

A few chances fell to both clubs in a quickly-played first half. An unmarked Luthringhausen was allowed to turn and face Neary, firing a well-paced shot off the bar from 16 yards in the 26th minute. Then it was Brooks once again, sending her drive over at 35 minutes, just moments before she left the game with an ankle injury.

The Lions got off to a marvelous start following intermission, encouraged by the pacey work of Luthringshausen, Hammarlund, Erin Renee Murphy, Petrovich, and Katie Gavin -- who was stationed most of the time just in front of her backline mates in the first half while the unit slowly got organized.

"Our defense played a terrific second half, and never really allowed much to get through and in on Morgan," said Taylor.

The Lions would venture forward on a regular basis, energized by several enterprising runs from its frontline stars, but for all of the times they were able to get in the area, it seemed there were always two or three orange shirts blocking their path. Neary also made a handful of quality stops on shots or serves sent into the box.

Hammarlund would have a go on frame at 44 minutes, followed by a header directly at Neary from Gavin off a Petrovich corner. At the tail end of a vibrant 10 minutes of attacking soccer, Luthringshausen and Hammarlund each took turns coming up the right side and filtering a ball into the 6-yard box, where the Pretzels' young keeper was quick to react to in order to take away the advantage.

"I kind of sensed they were getting tired in the back towards the end of the first half, and for the first ten or fifteen minutes of the second when we stayed in their end, but they didn't quit, and we just didn't do enough to get one into the back of their net," offered Hammarlund. 

"To be honest, we knew that (Saint Viator) was a little bit bigger and stronger that we were, but the plan all along -- if we didn't score first -- was to keep it scoreless, or 1-0 for as long as we could,” Namlo said. “We hoped that the pressure would build on them to allow us to stay in the game because that's when good things happen for a team not expected to win.

"And really, for the most part, that's exactly what happened, until that goal in OT." 

Allyson Harper's tackle on Luthringhausen stopped the junior striker from getting in on Neary in the 57th minute. Later, with Murphy joining the attack on the right side, the Lions caught the Pretzel's in possession and quickly countered, only to once again fail to be sharp enough in the final third.

The Lions’ faithful collectively held its breath when Julia Luecke teed up a 25-yarder, which sailed just wide of the open far post, but that would be it for Freeport, which was forced to withstand a furious push from Saint Viator in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

The Pretzels' would continue to make subtle mistakes allowing Lauren Falotico to put Hammarlund through, with Neary was forced to save, and then Gavin would trick her way in close before Hayner once again tackled the Lions senior midfielder.

Neary was called upon to turn a Luthringhausen short-range cracker up and nearly over the line, and the fearless keeper made her best save of the match in  the 79th minute off an inward- swinging corner from Petrovich that Gavin rose up to head from point-blank range.

"Those last five to six minutes I thought for sure we were going to score," said Petrovich.

Once in the first OT period, it was only a matter of minutes before the Lions did.

After Ashley Alexander parried away a wonderful serve to the spot from Luthringshausen, it was yet another fierce run up the left side from Hammarlund which set the captain free and to endline.

Once there, she would breach the Pretzels backline with a powerfully hit cross on the floor that  went through the hands of the Freeport keeper, off one of her defenders, and right to the opportunistic Petrovich, who somehow won the ball in a frenzied scrum at the back post to score.

"This is all pretty amazing," said Hammarlund, still clutching onto the championship hardware, long after she and her mates whisked Petrovich away from the Freeport goal in a wild celebration.

"There were some rough times in the middle of our season, and at times we didn't play very well, but we came together and now we're in the state tournament, and that's all that matters."