Lions clinch West Suburban Silver title at OPRF
By Dave Miller

 

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Lyons Township left no doubt it’s the best team in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division.

The Lions followed a disputed goal with two no-doubters to win the Silver championship with a 3-0 triumph over host Oak Park and River Forest Tuesday evening. It’s their first outright title since 2000. They shared three titles from 2004-‘06.

“I think partly because we hadn’t won it in a long time, the kids took a lot of pride in (trying to change) that and wanted to get after it,” LT coach Bill Lanspeary said. “We saw it today. We were fired up and playing real well.”

“We really wanted to win since we hadn’t won outright in, gosh, 12 years,” Lions senior Kristina Fiflis said. “We were very excited. Once the game ended all of us just started hugging each other.”

The match started with the possibility of a three-way tie for the conference championship. An OPRF victory would have set the stage for a title in triplicate between the participants and two-time defending champion York.

But LT (13-2-4, 6-0) showed early it was hungry for an outright title. Emily Lange took the ball, beat an OPRF defender and blasted a shot just 20 seconds into the match. The ball sailed just wide of the net, but it was a sign of things to come.

The visitors took a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute. Margaret Lynch sent a short pass from the right side of the net to C.C. Holbert in front of it. Holbert squibbed a shot to the left side of the net that was ruled to have trickled past the goal line before OPRF goalkeeper Katy Oldach corralled it with a dive.

The Huskies (9-8-1, 3-2) disputed the goal.

“I honestly think I saved it,” Oldach said. “The entire ball was not over the line. The ref was obstructed by my body so I have no idea how he saw the ball in the goal. Only an inch or two was over the line, not nearly enough to call it a goal.”

Holbert saw it differently.

“I was standing right there,” Holbert said. “It was definitely over the line. The goalie caught it behind the line so I knew it was a goal. Margaret Lynch played a great ball in and I was at the right place at the right time.”

It was Holbert’s first goal of the season.

“It definitely gives you a confidence boost,” she said. “It was a great game to score in.”

Lyons struck again in the 32nd minute. Mackie Furlong’s cross from the left side was stopped by Oldach, but the ball rebounded off the goalkeeper. Fiflis pounced on the ball, tapping it into the net for a goal that made it 2-0.

“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a present for me,’” Fiflis said.

Fiflis’ second score of the season seemingly deflated OPRF for the reminder of the first half. The Huskies came out in the second half re-energized, but Lyons kept the pressure on the home team.

“I thought that going into the second half they had a lot of energy because they definitely wanted to come back, which we were able to diffuse pretty quickly,” Fiflis said.

The Huskies continued to compete, but didn’t find a way to score.

“I thought we came out the second half and played hard, too,” Oldach said. “I thought we played tough today. It just wasn’t our day.”

Sarah Mazur scored her eighth goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 69th minute, putting the Lions up 3-0.

From there, LT put the finishing touches on a shutout behind goalkeeper Maggie Orlowski and a strong back line.

“Today I thought we played with a lot of poise,” Lanspeary said. “They played fast and hard and physical, and we were able to still play quick, but play with poise. We possessed the ball an awful lot and I thought we did some smart things. I loved that we got a lot of attack today, which we’ve been kind of lacking through part of the middle of the year. I thought we generated a lot of attack, a lot of scoring chances. So I loved what I saw going forward, and our defense was as solid as it’s been all year.”

The Lions have allowed only seven goals this season. The reasons for that are many.

“Maggie is fantastic in goal,” Lanspeary said. “We’ve had Catherine King, who’s out with a concussion right now, playing in the back with Sarah Mazur, who’s been fantastic back there. Ari (Kowalski) might be the best marking back in the state and Liza (Gabrek) has done a great job on the other side, too. It’s all of them, and they work together really well."