Griffins beat Celtics to claim second straight 1-0 victory

By Curt Herron

When a team is struggling on the offensive end, it's critical to keep the other team off of the scoreboard.

After recently seeing a stretch where it went over 158 minutes without putting the ball into the net, Lincoln-Way East certainly qualifies.

But the Griffins were able to break the scoring drought and knock off rival Lincoln-Way Central in the process by a 1-0 score on Saturday.

East had an even tougher time finding the net in Monday's nonconference match at Providence Catholic in New Lenox.

Although they had plenty of chances to score against the Celtics, the Griffins were stymied time and again.

But East received a penalty kick midway through the first half and made the most of the opportunity to claim a 1-0 victory.

Click to hear coach Brian Papa interview

After dropping close decisions to Plainfield North and Mother McAuley, the Griffins (3-2) have now won two straight nailbiters.

Unlike Saturday's match against Central, where it was easily outshot, East had the a big edge in shots on goal on Monday.

But Celtic keeper Megan Hettinger managed to stop just about everything that came her way during the match.

One shot she couldn't prevent, however, came with 22:22 remaining in the opening half, and proved to be decisive.

It was a penalty kick that was awarded to Kelly McGovern after the Celtics committed a foul in the box.

The junior midfielder proceeded to place her PK attempt into the right side of the net for the match's only score.

Click to hear Kelly McGovern interview

East keeper Arianna Nie halted the few attempts which she faced after that to record her second straight shutout.

Making her job easier was the Griffin defense of Kelsey Kurey, Theresa Tynski, Nicole Ernat and Cassidy Cassello.

The Griffin had a pair of good chances during the opening minutes of the match before the Celtics nearly scored.

McGovern got things started with a corner kick that went to Hettinger before Stacy Sons followed with a grounder.

About eight and a half minutes into the match, Providence had what was likely its best scoring chance of the match.

Following a free kick, Chris Reed got open in front for a short shot that was eventually cleared by an East defender.

East grabbed the upper hand a little less than nine minutes later when McGovern converted on the PK opportunity.

She kept the pressure on with a corner that was lined to the Celtic keeper right around the midpoint of the first half.

During the next six minutes, East received good scoring attempts from Claire Krieger and Christa Kordik.

There was even some drama for the Griffins during the final moments of the opening half as they had two more chances.

McGovern sent a free kick over the net with a minute to go and a long free kick halted right as the buzzer sounded.

Click to hear Kelsey Kurey interview

It was more of the same during the final 40 minutes as the Griffins continued to put pressure on the Celtic keeper.

That was especially the case during the final 16 minutes, when almost all of the second half shots on goal were recorded.

The lone threatening attempt prior to that came about 10 minutes after the break when McGovern lined a corner to Hettinger.

With just over 15 minutes remaining in the match, Ernat began the late-match scoring chances with a grounder to the keeper.

Providence responded with a pair of good opportunities, with one just missing the mark and the other hauled in by Nie.

Reed was just wide on a short shot with about 14 minutes left and then Jamie Noonan added a grounder about a minute later.

East nearly added an insurance goal with 9:30 remaining but Hettinger came up with a pair of stops on the sequence.

McGovern sent a corner kick in front of the net that was punched away and then Ernat grounded a shot that was halted.

There was another flurry of activity during the final five minutes with East collecting another pair of shots on goal.

Corie Elam started things with a liner that was deflected away before Sons added an attempt that sailed over the net.

With just over a minute left, Reed was wide on another close shot before East's Lauren Ebeling followed with a grounder.

The Griffins hope to add to their current winning streak on Thursday when they meet up with Thornwood.

Then they'll have a busy week with three matches in the Pepsi Showdown, beginning next Tuesday against Fenwick.