Knights beat Glenwood in PKs to win own invite title

CLICK HERE FOR GAME PHOTOS VS. WAUCONDA

By Mike Garofola

Now that's the way to grab some confidence heading into a big week of soccer in the MSL.

After blasting a pair of opponents during early round tournament play, Prospect took advantage of brilliant goal-keeping in a shoot-out to surprise 2A power Chatham Glenwood and capture the big trophy Saturday afternoon at the Knights Invite in Mt. Prospect.

Megan McCabe was the star of the show, turning away two would-be goals during regulation, before stopping a pair of spot-kicks, then watching four of her teammates to convert with ease to give the Knights (8-3-1) a 4-2 shoot-out advantage and 1-0 victory.

"We've got an awfully big week of soccer ahead of us with both Schaumburg (Monday) and Barrington on Wednesday before heading off to Moline for the weekend, so do come out ahead (today) against a terrific opponent such as Chatham, should really be the type of motivation we need for the week," said a proud Knights head coach Tom Froats.

Long before McCabe's shoot-out heroics, it was clear that Prospect (8-3-1) would have all it could handle with the Titans (8-2-1), who arrived this weekend with quite a resume, including four trips to the state tournament, and a 3rd-place trophy last season.

In additon, the Titans also returned several players from its final four club.

One player in particular, its 2009 leading scorer, Ali Traina (24 goals), battled Knights defender Kelly Ziegenfuss to a draw for 80 minutes in one of the most interesting vignettes which took place in this championship match.

"Kelly was amazing out there today," began Froats. "(Their) No. 10 (Traina) was a terrific player, and if Kelly doesn't mark her the way she did today, we could have been in trouble."

After watching Susie Lello hit for three goals, and Jessie Petrovski for another two in the Knights' rout of Wauconda (7-0) earlier in the day, it was apparent the Titans' staff had an inkling as to who the Knights would target in this match.

The visitors would counter the Knights strike-force with a big, strong backline to neutralize both Lello and Petrovski, while it was their midfield which provided plenty of sweat and toil to gain the run of play early on, and not let go until well into the second half.

"We didn't possess the ball well, or win the 50-50's," suggested McCabe, who had the birds-eye view of things from her perch between the sticks.

"We talked about (that) at half, and we did much better after the break, and began to create a few chances for our self," Froats would add.

The Titans were the most dangerous side for the first 40 minutes, producing several quality chances on McCabe.

After Lexi Glennon blocked a shot in close from Taylor Copp, the diminutive McCabe would elevate as high as she could to pull two long-range shots out of the air from Lindsey Koch, then Dani Torry, which appeared to have enough pace to take McCabe into the back of the net.

"Megan is really something else, and she's only a sophomore," beamed Froats.

Both Froats and McCabe could afford a wry smile when each commented on the bit of luck the Knights would have on a blistering shot from the right side by Copp in the 63rd minute that hit the bar, which instead of going in, took a fortunate bounce away from the Knights endline.

Despite their troubles, the Knights kept their opponents off the scoreboard, thanks in part to McCabe, of course, and her backline mates Glennon, Caroline Aubry and the aforementioned Ziegenfuss.

Also contributing to that effort were Kelli Iovino, Sara Helwink, and Agnes Stankiewicz, who all provided plenty of energy and pace in the middle when their club needed it most.

Petrovski would run and carry deep inside the box, before the Titans would clear with ease.

However, the best chance for the Knights came at 68 minutes when Lello got behind the last player off a counter, but was turned away with a superb challenge off her line by Titans keeper Cara Moody.

Once into the shoot-out, it was all Prospect.

McCabe would set the tone by stopping the Titans' first shooter, Abby Juhlin.

Then after Lauren MacNab, Petrovski Andrea Wehrle all converted to make it 3-2, it was McCabe once more, this time with a stone cold save on Koch, giving Iovino the chance to record the winner with a blast off the gloves of Moody.

"Fatigue might have caught up to us a little after playing two games within 2 1/2 hours (today) but I really like our effort in this match against a great opponent and a team that you could see at the state tournament later on in the season once again," said Froats.

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