When goalie Shea Lucas suffered a separated shoulder and was lost for the season during Evanston’s annual soccer trip to Iowa, no one knew just how irreplaceable the senior stopper would turn out to be.
With Lucas watching from the sidelines --- with her shoulder still in a sling after surgery --- the Wildkits suffered a rare defensive collapse at the wrong time.
Third-seeded Lane Tech poured in four goals in the first half and held on for a 5-4 victory that eliminated ETHS Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Class 3A New Trier Sectional tournament.
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No. 2 seed Evanston ended the 2024 campaign with a final record of 19-3-1 and surrendered the most goals in any game since head coach Stacy Salgado took over the program. Lane Tech, now 20-2, advanced to the title game Friday night against host New Trier.
Evanston’s hopes for a rematch with the Trevians, who handed them one of their regular season losses, disappeared when the defense rested on a windy night in Northfield.
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All that was left was for Salgado to remind her squad, especially the 7 graduating seniors including Lucas, that the season was still a success despite the flat ending. Senior Jocelyn Leigh, who finished her career as the No. 2 goal scorer in program history, tallied three goals and added an assist for the losers Tuesday night.
Junior Lily Hammock also found the back of the net for the Kits.
“I had to remind them all that we won the conference (Central Suburban League South division), we won the Deep Dish tournament and we won two games at the tournament in Iowa,” Salgado noted. “I still think we had a great season. Only one team ends up winning the state championship and every other team ends up with a loss. We have to look back at all that we accomplished and not at the last moment.
“This was a special group of seniors (Leigh, Lucas, Syd Johnson, Campbell Fleming, Lucy Fredrickson, Syd Ross, Jillian Denlow). Losing Shea in Iowa was tough, after seeing her growth as a very vocal and great leader back there. We had a couple of breakdowns tonight and a couple of those goals could have been stopped. That’s unfortunate.”
Trailing 4-2 at the halftime intermission, Evanston had the wind that gusted over 30 miles per hour at its back for the last 40 minutes of the season. But it was the Champions who broke through for the first goal of the half, the second of the game for forward Abigail Snowden, and Lane was able to maintain its composure and the lead despite a frantic push by the Kits in the final 20 minutes.
After Hammock knocked in a ball that was bouncing in the box in the 67th minute, Evanston had an opportunity to push within a goal with 7 minutes to play. But the Wildkits couldn’t cash in on three straight corner kick tries, with Lane keeper Cynthia Waller stopping the only actual shot on goal in that stretch.
Waller’s diving stop of a laser shot by Ross kept the Kits off the board, and then Leigh converted a pass from freshman Maizlyn Kelly with 2:17 left in the contest. That was Evanston’s last shot on goal in 2024.
“We didn’t connect on many passes tonight. It was tricky with the wind,” Salgado added. “I thought Jocelyn (Leigh) really played a great game for us. She was very determined, very involved and she really showed up big.”
