High school soccer goalkeepers don’t find themselves in a penalty kick situation very often in their careers.
And when they do --- usually with the season on the line --- a typical effort of one or two saves is usually enough to deliver for their team in a do-or-die situation.
Cynthia Waller rose to the occasion for Lane Tech’s girls in the semifinals of the Class 3A New Trier Sectional tournament Tuesday night, stopping four of seven Evanston PK attempts as the Champions eliminated ETHS 1-0.
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Olivia Field’s successful PK in the sudden-death portion of the shootout was the difference on offense as Lane sent the Wildkits to the sidelines for the third straight year in the postseason. Lane advanced to the sectional title game Saturday and will take a 20-2-2 record into the championship matchup against a New Trier squad they also defeated in PKs during the regular season.
The tears flowed freely for Evanston in the aftermath, especially for the seven seniors who weren’t able to get over that postseason hurdle called Lane Tech. But that’s what happens when you leave it all out on the field like the Wildkits did Tuesday. They finished 12-5-4 on the season after turning in what might have been their best defensive performance of the year.
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Tuesday’s showdown was markedly different from last year’s sectional matchup, which featured some sloppy defense on both sides in a 5-4 Lane Tech triumph. Lane has only allowed more than one goal in a game twice this season, in losses to Naperville Central (3-1) and Glenbrook South (2-0), but Tuesday the Wildkits matched them kick for kick, defensive stop for defensive stop, smart decision for smart decision.
A brilliant five-minute stretch of play by ETHS junior keeper Kanako Wagner kept the third-seeded Champions off the scoreboard to start the second half, and sophomore Maizlyn Kelly was unflappable on D on the biggest stage. She showed she’s on an All-State track as a physical and stifling defender and ETHS head coach Stacy Salgado showed the trust she has in the sophomore by adjusting her team’s defense and leaning heavily on Kelly in the back line.
“We had defenders marking (man-to-man) a couple of their players, and we left Maizlyn in back to clean up any messes,” Salgado said. “We had a plan, and they all did their jobs back there. Tonight was one of Maizlyn’s strongest games. We knew that if anyone got by the other defenders, she’d always be there to clean it up.
“Maizlyn and Dami (junior Dami Adeniyi) did a great job of creating offense from our defense, too, with some great services (passes). They were all truly locked in tonight. We’ve had some very good defensive games this year as a team, but they put it all together today.
“Their goalie (the 6-foot-1 Waller) made some big saves at the end of the game and in the PKs. They weren’t all amazing saves --- a couple of our (PK) shots weren’t great --- and it’s unfortunate it ended like that. We felt prepared for the PKs, even though we had a lot of the young girls taking them. There’s a lot of pressure in a situation like that. Our girls did exactly what we asked of them tonight and they played a full 100 minutes.”
The two squads ended the first round of penalty kicks tied at 3-3 after Evanston’s Ella Dunlap, Kelly and Adeniyi all found the back of the net and Lane missed two shots, one of them glancing off the crossbar of the cage.
That set the stage for the sudden-death round. Waller knocked away tries from Corin Viamille and Leah George, then celebrated with her teammates when Field booted the game-winner past Wagner.
Wagner wasn’t able to record any saves in the PK sessions, but finished with a total of 10, including four in the overtime periods. Evanston’s best chance for an OT goal came early in the second extra period, when Waller leaped to deny a shot by Bridget Durkin. Two minutes later, Waller rejected a try by Mia Darer to keep the contest scoreless.
After an evenly played first half, Wagner gave the Wildkits the edge with her hustle and determination when Lane Tech turned up the pressure in the first five minutes of the second half. In one 20-second stretch she denied laser shots from Lane’s Grace Carman not once, but twice, grabbed a hard left-footed boot struck by Rebecca LoVerde, and then raced out to beat Jackson Caffey to a rolling ball to deny her a chance for a shot on goal.
The Kits applied repeated pressure but couldn’t break through on offense. Midway through the half, Durkin was in position to do some damage following a free kick from Adeniyi but couldn’t collect herself to get a foot on a good shot attempt.
And with four and a half minutes left in regulation, Kelly boomed a long service to Durkin streaking toward the goal, and she deflected it wide right
“We knew we had to leave it all out on the field tonight and I felt like we were really locked in for the full 100 minutes,” said co-captain Maddie Ball, who along with classmates Darer, Viamille, Lily Hammock, Maddy Varela, Olivia Glantz and Fiona Vosper saw their high school careers end on a losing note. “Our defense, our midfielders, our forwards, everyone played so hard.
“It sucks to lose to them for the third year in a row. We came in really thinking that the third time would be the charm. We had some great chances, but their goalie played really well.”
Varela and Dare were chosen to the all-Central Suburban League South division squad this year along with two players who will return next season --- leading scorers Durkin and Alexandra Merriam, who missed Tuesday’s game while competing for the Honduran National team.
“It was a great season. We had some great senior leadership and I’ll miss this group, but I’m excited about next year because we have such a good core of players coming back,” Salgado added.
