Girls Soccer: L-W Central Finds Scoring Touch Against L-W East

Lincoln-Way East hadn't scored since St. Patrick's Day. Lincoln-Way Central hadn't won since the same holiday when many Americans dressed in green and ate corned beef and cabbage.

The Griffins scored, but remained winless on the season, while the host Knights had no trouble in putting the ball in the back of the net in a 5-1 victory on Tuesday night in New Lenox. The victory was Central's first since a 3-2 decision against Marist on March 17.

"This was a good one, especially because you can throw the records out and everything when playing a district rival, a sister school," Lincoln-Way Central coach Dan Radz said. "I was really proud of the kids. They really stepped forward and played extremely hard, which was good."

"We played two real tough games in a row and today kind of laid an egg," Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Papa said. "But give Central credit. They took it to us and weren't afraid to shoot. We had opportunities in the first half, but didn't let it go. You can't score if you don't let it go."

The Knights jumped ahead 2-0, which had to feel like a 5-0 deficit for the Griffins because of their struggles offensively. The Griffins had lost their three previous matches coming in, all shutouts, including back-to-back 1-0 losses to Stagg and Mother McAuley.

"We played inconsistently," Papa said. "We had some good moments and then we let a goal go by. And, then, their second goal took us out of what we wanted to do and from that point on we were trying to push the ball past the defense. We created some havoc, but not enough."

Somer Druszkowski and Nikki White both scored for the Knights, but the biggest output came from Rachel Post, who had three goals, and Caley Michalak, who had two assists.

"Caley kept attacking the ball to the box, and I just ran after it to clean it up," Post said. "Everyone up front was really attacking the ball."

Perhaps playing a rival served as extra motivation, but the Knights were seemingly on a mission whenever they had possession.

"I think we just played a lot tougher and went at every ball," Michalak said. "It's easy when you play someone like (Lincoln-Way) East,who you want to beat pretty good."

Lincoln-Way Central (2-3-3) entered the match with some momentum carried over from Saturday's 2-2 draw against Hinsdale Central. The Knights rallied from a 2-0 deficit in that match to earn a tie.

"I think we took some of that momentum, plus I'm telling the girls to get more physical in there, and instead of running around players, to shoulder off players and make some contact," Radz said. "I think that paid more dividends tonight and we'll see what happens with Lockport on Thursday and Sandburg on Tuesday."

Jessica Bicek handled a nice slot pass from Sam Fiorella to give Lincoln-Way East (0-5-1) its first goal in 19 days.

"Maybe it's a start," Papa said. "We've been struggling with our front line and scoring and finally got a ball in, so we can take that as a positive."

The Griffins remain a young team, as Erin Mangia, Nicole Ernat, Stacey Sons, Rebecca Dobrich and Kelsey Kurey return a good deal of experience, but the team also features five underclassmen.

"0-5-1 is one of the worst starts I've had in a long time, but it is what it is," Papa said. "They're learning as they go, but they're getting baptism by fire, and when you're doing that, it's going to take time to build."

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