Gordon, Pasquinelli Score as Lyons Soccer Takes Down Red Devils

The Lions girls soccer team has qualified for the quarterfinals of the Naperville Invitational for the first time in the 14-year history of the prestigious event.

LT will face-off against host Naperville Central in an eagerly anticipated match on Thursday, so Tuesday’s West Suburban Conference Silver Division clash with rival Hinsdale Central had the makings of a trap game. It wasn’t.

Senior defender Elise Gordon scored an early goal and sophomore forward Abbie Pasquinelli tallied a big insurance goal midway through the second half off a great assist from defender Ari Kowalski as LT downed the Red Devils 2-0 in Hinsdale.

“We didn’t want to look ahead too much and overlook this team because, obviously, it’s a big rivalry and they’re going to come out hard wanting to win,” Gordon said.

Gordon made sure the Lions (12-2-1, 3-0), who moved into a first-place tie in the WSC Silver with York, came out hard, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead just 2:29 into the match, blasting a 30-yard shot through a stiff wind into the upper left corner of the net. It was Gordon’s third goal of the season, all of which have come from long range.

“Definitely knowing that I can put it in from there has given me a lot more confidence and so I’m more relaxed when I take that shot,” Gordon said. “I’m just looking to get open more there.”

The early goal against the wind and on a grass field that suited the host team was crucial for the Lions, who dominated much of the rest of the first half but did not increase their lead.

“You always want to score within the first five minutes and just kind of set the tempo and send a message, so I think it was good for us to get a goal early on,” Gordon said. “At the same time, though, it’s always good to have a little bit more urgency and I think sometimes getting a goal that early, we tend to back off a little bit.

“We didn’t finish our chances like we would have liked to and they came out very hard in the second half and put a lot more pressure on us, so we kind of had to deal with that, so it was great to get that goal (thanks to) Ari stepping up and making that nice play.”

Kowalski set up the second goal midway through the second half when she got control of a loose ball just shy of midfield and raced unchallenged 35 yards up the middle of the field. The pint-size sophomore had Pasquinelli making a run on the left wing and freshman Emily Lange doing likewise on the right wing.

Kowalski’s perfect lead pass found Pasquinelli in stride and the result was a 15-yard shot under the crossbar.

“I just got the ball and I didn’t feel like anyone was following me so I just started going as fast as I can and I just looked up and found Abbie,” Kowalski said. “Lange was making a good run too, but Ab just had the one step further on the girl. It was a great finish.”

Kowalski, Gordon and fellow defenders Sarah Mazur and Emma Meyering were great in the back, allowing the Red Devils (6-7-2, 1-2) only five shots. LT goalie Maggie Orlowski made three saves in recording her 11^th shutout.

“They had a couple of opportunities and we had to be aware of their speed up top, but our backs did a great job,” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said. “Mazur just cleans everything up for us. She’s sort of unsung, not a whole lot of notoriety, but we notice she’s doing a heckuva job.

"She plays with great poise and really settles things for us in the back.”

Jenn Jarmy, Mary Cefaratti and Mallory Feinstein had shots on goal for the Red Devils, who held LT star Kelsey Holbert to just one shot but weren’t able to mount any sustained attack of their own.

“I think Jarmy added some punch for us,” Hinsdale Central coach Skip Begley said. “She’s just a sophomore. I think sometimes her speed gets ahead of her skill, but I think her energy was good for us today. She got to a lot of balls, caused some problems.

“We just got off to a bad start. You’ve barely sat down and you’re down 1-0. Then after that we hung in there for a while, didn’t generate a lot of offense, but the defense was solid and they weren’t, I think, as dangerous as they were at the beginning, so you can’t have everything when you’re struggling like we are against the better teams.”

All of the Red Devils’ losses have come against ranked teams, as has one of their two ties, so Begley remains optimistic.

“I hate to say it, we’re 6-7-2, but I still think we’re decent and still have a chance to get better, so we’re working at it,” Begley said. “We still have high expectations. Nobody from our group walks out on to the field saying we’re happy to lose 1-0 or 2-0.”