Penalty Kick Sparks Comeback for Lafayette

Everyone dislikes seeing a game determined by a referee's call. But according to coach Mark Giesing, it wasn't the call, or the resulting penalty kick and goal, which ultimately cost his Flyers on Tuesday night.

It was the Flyers’ reaction to that goal, Giesing said, that hurt his team the most in Lindbergh’s 3-2 home loss against Lafayette.

Lindbergh was up 2-0 in the Suburban West Conference contest. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Lindbergh junior Rachel Marchi collided spectacularly with Lafayette junior Danielle Tolmais at the top of Lindbergh's box. The decision went Lafayette's way, and sophomore Angela Black popped in the penalty kick. The goal seemed to take the life out of the Flyers, who conceited two more second-half goals and lost their final home game of this season.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Lafayette's winning record is 15-7 on the season. Lindbergh iss 14-5.

"The PK is what it is," Giesing said of the penalty kick decision. "So they don't win because of the PK, but certainly our reaction to that PK is the difference. Our poor reaction to it ends up being the difference."

Two minutes after Tolmais went crashing down, she recovered enough to score the tying goal for the Lancers. A series of volleys found her just outside the box, and she turned and volleyed the ball just over Lindbergh junior goalkeeper Nina Tzlanos' fingers. 

Just over three minutes after that, junior Colleen Cole found the net for the go-ahead score, and the game’s final goal. Tolmais fought for possession of the ball and then hit sophomore Kate Barber, who, in turn, found Cole for the score.

"Cole lost her man in the box, went to the back post, slid into the front post, boom, tap-in," Lafayette coach Tim Walters said. "That's how you draw it up."

Lindbergh's first goal was five and a half minutes into the game. Senior striker Abby Rossi banged one off the cross bar, and junior Annie Schwartz knocked in the rebound. Junior Abby Adams scored from close-in just a little over two minutes later.

"We just didn't answer the bell the first five minutes," Walters said. "We have to figure that out, that's not good. That's not a good way to start a game." He said they had a similar start with Incarnate Word last week.

Lindbergh's top scorer, senior Rachel Greer, has been out with a concussion for four games.

"We have lost our best offensive weapon, and with four games straight, without having Rachel up top, other girls have done admirably in terms of effort. But she is a top-notch player; her loss is significant to us," Giesing said.

Lafayette's last two regular season games are at home. They play DuBourg on Wednesday and Parkway South on Thursday.