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42 | May 18, 2017 | The Homer Horizon sports
homerhorizon.com
Girls Soccer
Homer resident Boyd scores Provi’s lone goal against Andrew
Celtics end regular
season with loss to
Thunderbolts
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
Andrew girls soccer coach
Loren Zolk hails standout
senior Brooke Zidek as a
player who helps everyone
else elevate their level of
play.
If the Thunderbolts’ alltime
scoring leader performs
like she did Thursday, May
11, in a win over Providence,
the team should have an excellent
opportunity to make a
deep postseason run.
Zidek scored two goals
and assisted on another as
Andrew defeated the Celtics
3-1 in the regular-season
finale for both squads. Zidek
set up Sam Kopper to open
the scoring, and Corinne
Steinke and Brandi Muys
assisted on Zidek’s tallies
as the Thunderbolts took a
commanding 3-0 lead they
were never in danger of relinquishing.
Karli Boyd, a Homer Glen
resident, scored Providence’s
lone goal.
Zolk said Zidek simple
works harder than every other
player on the field, whether
during practice or games.
“She’s a very competitive
individual; her standards are
very high, and she demands
the best out of herself and her
teammates,” he said. “She
leads by example on and off
the field. She comes every
day and tries to outwork everybody
else, and everybody
feeds off that. They see one of
your leaders, one of your top
players coming out and setting
an example like that, and
everybody else just falls right
in line. It makes my job really
easy having her around.”
LOCKPORT SOCCER CLUB
TRYOUTS
As for the team as a whole,
Zolk believes the Thunderbolts
are rounding into form
just in time for the playoffs.
Andrew (14-6-2) was the No.
2 seed in the Andrew Regional
and opened the postseason
on its home field Tuesday,
May 16, against Bloom
Township.
“People are playing well,”
Zolk said. “I feel like we’re
comfortable in our system,
and we’re finally getting
used to one another. That’s
always an issue with high
school sports is you’re getting
players from all different
places and cramming
them together for threemonth
period and hoping
everything meshes.”
The Thunderbolts have
won three straight games and
five of seven, and playing
cohesively was exemplified
in the win over Providence
(9-13). Andrew controlled
both sides of the field for the
majority of the game, despite
Zolk liberally switching
players to different positions.
“The idea is to progress
to playing as a unit, and we
saw that today, even with the
changes I was making with
the lineup and where people
were going,” he said. “I like
to see that it didn’t matter
who I put in a position —
they knew where to be and
where the ball needed to be.
That’s encouraging to me
moving forward.
“To be in the spot we are
right now heading into [regional
play], everybody’s
healthy, and we’re fine-tuning
things. That makes me
optimistic.”
Providence coach Dan Potempa
is optimistic, as well,
despite his team dropping
its contest and eight of its
last nine. Losing to a good
3A team like Andrew while
playing shorthanded because
of injuries is hardly discouraging,
as far as Potempa is
concerned.
“We were trying some
girls in different spots, and I
think that defensively is what
we were worried about,” Potempa
said. “We were trying
some things, and they got
their goals, and we switched
into something that was
working, so I think we have
at least have our defense set
moving into the playoffs.”
The key moves by Potempa
was moving junior Chase
McCool from sweeper to
stopper, and Regan Sauer to
sweeper. That stabilized the
defense after the Celtics allowed
three early goals, and
it to put the offense in better
position to attack.
“[McCool] got a lot of
good touches on the ball and
really impacted our offense
and helped create opportunities
offensively from the defense,”
Potempa said. “That
relieves pressure on the defense
and calms everybody.
Chase has the ability to just
give everyone around her
more confidence; we play
better when she’s playing
better.”
Potempa was also pleased
to see the Celtics continue to
battle after falling behind by
three goals.
“I was happy our girls
didn’t give up; we got down
and kept fighting, kept fighting,
still trying to possess,
still trying to create opportunities,”
he said. “The girls
didn’t give up, and we’ll
need that going into the
playoffs.”
The Celtics opened the
Class 2A playoffs as the No.
5 seed in the Ottawa Regional
against third-seeded
Peoria Richwoods Tuesday,
May 16. Potempa said the
teams’ unfamiliarity with
each other could be to Providence’s
benefit.
“I know nothing about
them, they know nothing
about us,” he said. “They
have a better record, but who
knows what’s going to happen?
I’m hoping they might
be looking past us. We’ve
got a lot of talented players
who can do a lot of good
things, so maybe they’ll be
looking past us, and we can
hopefully surprise them and
get away with a couple of
victories.”
Monday, May 22nd & Tuesday May 23rd
Hassert Park • 19623 Renwick Rd. • Lockport, IL 60041
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tennis
From Page 44
placing second after a 6-1,
6-2 loss to Viking junior Alex
Rechsteiner and sophomore
Henry Thiros.
Junior Seth Yaeger placed
second at No. 2 singles, losing
to Stagg sophomore
Kevin Wacnik 6-4, 6-3 in the
finals.
At No. 2 doubles, the
Lockport duo of senior Luke
Anderson and sophomore Jacob
Cala were seeded fourth.
But they captured a win over
Stagg junior Jack Bibbiano
and senior Nicholas Pawlica
to finish third.
“I started at fourth doubles
this season with Evan Carlson,”
said Anderson, who is
one of only three seniors on
the team. “But then we made
our way to third doubles, and
then the coaches determined
that Jake [Cala] and I were
the best fit at No. 2. Jack and
I will be playing at the sectional
together, and we plan
to win and advance to state.
“But I’m just glad that we
won as a team and all get our
names [on the sign] by our
tennis courts.”
If the Porters win the sectional
for the third straight
season, they get another sign
up by the tennis courts. They
are in the Class 2A Joliet
West Sectional this weekend.