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 Register online and find more info at WWW.LOCKPORTSC.COM 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.
RIZZACARS.COM homerhorizon.com homer glen the Homer Horizon | May 18, 2017 | 43 RIZZACARS.COM 7 Brands, 1 Name 8100 W. 159th St. Orland Park 8150 W. 159th St. Orland Park 8130 W. 159th St. Orland Park 8425 W. 159th St. Tinley Park
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