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newlenoxpatriot.com Sports<br />
the New Lenox Patriot | April 26, 2018 | 45<br />
Girls Soccer<br />
Griffins halt Knights’ surging momentum on special night<br />
RANDY WHALEN<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
There were smiles all<br />
around for the Lincoln-Way<br />
East girls soccer team.<br />
Not only did the Griffins<br />
get a big victory on the<br />
field, it’s hoped the team<br />
helped people get victories<br />
off the field, too.<br />
Kayleigh Hanlon scored<br />
the games only goal and<br />
Maria Fields registered the<br />
shutout in goal as East toppled<br />
Lincoln-Way Central<br />
1-0 in the second game of<br />
a special Kick for the Cure<br />
game that benefited cancer<br />
and juvenile diabetes research<br />
on April 17 in Frankfort.<br />
It was the ninth year of the<br />
event, which added juvenile<br />
diabetes research as one of<br />
the causes this season. Both<br />
teams wore specially made<br />
jersey shirts for the occasion<br />
with East in blue and<br />
the Knights in pink. While<br />
the frigid temperatures kept<br />
the crowd down somewhat,<br />
the pair of games still raised<br />
more than $2,500 this year.<br />
“Yes, the event started<br />
nine years ago,” East coach<br />
Mike Murphy said. “I was<br />
at Lincoln-Way North and<br />
reached out to [then boys<br />
soccer coach] Ryan McAllister<br />
at West. We started<br />
this for both boys and girls<br />
and we agreed we would<br />
each host it every other year.<br />
When Ryan Stepped down<br />
[after the 2011 season], Jeff<br />
Theiss agreed to continue<br />
this tradition. When North<br />
closed, I convinced [East<br />
coach] Ryan Decker to do it<br />
with boys and I would do it<br />
for girls.<br />
“We are well over<br />
$30,000 donated to different<br />
organizations in the past<br />
nine years. This year we<br />
will raise over $2,500 from<br />
the event. This year we also<br />
added juvenile diabetes as<br />
a cause. My 10-year-old<br />
daughter Teagan has been<br />
diagnosed with juvenile<br />
diabetes, so we decided to<br />
add that and half the proceeds<br />
went toward that<br />
cause. The majority of this<br />
[money raised] came from<br />
raffle baskets and the sale<br />
of baked goods. We also<br />
sold some T-shirts. [West<br />
coach] Jeff Theiss also had<br />
a class over at West design,<br />
print and sell shirts to raise<br />
money for the event.”<br />
When there were four<br />
Lincoln-Way schools,<br />
they were all involved and<br />
played each other. The three<br />
still are and H-F joined in<br />
this season.<br />
“It’s super,” Central<br />
coach Dan Radz said of participating<br />
in the event. “It’s<br />
good to raise money for a<br />
cure and to be involved in<br />
this.”<br />
The Knights (9-3) had<br />
been playing well this season<br />
but saw their six-game<br />
win streak snapped. They<br />
couldn’t get anything going<br />
offensively against East (6-<br />
6).<br />
“They deserved it, they<br />
played better than us,” Radz<br />
said of East. We didn’t do<br />
the technical things well.<br />
We had been doing well, but<br />
[the Griffins] beat us.”<br />
East certainly had the better<br />
of the play in winning<br />
its second straight. Still<br />
the game was scoreless in<br />
the 58th minute when Hanlon<br />
sent a corner kick in<br />
from the left side. It was<br />
initially headed out by the<br />
Knights, but they couldn’t<br />
clear it.<br />
After a few exchanges,<br />
the ball ended back on the<br />
foot of Hanlon. The freshman<br />
midfielder let it rip<br />
from just to the right of the<br />
top of the box. It was perfectly<br />
placed as it flew past<br />
junior goalkeeper Peyton<br />
Vecchiet and into the upper<br />
(Left to right) Lincoln-Way East’s Bridget Grady and Taylor Kerrigan, and Lincoln-Way Central’s Katie Farr engage on a<br />
loose ball April 17 during a match between the two teams as part of the Kick for a Cure fundraiser in Frankfort. Photos by<br />
Julie McMann/22nd Century Media<br />
90 on the left side.<br />
“I really wanted to score,<br />
I didn’t want our team to<br />
lose,” Hanlon said of the<br />
goal. “The ball was there<br />
and it was like no one<br />
was going to shoot, so I<br />
thought, ‘I might as well hit<br />
it hard.’ It felt really good<br />
because [Central] is a good<br />
team.<br />
“Plus we played for a<br />
really good cause. It was<br />
good to see people turn out<br />
for the game. We’re getting<br />
better and it was nice to get<br />
a win like this to boost our<br />
moral.”<br />
Griffin junior midfielder<br />
Bridget Grady had the best<br />
opportunity in the first half.<br />
But her shot smacked off<br />
the right post about midway<br />
through. She also added another<br />
crossing shot from the<br />
left side, but it was flagged<br />
down by Vecchiet, who has<br />
seven shutouts on the season,<br />
with just over three<br />
minutes to play in the half.<br />
Senior striker Maddie<br />
Melde had a crossing attempt<br />
from the left side<br />
with just over 27 minutes<br />
left to play in the game for<br />
the Knights. But Central’s<br />
best scoring opportunities<br />
came in the final five minutes.<br />
First junior striker<br />
Nicolette Gossage couldn’t<br />
quite catch up to a send in<br />
ahead of a coral by Fields<br />
with 5:08 remaining. Just<br />
30 seconds later sophomore<br />
midfielder Abbey Ward had<br />
her shot from the right side<br />
go on goal, but saved.<br />
RIGHT: Megan Andjelic<br />
clears the ball.
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