HH_052418

42 | May 24, 2018 | The Homer Horizon sports
homerhorizon.com
Girls Soccer
Porters drop regional semi in penalty kicks
West Aurora mounts
comeback to take
down LTHS in playoff
match in Lockport
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
Sports are supposed to
teach life lessons.
The Lockport Township
High School girls soccer
team experienced one of
those lessons last week.
The Porters lost a fourgoal
lead and eventually fell
in penalty kicks 5-4 to West
Aurora in the second semifinal
matchup of the Class 3A
Lockport Regional on May
16 at the Lockport soccer
field.
With the amazing comeback,
the No. 9-seeded
Blackhawks (9-6-2) moved
on to play Naperville North,
which is the top seed in the
Plainfield North Sectional.
The Huskies defeated Plainfield
Central 7-0 on May
15 in the opening semifinal
game.
Lockport (13-8-1) was
bidding to advance to the regional
title game on its home
field for the second-straight
season, but instead, the Porters
saw their six-game win
streak, all by shutout, end,
as they suffered a secondhalf
collapse that left them
stunned.
“Nope, never,” Lockport
coach Todd Elkei responded
when asked if he’d ever had
a team lose a four-goal lead
in his 20-plus years as a head
coach. “I guess it’s a lesson
to the girls to don’t ever give
up, to keep working. This
just shows our girls that, no
matter how bad it gets, keep
fighting, because anything
can happen. [The Blackhawks]
did that and gave us
a life lesson.”
Lockport’s Madi Davis corrals the ball during a game earlier
this season.
West Aurora did not give
up, especially down the
stretch. Lockport led 4-1
at halftime and maintained
that lead for the first 20-
plus minutes of the second
half. Then, a bevy of Blackhawks
goals tied it. First,
sophomore midfielder Sarai
Munoz scored off a corner
kick by senior forward Riley
O’Brien to make it 4-2 with
19:17 to play in the game.
About two minutes later,
sophomore midfielder Kiara
McPherson tallied to make
it 4-3. Three minutes later,
McPherson took a restart
from O’Brien and converted
it. All of a sudden, the score
was tied at 4-4 with 14:13
remaining in regulation, as
West Aurora scored a trio of
goals in a span of 5:04.
“We knew they were dangerous
on the set pieces,”
Elkei said of the Blackhawks.
“We wanted to limit
the restarts, and we didn’t
do that. We had a lot of miscommunication.”
West Aurora nearly won
in regulation when sophomore
forward Audrey Stephens
blasted an attempt that
hit the crossbar with 2:43 to
play. O’Brien had a rebound
shot, but senior defender
Madi Davis made a nongoalie
save for Lockport.
In the two 10-minute
overtime periods, the Porters
had a few more opportunities,
but shots by senior
forward Ally Fischer and junior
forward Jenifer Latoza,
along with junior midfielders
Finley Travis and Natalie
Miller, were saved.
In the shootout, the Porters
went first and fell behind
right away, as sophomore
keeper Hannah Gove came
up with a critical save. Freshman
midfielder Amelia Diaz
and senior midfielder Stephanie
Quigley scored in the
second and third rounds for
Lockport, but Gove recorded
another save at the left post
to open the fourth round.
And when senior defenseman
Sofia Papoutsis scored
with a shot on the right side,
Midfielder Stephanie Quigley was one of four seniors on this year’s LTHS girls soccer
team. 22nd Century Media File Photos
the Blackhawks celebrated
the victory. O’Brien, Kiara
McPherson and sophomore
midfielder Olivia McPherson
also scored for West Aurora
in the shootout.
“We had all of our energy
early in the game,” Quigley
said. “We felt awesome, I
mean everyone on the team
thought we had it in the bag,
but you can’t think that way.
You have to play the whole
80 minutes in soccer. We
stopped going for 50/50
balls. All during the season,
if the other team scored,
we’d put our head down.
That’s what we did again.”
In 12 of the Porters’ 13
wins, they registered a shutout,
most of those behind
sophomore keeper Reagan
Tompkins. They were also
shutout five times in their
eight losses.
Early on, Lockport sophomore
midfielder Grace Galfano
scored two goals in just
under two minutes for a 2-0
lead. Travis assisted on both,
with the second one being a
heads-up play. It developed
as junior forward Jennifer Latoza
started the play on a free
kick which found the head
of Travis, whose attempt
clanged off the left post. The
ball, however, ricocheted to
Galfano, who scored on the
rebound for a 2-0 lead just
6:51 into the game.
Quigley converted a penalty
kick with 25:15 left in
the first half for a 3-0 lead.
The Porters made it 4-0
when Fischer arced a corner
kick from the right side to
the far post. Miller was there
to head it in with 21:03 left
in the first half, and it appeared
everything was going
right for Lockport.
“That was the best 20 minutes
of soccer we’ve had this
year,” Elkei said of the first
half. “But then, the fouls and
giving up set pieces hurt us.
We needed to hit a reset button.”
Stephens started the
Blackhawks comeback on a
goal with 5:19 left in the first
half. She took a feed from
junior defenseman Laeticia
Mbende and slid it past
Tomkins, off the left post
and in for the score.
Each team only has four
seniors. Davis, Fischer and
Quigley all played significant
roles as seniors for the
Porters. So did Lauren Pikulski,
who along with Fischer
and Quigley were four-year
varsity players. But Pikulski
sat on the bench, as she
had an allergy attack and
wasn’t able to play, since she
couldn’t wear her contacts.
“I feel bad for the seniors,”
Elkei said. “They’ve done so
much and had a goal to reach
the regional final. All four
years, the seniors worked hard
to get that team bond, and I’m
proud of them for that.”
Quigley, one of those seniors,
won’t soon forget this
season.
“This season was my favorite,
and I love these girls
so much,” she said. “We
were closer than ever this
year, and I will miss them
all.”