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lockportlegend.com sports
the lockport legend | March 21, 2019 | 39
fastbreak
Adam Jomant/22nd Century
Media
1st and 3
Lockport girls
soccer kicks
offense into high
gear in opener
1. Building confidence
The Lockport
girls soccer team
blanked Crete-
Monee by a final of
9-0 in the season
opener played
Thursday, March
14, at LTHS’s East
Campus.
2. Consistent play
The Porters raced
out to a 4-0
halftime lead and
added five goals
from there, with
freshmen forwards
Karolina Stasik and
Anna Domina chipping
in two goals
apiece.
3. Looking to repeat
The Porters won
the Blue Division
championship of
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference
last season, an
achievement they
hope to duplicate
this year.
LISTEN UP
Boys Water Polo
Porters look to make their own mark after success of last season
Team battles
Metea Valley at
home in opener
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
Coming off one of — if
not the best — seasons in
its history, the Lockport
Township boys water polo
team knows it will be hard
to have that level of success
again this season.
But the Porters are OK
with that, as this year’s
group will look to make
their own mark and improve
as the season progresses.
“I’m really excited,”
Lockport coach Joe Lewandowski
said. “This
[first week] offers just a
glimpse of what we have.
We graduated seven seniors
from last season’s
team, and [in the opener],
we were excited to just get
back in the water.”
Lockport opened the
season at home March 11.
The game was close into
the third quarter, but in the
end, Metea Valley pulled
away for an 11-7 victory.
The Mustangs (3-4
through March 12) had
played five games in the
opening week, including
four in the Naperville
North Tournament. They
traveled to face defending
state champion Naperville
Central, which is ranked
No. 1 again this season, on
“It was a good game. We have a lot to work on, but our new players are
going to be good. Last year, we won the conference for the first time in
awhile, and we want to do it again.”
Natalie Miller — LTHS senior girls soccer player, on the season opener
and goals for the year
“I think our chemistry might be better than last
year. But we still lost a lot of people. We just have
to work a little harder and wake up a little earlier
every day.”
Caleb Speechley — Lockport boys water polo player, on seven players
graduating from last year’s 27-5 team and putting in the work to grow
together this season
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March 12 and lost 15-6.
Against the Porters,
senior Colin Szczesny
scored seven goals, including
all four in the second
quarter, as Metea Valley
took the lead for good.
“This was their sixth
game,” Lewandowski
said of the Mustangs at
that point. “We were just
excited to be playing as a
team. We have a lot of new
guys, and our communication
has to improve. We
missed some marks, and
that led to some missed
shots and them getting
some man-up opportunities.”
Four seniors with experience
return for Lockport.
They are Michael
Bates, Simon Harmata,
Caleb Speechley and Tyler
Thompson.
“I think our chemistry
might be better than last
year,” Speechley said.
“But we still lost a lot of
people. We just have to
work a little harder and
wake up a little earlier every
day.”
There was a lot of action
in the first quarter of
the opening game. Szczesny
and fellow senior
Tyler Flanders scored
goals to start. But back
came the Porters, as senior
Declan Ruane sandwiched
a pair of goals
around one from Thompson
to give Lockport a
3-2 lead. Szczesny scored
again, but Harmata hammered
one home from in
front with four seconds to
play to put the Porters up
4-3 after a quarter.
But the four goals by
Szczesny in the second
quarter put the Mustangs
ahead 7-5 at halftime.
Lockport’s only tally in
the second quarter was a
nice fire-in by senior Lucas
Bergstrom that tied
the score at 5-5 midway
through the period.
Bates bounced a goal
in as his skip shot sailed
by junior keeper James
Cronin 1:22 into the third
quarter to close Lockport
Girls Soccer
Taking on the Celtics — 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at
Providence
• The Porters play their third-straight road game,
heading to New Lenox for a matchup with Provi.
within 7-6. While the Porters
did a nice job defending
Szczesny in the second
half, they weren’t able to
score again for over 12
minutes. That led to goals
by junior Daniel Bereman,
Szczesny and seniors
Jamey Hines and Jonathan
Duval. The Porters finally
got on the board again
when Harmata scored with
just 28 seconds to play in
the game.
“It was tough,” Lockport
senior Kyle Moses
said of the loss. “We just
couldn’t find anything,
get anything in the net.
The shoes left behind are
huge to fill. We lost a lot
of seniors, but we have a
lot of talent. We just have
to work hard and get it going.”
As of last week, the Porters
did not know where
they would be headed for
the postseason. The past
four years, they were sent
west instead of staying
south and being in the
same sectional as the rest
Index
of their fellow SouthWest
Suburban teams. That
meant they had to usually
face a top-ranked team in
order to advance out of the
sectional.
That was the case last
year. Lockport lost 13-4 to
Naperville Central in the
title match of the Metea
Valley Sectional. It was the
first sectional final in five
years for the Porters, who
won their only sectional title
and placed fourth in the
state in 2012. But they still
finished with a school-best
record of 27-5.
Naperville Central
(34-1) went on to win its
second state title in three
years with a 13-5 victory
over Fenwick. In the three
state games, the Redhawks
outscored their opponents
35-15.
“Our strength of schedule
is really strong,” Lewandowski
said. “We
can’t do anything about
who we play, we just have
to play our best. But yes,
we feel like we would have
been competitive with any
other one of those teams at
state.”
On Thursday, March 14,
Lockport beat St. Charles
North in another nonconference
clash by a score of
14-12 in Lockport.
The Porters ended last
week on Friday, March 15,
and Saturday, March 16, at
the Mundelein Invite. This
Thursday, March 21, at 5
p.m., they host Andrew in
a SWSC clash.
34- This Week In
34 - Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Max
Lapthorne, max@lockportlegend.com.