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44 | May 23, 2019 | the lockport legend sports lockportlegend.com Girls Soccer Porters give their all in regional title match, falling 2-1 Team closes out season with final record of 14-4-5 Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter Jennifer Latoza and Samantha Shafabidy both had birthdays on Friday, May 17. The Lockport Township girls soccer players could not think of a better present than a regional championship. But unfortunately for them and the rest of the Porters, that did not happen. Instead, it was Metea Valley with a pair of goals in a 70-second span late in the first half that stood up for the winning goals over the host Porters in a 2-1 victory on May 17 in the title game of the Class 3A Lockport Regional at the LTHS soccer field. The No. 6-seeded Mustangs (10-8-2) won their sixth-straight regional title and seventh in the past eight years. They played top-seeded Naperville North, a 3-2 winner over West Aurora in the regional title game, on Wednesday, May 22, in a semifinal of the East Aurora Sectional. Lockport (14-4-5), which was seeded No. 4 in the sectional, closed out one of its best seasons in school history recordwise. But the Porters fell short in their bid to win a regional championship for the first time since 2012. “A win would have been a better birthday present,” Latoza said. “But it’s OK. We played hard the entire time. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get too many chances, but we played our best.” Latoza, a forward, and Natalie Miller, a midfielder, were the only seniors on the field for the Porters. Their only other seniors, forwards Finley Travis and Gabby Zieba, were both out with injuries. Travis broke her right foot in the last week of the regular season in a key game, a 2-0 loss on May 6 at Sandburg. Zieba tore the ACL in her right knee on March 18 in a 3-0 loss at SWSC Red champion Bradley- Bourbonnais. “It was a good game,” Lockport coach Todd Elkei said of the regional title tilt. “It would have been nice to not have two seniors on the sideline. But we played hard. It wasn’t from lack of effort.” It certainly was not and will always be a memorable season. “I will definitely just remember this group of girls and these wonderful coaches,” Miller said. “The coaches taught me everything. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in college [at St. Ambrose University], but I will miss these girls so much.” Playing in their second regional title game in the past three seasons, Lockport scored first. That was when freshman Karolina Stasik was able to redirect a crossing pass from the left by junior midfielder Chloe Barrett and punch it in just 3:18 into the game. “We came out on fire, just how we wanted to play,” Elkei said. “I had seen that play we scored on and passed it along to the team the night before the game. That’s exactly how we scored our goal.” Unfortunately for the Porters, their opportunities after that were few and far between. Five minutes after the goal, freshman forward Anna Domina had a shot opportunity from the right sail high. Another freshman, defender Sarah Matuszek, took a corner kick with 16 minutes left in the first half and added a restart kick from the top of the box about seven minutes later that went wide. Less than a minute after that, Metea Valley had an excellent opportunity, as senior midfielder Kayla Hurst got the ball all alone on the left side. She drew junior keeper Reagan Tompkins out of the net and sent in a shot. The grounder was headed into the goal, but Latoza swooped in and made a non-goalie save with 8:25 to play in the first half. “I saw Reagan come out, and I wanted to fill in her spot,” Latoza said of the play. “I was blessed to be in the right spot at the right time.” The Mustangs, however, came back four minutes later and scored. Following a foul, they had a restart opportunity from the top of the box. From there, senior midfielder Kiley McKee put in the free kick, and the game was tied at 1-1 with 4:51 left in the first half. Just over a minute later, sophomore defender Katy Flanders fired in a shot that Tompkins saved. But she gave up a rebound near the right post, and freshman midfielder Jocelyn Grabow was there to put it in with 3:41 left in the opening half. So, the two goals came within 70 seconds of each other. Lockport’s Lauren Philips surveys the field during a game earlier this season. 22nd Century Media File Photo “The first goal was from right outside the box, so there wasn’t much we could do,” Latoza said of the Mustangs’ goal. “Then the second one, we were out of position and gave up a rebound goal.” Those proved to be the difference. “Once they got the first goal, we got in a threeminute panic mode,” Elkei said. “Anyone could have been the No. 4 through 10 seed in this sectional. Our younger kids got a lot of experience. We just need a goal scorer.” That was the Porters’ issue in the second half. They had exactly one opportunity, a restart from the top of the box with 29:40 to play in the game. From there, Matuszek ripped a laser that was on goal, but it went right to junior keeper Nikki Coryell, who corralled it. The rest of the game belonged to the Mustangs. Junior midfielder Sydney Rohm had corner kick opportunities and also had a shot roll off the top of the crossbar. Junior midfielder Grace Galfano also made a non-goalie save for Lockport late in the first half. But, despite Metea Valley being whistled for two yellow cards in the last 35 seconds, the Porters never got off another shot on goal. In the semifinals, Lockport defeated Bolingbrook 2-0 on May 14. It was the third win for the Porters over their fellow South- West Suburban Conference opponent this season. Galfano and Barrett, on an assist by Miller, had the goals. It was Tompkins’ 15th shutout on the season, including four scoreless ties. The next day, May 15, Metea Valley knocked out Oswego East by the score of 3-0. Shafabidy, a defender, was one of six sophomores on the team. There were seven freshmen on the Porter postseason roster. So, the future looks bright. “Obviously, it’s always hard to leave,” Miller said. “But I’m going to come back and watch these girls. I will be happy to see them grow.”
lockportlegend.com sports the lockport legend | May 23, 2019 | 45 Baseball and Softball Lockport baseball, softball squads ready for postseason Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter As the baseball and softball postseason opens this week, both Lockport Township teams find themselves seeded second in their respective sectionals. So if things pan out according to the seeds, there could be excitement through the end of next week and beyond for the Porters. But first things first, as the postseason is set to begin this week for both teams. The softball team is coming off back-to-back regional championships. This Saturday the Porters hope to add to that as they host a regional and will be aiming for their 20th regional title in the past 25 seasons and 25th regional championship overall in the 47-year history of the program. The Porters (26-5, 10- 0) finished undefeated in the Blue Division of the SouthWest Suburban Conference this season. “It’s definitely been exciting,” Lockport softball coach Marissa Chovanec said of the regular season. “It’ been a long time [6 years] since we were conference champions. This has been a unique group — a large group of juniors to go with our seniors. But we had a large group of seniors last year and most of these juniors stayed on the sophomore team. “They won the conference as freshmen and then again as sophomores. They brought that winning culture to this season. To finish undefeated in the conference is awesome.” Lockport completed the undefeated conference season with a 7-2 win over Stagg on Thursday, May 16, in Palos Hills. A trio of those juniors led the way as Madeline Kundrat (5 IP, 6 strikeouts), Brooke Ligacki (2 hits), and Haley Panfil (2 RBI) led the way as the Porters won their eighth in a row overall. Earlier in the week, on May 14, the Porters celebrated Senior Night by hosting Sandburg and coming away with a 2-0 win. One of the seniors, pitcher Erin Kleffman (6 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts) got the win. Panfil (3 hits) and junior Alyssa Drogemuller (2-for-2, run, RBI) paced the offense. “Right now, we are firing on all three cylinders,” Chovanec said of her team’s hitting, pitching and defense. “We just have to continue to focus on having good at-bats and having that workmanlike approach. We know at this point we can be one and done, so this is what we prepare for.” The postseason opens this week and Lockport is the No. 2 seed behind Lincoln-Way Central in the Class 4A Thornwood Sectional. The Porters host their own regional and face the winner of the Bloom Township and Thornwood game from the day before at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21. Andrew and Plainfield South square off afterward. The winners are to play in the regional championship game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 25. While things haven’t gone as well lately, the Lockport baseball team is not going to go down without a fight. At the end of the regular season, the Porters sat at 21-14. But they had opened the season with a record of 18-2, so they lost 9-of-11 through Thursday, May 16. Even though the last few weeks have not exactly gone the way the Porters envisioned it, they know the real test starts this week in the postseason. That is where anything can happen and they certainly have the talent to make a deep run in the State Tournament. “We continue to battle throughout this final stretch of the season,” Lockport coach Andy Satunas said. “We have been hitting a lot of ‘at them’ balls. Once they start falling we will see good things happen. Our pitching continues to compete and our defense has been playing Lockport outfielder Collin Woulfe tracks a fly ball during a game earlier this season. 22nd Century Media File Photo catch better. We continue to focus on the little things day after day.” Little things cost Lockport last week in three losses. In a 6-2 home loss to Stagg in an SWSC Blue game on May 14, Lockport out-hit the Chargers 9-5 but issued six walks while Stagg surrendered none. Sophomore Ryan Moerman, along with seniors Josh Bently and Alex Martinez all had two hits for the Porters. The next day, the Porters traveled to Stagg and lost 9-6. But they were behind 9-0 after three innings before rallying for four in the fourth and single runs in the sixth and seventh. They left the bases loaded in the seventh. Junior Tim Hoak had two hits off the bench for Lockport. The Porters finished 3-7 in the SWSC Blue. Stagg improved to 14-15 and 5-5. Then on Thursday, May 16, Lockport lost 4-1 to De La Salle at Route 66 Stadium in the quarterfinals of the Do It Stevie’s Way Tournament. Martinez was 3-for-3 and Moerman added two of the Porters seven hits. Lockport scored in the first but couldn’t plate another run. De La Salle scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to break a 1-1 tie. The Porters host their own sectional and hope to advance to it. But first, they have to go through the Andrew Regional this week which is to be held in Crestwood at Standard Bank Stadium. Lockport opens at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, against the winner of the Bloom Township at Crete-Monee game. Andrew plays Sandburg right after that under the lights. The winners play for the regional championship at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 25. tennis From Page 47 the SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division championship with Stagg this season. It was Central’s first conference championship in the sport since 2010. “I think my first and second doubles teams were pretty even all year,” Riebe said. “Each one would pick each other up all the time. We just wanted to stay in on every point. It was great for the team to tie for the conference. That’s the first time since 2010.” If the Knights can wait nine years to get another conference crown, Winter and Piltaver can wait another week to be officially done with high school. The final day for the Central seniors was Friday, May 17. But not for them as the State Finals are this Thursday, May 23 through Saturday, May 25 at various locations with the main one being Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. “I thought I was done with high school,” Winter said. “But this is a good reason to keep me here another week.”
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