FF_030520

frankfortstationdaily.com sports
the frankfort station | March 5, 2020 | 43
Hockey
Schedin’s shutout leads Lincoln-Way into quarterfinals
STEVE MILLAR, Sports Editor
When Lincoln-Way was
struggling through the Illinois
West regular season,
it’s unlikely many of its
players were envisioning
still playing hockey in the
second week of March.
That is exactly what
will happen, though, as
Lincoln-Way has yet to
store away its pads and
sticks for the season after
keeping its postseason hot
streak alive.
Behind a shutout from
senior goaltender Jack
Schedin, Lincoln-Way
knocked off Buffalo
Grove-Hersey-Wheeling
3-0 in an AHAI varsity
Girls Basketball
Providence makes history with first sectional title
CHRIS WALKER
Freelance Reporter
Less than a minute before
halftime in the Class 3A
Hillcrest Sectional championship
game against Marian
Catholic, senior Katie
Rost collapsed in pain at
the Providence bench with
a dislocated finger.
Two quarters later, Rost
and her teammates collapsed
into each other’s
arms, celebrating the first
sectional title in program
history after Rost knocked
away a Marian pass with
the game on the line.
The Celtics held on for
a 40-38 victory Thursday,
Feb. 27, in Country Club
Hills.
Providence (27-8) was
set to take on defending
state champion Morton in
the Kankakee Supersectional
on Monday, March
combined Round of 16
playoff game Sunday,
March 1, at the Edge Ice
Arena in Bensenville.
Lincoln-Way advanced
to the state quarterfinals
and will take on either
Prospect-Rolling Meadows-Elk
Grove or the Cobras
– a co-op of several
south suburban schools
– at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday,
March 10, at the Edge.
“It feels great to be
moving on to the final
eight,” said Schedin, who
attends LW West. “No one
really expected this at the
beginning of the year. We
weren’t having our strongest
time.
“But we started peaking.
We started getting
there. Everyone’s working
together. Everyone’s
clicking. Pucks are going
into the net. It’s just all
working out.”
BGHW could not crack
a stingy Lincoln-Way defense,
and Schedin stood
strong any time they did
get a quality look at the
net.
“There weren’t many
breakaways or odd-man
breaks,” Schedin said.
“Our defense really
stepped up. It’s just great
teamwork.
“It was just taking everything
one puck at a
time, squaring up for the
puck. Not worrying about
Providence Catholic’s girls basketball team celebrates
after beating Marian Catholic 40-38 in the Class 3A
Hillcrest Sectional championship game Thursday, Feb.
27. MARK KOROSA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
2. A win would advance the
Celtics to the state finals,
set for Friday, March 6, and
Saturday, March 7, at Redbird
Arena in Normal.
“My dad put [my finger]
back together and it was all
good,” Rost said. “I had no
sense of the clock or anything.
I just knew I needed
to try to grab the ball and
hold it. That was all we
needed because there were
less than five seconds, so I
just secured the ball.”
Junior Ashley Raymer
led the Celtics with 15
points and 13 rebounds.
Senior Lauren Knight
added nine points and
seven rebounds. Senior
Claire McGrath had seven
points, and freshman Annalise
Pietrzyk hammered
home a pair of threes early
in the first quarter to finish
with six points. Rost didn’t
score, but snagged six rebounds.
Providence was playing
in its first sectional title
game in 14 years after beating
Rich South 54-39 in the
semifinal Feb. 25. McGrath
led the way in that one with
15 points, while Raymer
and Pietrzyk had nine each,
the past or the future. I got
a lot of help from my defense,
blocking shots and
stuff like that.”
Lincoln-Way senior
defenseman Caleb Hack
(Central) was quick to
give credit back to Schedin.
“We have excellent
confidence in Jack,” Hack
said. “I believe in him 100
percent. He’s pulled some
amazing things this year,
and that can be seen from
[this] game.”
In addition to his strong
work on the defensive
end, Hack provided a big
insurance goal.
With Lincoln-Way
leading 1-0, Hack scored
on the power play to make
it 2-0 with 1:43 left in the
second period.
Jacob Faruzzi and Preston
Paulas had the assists.
“I shot it toward the
net,” Hack said. “I wasn’t
expecting a goal, but I
was hoping for a goal.
I have to give credit to
[David] Caddigan for his
goal, though. That gave
us so much more cushion
and let us relax.”
Caddigan (East) made it
3-0 with 7:42 to go in the
game when he broke free
on a counterattack and
scored an unassisted goal.
Charles Tucker (East)
also scored for Lincoln-
Way.
4
Schedin and his defense
took care of the rest.
“It was a combination
of us executing as a
team,” Hack said. “Our
forwards came in to pick
us up when we had a player
down. Toward the end,
it was just determination.
We wanted to finish off
that shutout.”
Now, Lincoln-Way –
which started its postseason
surge by winning the
Illinois West Founders
Cup - is in search of a spot
in the Final Four.
“We’re on a roll now
with this win streak going,”
Schedin said. “We
just have to keep our momentum
up.”
6
and Knight scored eight.
Long-range bombing had
the Celtics on the brink of
breaking the game open a
couple of times. The Celtics
led 23-13 with 2:26 left in
the first half after a 3-pointer
and then two free throws
from Raymer, but the Spartans
(26-9) responded with
an 8-0 run and only trailed
25-21 at the half.
The Celtics made eight
3-pointers, including one
from well beyond the arc
from Knight with 4:20 remaining
in the third quarter
for a 34-26 lead, but that
was their last of the game.
Instead, the Celtics had
to rely on their defense as
their shots stopped falling.
“We’ve really grown this
year,” Knight said, “In past
years. we never would’ve
been able to do what we did
(on Thursday). It was even
better being the underdog
because it was less pressure
on us. We kept our cool.”
Marian senior Samantha
Barrett split a pair of
free throws with 27.9 seconds
left to pull Spartans to
within 39-38.
Unable to cause another
turnover, the Spartans
fouled McGrath who
missed the first free throw
but made the second for a
40-38 lead.
The Spartans worked
the ball inside, looking
to tie the game or kick it
back out for a potential
game-winning 3-pointer,
but the 5-foot-7 Rost’s outstretched
medically-taped
hand was able to steal it
away and seal the deal on
something that had eluded
Providence forever.
“We made history,” Rost
said. “We just bonded together
so well as a team
and all had each other’s
backs. Everyone made mistakes,
but we didn’t look
down on each other. We
always picked each other
up. It was back and forth,
and we just had to battle
through the entire game.
We had no idea how it was
going to end.”