Girls Soccer: Lincoln-Way Central blanks Lincoln-Way East
By Scott Ehling For Sun-Times Media April 12, 2012 11:02PM
Updated: May 14, 2012 8:14AM
A lot can happen in just over a minute.
Lincoln-Way Central’s Caley Michalak and Rachel Post scored goals 69 seconds apart in the first half to fuel the Knights to a hard-fought 2-0 SouthWest Suburban crossover victory Thursday night over visiting Lincoln-Way East.
“I thought we did a good job in the first half of cycling through, which sort of confused them,” Central coach Dan Radz said. “Luckily, we finished at the right times in the right moments.”
Central (8-3) had scoring opportunities early but East’s midfield defense was more than up to the task.
The Knights finally broke through with 10:30 remaining in the first half when Michalak converted on a nice midfield pass from 15 feet out from Maddie Stephens for a 1-0 lead.
“It was a great pass,” Michalak said. “I was there at the right time and lucky that I was able to finish it.”
Sixty-nine seconds later, Post’s header off a free kick by Lauren Kelly made it 2-0.
“I called a certain play because I saw their players standing around and our girls knew exactly what to do,” Radz said. “It’s a beautiful thing when you see it work like it did.”
The Griffins (4-6) had good possession in the second half. A free kick by Jessica Bicek went wide right with 22:03 remaining in the game.
“It’s encouraging to have the opportunities that we did, but we ask our girls to play a full 80 minutes and we have been struggling to do that,” East coach Brian Papa said.
The Griffins continued to test Knights goalkeeper Jessica Phillips late in the second half. Phillips, a freshman, was up to the task and recorded her seventh shutout of the season.
“We all trust each other,” Phillips said of Central’s defense. “I think we have really good organization in the back, and Lauren (Kelly) is making sure of it.”
