Tannura leads L-W West to historic win
Warriors collect 1st victory against Lincoln-Way North
By Steve Millar
NEW LENOX -- One terrific individual play can change an entire game.
Host Lincoln-Way West and Lincoln-Way North saw that firsthand Tuesday night.
The visiting Phoenix seemed to take control of the contest late in the first half and into the second. But the Warriors’ Natalie Tannura changed all of that with one play and helped her team make some history in the process.
With just under 27 minutes to go, Tannura got the ball from teammate Breanna Bembenek, who intercepted a North goal kick. Tannura collected her pass 25 yards from the goal, beat two defenders down the right side of the box and fired a shot inside the far post for the first goal of the night.
Brianna Heyer scored just over two minutes later and West earned its first ever win over North with a 2-0 decision in a SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division game in New Lenox.
“(Bembenek) slotted it to me, and I was open,” said Tannura, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “Sometimes my back is to the ball, which I’ve been working on, but it’s a good thing it wasn’t this time. I got the ball and just went from there.
“That play I felt like was a slap in the face in a good way for all of us. After that, everyone just stood up tall. Our posture was better, we were stepping better and we were really hungry. We weren’t just satisfied with one goal, we were like, ‘We want to shut them out.’ We kept working hard.”
With the win, West (10-6-1, 2-1-0) kept control of its own fate in the Red race and will win at least a share of the conference crown if it can win its final three league games against Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way Central and Thornwood co-op. North (8-5-1, 2-1) is also squarely in the mix.
Prior to Tuesday night, West – in its sixth year with a varsity team – had never scored a goal against its district rival from North. The fact that Tannura changed that was a welcome sight for coach Jeff Theiss.
“It was a 100 percent team effort to get this win, but we’ve talked about how it’s all about big players stepping up in big-time situations,” Theiss said. “We’ve been asking this out of Natalie and pushing her. She doesn’t drop her head, she stays hungry, and we saw that there. Strong on the ball, generates an opportunity, and finds the back post.
“That transitioned from (Monday’s) training session. She was a handful in training. She buried a couple nice goals when we went short-sided, and we had a feeling that could definitely generate some opportunities for us today.”
Tannura, too, felt a lift from Monday’s practice.
“I’ve been having a rough time,” she said. “I’ve been off my game with scoring. I had been kind of beating myself up and (Monday) it started working for me, and I was really hoping it would transfer to this game. I just had the mentality that ‘I have to do this. I have to do this, it’s going to happen’ and it did, so I was really excited.”
That the goal came in the Kick 4 a Cure breast cancer benefit game made it even more special for Tannura.
“It’s personal to me,” she said. “My mom (Jennifer) is a survivor of breast cancer, so it’s a big thing. I had my whole family out. I loved the atmosphere. We raised so much money. It just makes it that much more exciting.”
Both teams donned special shirts for the game and raffles were held. When the adding machine stopped clicking, the teams had raised $1,350 for Silver Cross Hospital’s cancer research program.
“The great thing to see is the competitive nature of the two teams, knowing they’re playing for something bigger than soccer,” Theiss said. “It’s great seeing all the communities participate in this and all the youth teams come out. It was definitely a special night.”
After years of waiting for West’s first goal against North, goal number two happened just moments later.
Meredith Buldak won the ball off a West goal kick and headed it to Heyer on the left sideline. Heyer collected the ball just past midfield and carried it all the way down the sideline before beating North goalkeeper Maria Fields to make it 2-0 with 24:38 to go.
“You could feel the excitement like ‘We’re already up 1-0, let’s keep it going,’” Heyer said. “I’ve been working on the outside of the foot finish. I’ve missed it a few times, and it felt good to finally put one away.
“You can tell that we’re the small school. We’re the newest of the Lincoln-Ways. I feel like we kind of just gained their respect (Tuesday night).”
Heyer’s goal came after she had to sit out a good portion of the first half due to complications with a breathing problem she said she plans to have surgery to correct after the season.
The quick two-goal outburst was a stunner for a North team that felt it was in a good position to win the match.
“We had a couple great opportunities in the first half to score, and we didn’t take those,” North coach Mike Murphy said. “Then the second half, they had two great opportunities, and they took care of them.
“Not taking anything away from them, they beat us fair and square, but I think we had the better opportunities and the better possession, but they could take (advantage) of their opportunities and we didn’t. You can be the prettiest team in the world, but it doesn’t make you win.”
West goalkeeper Audrey Pearson (6 saves) was a big part of the reason why the Phoenix didn’t capitalize on those first half chances.
She made a pair of saves on Grace Sheetz shots in the opening 10 minutes, including going to the ground to handle a hard bouncer that Sheetz uncorked from close range.
“Their shots early in the game were hard,” Pearson said. “The first one was like ‘Oh God, now I know how hard they’re going to shoot it.’ It’s just figuring it out as it comes. I made sure to let our defenders know where they broke down, so they could fix it, and they did.”
Theiss praised sweeper Emily Wyskiel for leading the defense’s second-half improvement.
North surged over the final 10 minutes of the first half, but didn’t capitalize on several chances. Nonetheless, it felt like the game was going the Phoenix’s way until Tannura changed everything.
“I thought we were doing a good job getting opportunities then that one play happens, and they score,” Murphy said. “Then we let down a little bit, and they scored again. My girls battled the entire time. They didn’t give up. We were on the attack basically the whole last 15 minutes. But you’ve got to give the Warriors the credit today. They came at us hard. They pushed forward, and they beat our defenders down the line in footraces.”
For West, the win brings added confidence after plenty was already built up by playing in the PepsiCo Showdown.
“In the past, we’ve looked at names of teams and been intimidated,” Tannura said. “After the Pepsi Tournament, we know we can play with good teams. Even though we had never beaten North, we weren’t like ‘Oh man, we’re playing North.’ We knew what we were capable of doing.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Audrey Pearson
D: Emily Wyskiel
D: Olivia Judge
D: Teagan Lyke
M: Madison Mikalauski
M: Brittany Stover
M: Meghann Lange
M: Meredith Buldak
M: Brianna Heyer
F: Natalie Tannura
F: Brianna Darlage
Lincoln-Way North
GK: Maria Fields
D: Grace Sheetz
D: Sarah Mirabella
D: Ava Eggert
D: Carly Marchal
M: Kelsey Mcinturff
M: Makenna Manis
M: Bianca Galassini
M: Andrea Prado
F: Tasha Fields
F: Rachel Pappas
MVP of the Match: Natalie Tannura, F, Lincoln-Way West
Officials: Darko Miocic, Richard Andrews, Lee Williams
Warriors collect 1st victory against Lincoln-Way North
By Steve Millar
NEW LENOX -- One terrific individual play can change an entire game.
Host Lincoln-Way West and Lincoln-Way North saw that firsthand Tuesday night.
The visiting Phoenix seemed to take control of the contest late in the first half and into the second. But the Warriors’ Natalie Tannura changed all of that with one play and helped her team make some history in the process.
With just under 27 minutes to go, Tannura got the ball from teammate Breanna Bembenek, who intercepted a North goal kick. Tannura collected her pass 25 yards from the goal, beat two defenders down the right side of the box and fired a shot inside the far post for the first goal of the night.
Brianna Heyer scored just over two minutes later and West earned its first ever win over North with a 2-0 decision in a SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division game in New Lenox.
“(Bembenek) slotted it to me, and I was open,” said Tannura, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “Sometimes my back is to the ball, which I’ve been working on, but it’s a good thing it wasn’t this time. I got the ball and just went from there.
“That play I felt like was a slap in the face in a good way for all of us. After that, everyone just stood up tall. Our posture was better, we were stepping better and we were really hungry. We weren’t just satisfied with one goal, we were like, ‘We want to shut them out.’ We kept working hard.”
With the win, West (10-6-1, 2-1-0) kept control of its own fate in the Red race and will win at least a share of the conference crown if it can win its final three league games against Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way Central and Thornwood co-op. North (8-5-1, 2-1) is also squarely in the mix.
Prior to Tuesday night, West – in its sixth year with a varsity team – had never scored a goal against its district rival from North. The fact that Tannura changed that was a welcome sight for coach Jeff Theiss.
“It was a 100 percent team effort to get this win, but we’ve talked about how it’s all about big players stepping up in big-time situations,” Theiss said. “We’ve been asking this out of Natalie and pushing her. She doesn’t drop her head, she stays hungry, and we saw that there. Strong on the ball, generates an opportunity, and finds the back post.
“That transitioned from (Monday’s) training session. She was a handful in training. She buried a couple nice goals when we went short-sided, and we had a feeling that could definitely generate some opportunities for us today.”
Tannura, too, felt a lift from Monday’s practice.
“I’ve been having a rough time,” she said. “I’ve been off my game with scoring. I had been kind of beating myself up and (Monday) it started working for me, and I was really hoping it would transfer to this game. I just had the mentality that ‘I have to do this. I have to do this, it’s going to happen’ and it did, so I was really excited.”
That the goal came in the Kick 4 a Cure breast cancer benefit game made it even more special for Tannura.
“It’s personal to me,” she said. “My mom (Jennifer) is a survivor of breast cancer, so it’s a big thing. I had my whole family out. I loved the atmosphere. We raised so much money. It just makes it that much more exciting.”
Both teams donned special shirts for the game and raffles were held. When the adding machine stopped clicking, the teams had raised $1,350 for Silver Cross Hospital’s cancer research program.
“The great thing to see is the competitive nature of the two teams, knowing they’re playing for something bigger than soccer,” Theiss said. “It’s great seeing all the communities participate in this and all the youth teams come out. It was definitely a special night.”
After years of waiting for West’s first goal against North, goal number two happened just moments later.
Meredith Buldak won the ball off a West goal kick and headed it to Heyer on the left sideline. Heyer collected the ball just past midfield and carried it all the way down the sideline before beating North goalkeeper Maria Fields to make it 2-0 with 24:38 to go.
“You could feel the excitement like ‘We’re already up 1-0, let’s keep it going,’” Heyer said. “I’ve been working on the outside of the foot finish. I’ve missed it a few times, and it felt good to finally put one away.
“You can tell that we’re the small school. We’re the newest of the Lincoln-Ways. I feel like we kind of just gained their respect (Tuesday night).”
Heyer’s goal came after she had to sit out a good portion of the first half due to complications with a breathing problem she said she plans to have surgery to correct after the season.
The quick two-goal outburst was a stunner for a North team that felt it was in a good position to win the match.
“We had a couple great opportunities in the first half to score, and we didn’t take those,” North coach Mike Murphy said. “Then the second half, they had two great opportunities, and they took care of them.
“Not taking anything away from them, they beat us fair and square, but I think we had the better opportunities and the better possession, but they could take (advantage) of their opportunities and we didn’t. You can be the prettiest team in the world, but it doesn’t make you win.”
West goalkeeper Audrey Pearson (6 saves) was a big part of the reason why the Phoenix didn’t capitalize on those first half chances.
She made a pair of saves on Grace Sheetz shots in the opening 10 minutes, including going to the ground to handle a hard bouncer that Sheetz uncorked from close range.
“Their shots early in the game were hard,” Pearson said. “The first one was like ‘Oh God, now I know how hard they’re going to shoot it.’ It’s just figuring it out as it comes. I made sure to let our defenders know where they broke down, so they could fix it, and they did.”
Theiss praised sweeper Emily Wyskiel for leading the defense’s second-half improvement.
North surged over the final 10 minutes of the first half, but didn’t capitalize on several chances. Nonetheless, it felt like the game was going the Phoenix’s way until Tannura changed everything.
“I thought we were doing a good job getting opportunities then that one play happens, and they score,” Murphy said. “Then we let down a little bit, and they scored again. My girls battled the entire time. They didn’t give up. We were on the attack basically the whole last 15 minutes. But you’ve got to give the Warriors the credit today. They came at us hard. They pushed forward, and they beat our defenders down the line in footraces.”
For West, the win brings added confidence after plenty was already built up by playing in the PepsiCo Showdown.
“In the past, we’ve looked at names of teams and been intimidated,” Tannura said. “After the Pepsi Tournament, we know we can play with good teams. Even though we had never beaten North, we weren’t like ‘Oh man, we’re playing North.’ We knew what we were capable of doing.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Audrey Pearson
D: Emily Wyskiel
D: Olivia Judge
D: Teagan Lyke
M: Madison Mikalauski
M: Brittany Stover
M: Meghann Lange
M: Meredith Buldak
M: Brianna Heyer
F: Natalie Tannura
F: Brianna Darlage
Lincoln-Way North
GK: Maria Fields
D: Grace Sheetz
D: Sarah Mirabella
D: Ava Eggert
D: Carly Marchal
M: Kelsey Mcinturff
M: Makenna Manis
M: Bianca Galassini
M: Andrea Prado
F: Tasha Fields
F: Rachel Pappas
MVP of the Match: Natalie Tannura, F, Lincoln-Way West
Officials: Darko Miocic, Richard Andrews, Lee Williams