Sudden-strike attack leads
Lincoln-Way West past Lockport
2 goals in 73 seconds give Warriors win
By Matt Le Cren
LOCKPORT – Lockport and Lincoln-Way West were so evenly matched that after the first hour of play a scoreless tie seemed inevitable Thursday.
Then Natalie Tannura and Brianna Heyer got a feeling of déjà vu all over again.
Tannura and Heyer scored 73 seconds apart midway through the second half and Lincoln-Way West hung on for a 2-0 victory in the regular season finale for both teams.
“I felt it really could have gone either way, and the girls definitely took advantage of their opportunities when they presented themselves,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss said. “It was déjà vu with what we saw in the North game.”
Tannura and Heyer scored back-to-back goals in the 2-0 win against Lincoln-Way North on April 28.
“This happens all the time,” Tannura said. “This happened at North. I score first, and then she scores right away.”
“And one of us always has an assist,” Heyer chimed in.
Tannura and Heyer teamed up on the first goal, which ironically resulted from one of Lockport’s best scoring chances.
The Porters (13-6-2) had earned their third – and last – corner kick and defender Brooke Janeczek ran up to take it from the right corner.
Janeczek’s serve missed a couple of heads in front and went to Heyer, who quickly cleared it far up the right wing to Tannura near midfield. With Janeczek out of the play, Tannura used her speed to rush past a defender and lofted a 20-yard shot from just outside the right side of the box over the head of Lockport goalkeeper Cassidy Henson with 20:26 remaining in the second half.
It was the 15th goal of the season for the Augustana-bound Tannura and it came on her only shot of the game.
“Actually, last game [Heyer] sent me a ball like that, too,” Tannura said. “We’ve been on a streak. It’s been pretty cool.
“Throughout the game, especially in the first half, we were trying to beat them outside with the ball. It wasn’t working for me the first half, so I said I am going to try one more time, and it worked out for me. I usually don’t make far [shots] like that.”
It was just the second goal given up by Henson in the last 10 matches.
“I probably could have taken another step, but it was a really well-placed ball,” she said.
The shot never would have happened without Heyer’s heads-up defensive play.
“The timing of it was there,” Theiss said. “Lockport was doing an excellent job. They stayed connected and switched the field very well.
“They had us bunkered in for a little while and that’s one of the things we do focus on is maintaining our shape and we know we can counter with speed, so I credit Heyer all the way. She read it on that corner, actually asked me if she should go back and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We stretched Natalie, Heyer won the first ball and those two were off to the races.
“I told [Heyer] when she stepped off – that’s leadership, that’s field awareness to recognize that, so excellent job by her.”
Heyer wasn’t done. Just over a minute later, defender Samantha Heitner sent a ball from midfield into space about 25 yards from the Lockport net and Heyer hustled to it and beat the charging Henson with a low shot for her 17th goal of the season.
“It was like a rush,” Heyer said. “I saw the defender coming in from one side and the goalie coming at me. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay on my feet, so I kind of went down and that’s when you have to scrap at it.”
The back-to-back scores seemed so incongruous in a game during which neither team’s defense would give an inch. The Warriors (13-7-0) controlled much of the action after that.
“That’s the name of the game sometimes,” Theiss said. “Discipline defensively and counterattacking and all of a sudden momentum comes in your favor and you maybe catch a team on their heels a little bit.
“Credit to Heyer on the second one. That was will and desire to get a touch on it."
Lincoln-Way West became just the second team to score at least two goals on Lockport this season.
“Great result for us,” Theiss said. “That’s an excellent Lockport team. They’re very difficult to find opportunities on. They’re solid in the back and that No. 10 [Jamie Hansen] did a great job cleaning balls up.”
But so did the Warriors, and it was Tannura, a forward who also wears No. 10, who had the save of the day 16 minutes into the game.
The Warriors were in the process of clearing a corner kick when Ugne Narbutaite unleashed a shot from the top of the box that was ticketed for the top shelf. Lincoln-Way West goalie Audrey Pearson had no shot at it, but the 5-9 Tannura utilized every inch of her height to elevate and head the ball off the line.
“It’s not even my job,” Tannura said of her instinctive play. “It’s sometimes when people have all their marks called off I like to go back if it’s appropriate for that time and I thought it was.
“So I kind of take my space and it’s happened a couple times before, so [today] I decided [to stay back] just in case anything comes back. I wish it would have flicked it more to the side.”
The defensive plays by two of his top offensive players, combined with stellar work from Pearson, who matched Henson with three saves in recording her eighth shutout, and the back line, epitomized what Theiss has taught his squad.
“It’s another thing that we preach – 11 attack and 11 defend,” Theiss said. “They definitely read the situation well. That’s senior leadership out of Natalie understanding we’ve got to defend first.”
The victory was important to the Warriors on a couple of fronts in that they beat a Class 3A team on the road and did it on grass, a surface they are unfamiliar with.
“We know that this is so similar to what sectionals could be like, on a grass field like this,” said Tannura, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “We played on grass a couple times early in the season, and it was a little bouncy. [Today we were] more connected so I’m glad we had this chance to work on it.”
The Warriors open the Class 2A playoffs next Wednesday when they host Yorkville
Lockport also hosts a regional but they won’t be favored to win. The Porters, who are seeded 10th at the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional, open against No. 8 seed Oswego on Wednesday and would probably have to play top-seeded Naperville North (15-2) in the regional final on Friday.
But the Porters figure to be a tough out if they continue to play tough defense, and Henson said the loss to the Warriors did nothing to diminish their confidence.
“We’ll be fine because it was just two minutes out of the entire game,” Henson said. “We’re going to come back.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Audrey Pearson
D: Teagan Lyke
D: Breanna Bembenek
D: Brianna Heyer
M: Emily Wyskiel
M: Madison Mikalauski
M: Brittany Stover
M: Meredith Buldak
M: Meghann Lange
F: Natalie Tannura
F: Brianna Darlage
Lockport
GK: Cassidy Henson
D: Brooke Janeczek
D: Jamie Hansen
D: Madiyson Hannion
M: Taylor Stortz
M: Karlee Stortz
M: Stephanie Quigley
M: Alexis Hernandez
M: Ally Fischer
F: Samantha Calderaro
F: Lauren Pikulski
MVP of the Match: Natalie Tannura, F, Lincoln-Way West.
Lincoln-Way West past Lockport
2 goals in 73 seconds give Warriors win
By Matt Le Cren
LOCKPORT – Lockport and Lincoln-Way West were so evenly matched that after the first hour of play a scoreless tie seemed inevitable Thursday.
Then Natalie Tannura and Brianna Heyer got a feeling of déjà vu all over again.
Tannura and Heyer scored 73 seconds apart midway through the second half and Lincoln-Way West hung on for a 2-0 victory in the regular season finale for both teams.
“I felt it really could have gone either way, and the girls definitely took advantage of their opportunities when they presented themselves,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss said. “It was déjà vu with what we saw in the North game.”
Tannura and Heyer scored back-to-back goals in the 2-0 win against Lincoln-Way North on April 28.
“This happens all the time,” Tannura said. “This happened at North. I score first, and then she scores right away.”
“And one of us always has an assist,” Heyer chimed in.
Tannura and Heyer teamed up on the first goal, which ironically resulted from one of Lockport’s best scoring chances.
The Porters (13-6-2) had earned their third – and last – corner kick and defender Brooke Janeczek ran up to take it from the right corner.
Janeczek’s serve missed a couple of heads in front and went to Heyer, who quickly cleared it far up the right wing to Tannura near midfield. With Janeczek out of the play, Tannura used her speed to rush past a defender and lofted a 20-yard shot from just outside the right side of the box over the head of Lockport goalkeeper Cassidy Henson with 20:26 remaining in the second half.
It was the 15th goal of the season for the Augustana-bound Tannura and it came on her only shot of the game.
“Actually, last game [Heyer] sent me a ball like that, too,” Tannura said. “We’ve been on a streak. It’s been pretty cool.
“Throughout the game, especially in the first half, we were trying to beat them outside with the ball. It wasn’t working for me the first half, so I said I am going to try one more time, and it worked out for me. I usually don’t make far [shots] like that.”
It was just the second goal given up by Henson in the last 10 matches.
“I probably could have taken another step, but it was a really well-placed ball,” she said.
The shot never would have happened without Heyer’s heads-up defensive play.
“The timing of it was there,” Theiss said. “Lockport was doing an excellent job. They stayed connected and switched the field very well.
“They had us bunkered in for a little while and that’s one of the things we do focus on is maintaining our shape and we know we can counter with speed, so I credit Heyer all the way. She read it on that corner, actually asked me if she should go back and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We stretched Natalie, Heyer won the first ball and those two were off to the races.
“I told [Heyer] when she stepped off – that’s leadership, that’s field awareness to recognize that, so excellent job by her.”
Heyer wasn’t done. Just over a minute later, defender Samantha Heitner sent a ball from midfield into space about 25 yards from the Lockport net and Heyer hustled to it and beat the charging Henson with a low shot for her 17th goal of the season.
“It was like a rush,” Heyer said. “I saw the defender coming in from one side and the goalie coming at me. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay on my feet, so I kind of went down and that’s when you have to scrap at it.”
The back-to-back scores seemed so incongruous in a game during which neither team’s defense would give an inch. The Warriors (13-7-0) controlled much of the action after that.
“That’s the name of the game sometimes,” Theiss said. “Discipline defensively and counterattacking and all of a sudden momentum comes in your favor and you maybe catch a team on their heels a little bit.
“Credit to Heyer on the second one. That was will and desire to get a touch on it."
Lincoln-Way West became just the second team to score at least two goals on Lockport this season.
“Great result for us,” Theiss said. “That’s an excellent Lockport team. They’re very difficult to find opportunities on. They’re solid in the back and that No. 10 [Jamie Hansen] did a great job cleaning balls up.”
But so did the Warriors, and it was Tannura, a forward who also wears No. 10, who had the save of the day 16 minutes into the game.
The Warriors were in the process of clearing a corner kick when Ugne Narbutaite unleashed a shot from the top of the box that was ticketed for the top shelf. Lincoln-Way West goalie Audrey Pearson had no shot at it, but the 5-9 Tannura utilized every inch of her height to elevate and head the ball off the line.
“It’s not even my job,” Tannura said of her instinctive play. “It’s sometimes when people have all their marks called off I like to go back if it’s appropriate for that time and I thought it was.
“So I kind of take my space and it’s happened a couple times before, so [today] I decided [to stay back] just in case anything comes back. I wish it would have flicked it more to the side.”
The defensive plays by two of his top offensive players, combined with stellar work from Pearson, who matched Henson with three saves in recording her eighth shutout, and the back line, epitomized what Theiss has taught his squad.
“It’s another thing that we preach – 11 attack and 11 defend,” Theiss said. “They definitely read the situation well. That’s senior leadership out of Natalie understanding we’ve got to defend first.”
The victory was important to the Warriors on a couple of fronts in that they beat a Class 3A team on the road and did it on grass, a surface they are unfamiliar with.
“We know that this is so similar to what sectionals could be like, on a grass field like this,” said Tannura, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match. “We played on grass a couple times early in the season, and it was a little bouncy. [Today we were] more connected so I’m glad we had this chance to work on it.”
The Warriors open the Class 2A playoffs next Wednesday when they host Yorkville
Lockport also hosts a regional but they won’t be favored to win. The Porters, who are seeded 10th at the Class 3A Metea Valley Sectional, open against No. 8 seed Oswego on Wednesday and would probably have to play top-seeded Naperville North (15-2) in the regional final on Friday.
But the Porters figure to be a tough out if they continue to play tough defense, and Henson said the loss to the Warriors did nothing to diminish their confidence.
“We’ll be fine because it was just two minutes out of the entire game,” Henson said. “We’re going to come back.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Audrey Pearson
D: Teagan Lyke
D: Breanna Bembenek
D: Brianna Heyer
M: Emily Wyskiel
M: Madison Mikalauski
M: Brittany Stover
M: Meredith Buldak
M: Meghann Lange
F: Natalie Tannura
F: Brianna Darlage
Lockport
GK: Cassidy Henson
D: Brooke Janeczek
D: Jamie Hansen
D: Madiyson Hannion
M: Taylor Stortz
M: Karlee Stortz
M: Stephanie Quigley
M: Alexis Hernandez
M: Ally Fischer
F: Samantha Calderaro
F: Lauren Pikulski
MVP of the Match: Natalie Tannura, F, Lincoln-Way West.