Pinkerton detects goal, LWW solves LWC
Junior tallies 1st score of season, Warriors gets payback
By Steve Millar
NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss saw the hard work junior midfielder Jane Pinkerton was putting in and was confident there would be a payoff soon.
“Jane has been a tank in training,” Theiss said. “She’s stood out. She’s always doing the right things.”
Pinkerton had yet to score this season. When Theiss elected to switch from a 4-5-1 formation to a 4-4-2 ahead of the second half of Tuesday’s game against rival Lincoln-Way Central, he moved Pinkerton up-top and gave her a message.
“We told her, ‘This is your day, go score one,’” Theiss said. “Sure enough she goes out and gets one.”
Pinkerton pounced on a rebound in the 44th minute and delivered her first goal of the season, and the only goal of the night, as the host Warriors made it hold up for a 1-0 SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division win over the Knights.
Lincoln-Way West (7-7-1, 2-2-0) got revenge for a 2-0 loss to the Knights (10-8-1, 2-2-0) in a Windy City Ram Classic game on March 15.
“We were scrapping really hard to get that goal,” Pinkerton said. “We battled the whole first half, and we wanted to take that energy into the second half and get a goal.”
Junior forward Sarah Wintercorn helped make it happen as she sped around a Knights defender and tested goalkeeper Jenny Farr with a strong shot.
Farr was able to make the save with her body but the rebound bounced out and Pinkerton, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, was there to tap it into the open net with 36:41 left in the match.
“Sarah was really scrapping up-top,” Pinkerton said. “She took the shot and then it just popped out, and I tapped it in. It felt great to get my first goal, especially against Central.
“They’re our crosstown rival, and they beat us last time. So we were definitely fired up to play them.”
Theiss felt good things were coming in the second half after the Warriors kept the game scoreless through the first 40 minutes while playing into a strong wind.
West held Central to just one good look at goal in the opening half. Speedy midfielder Nicolette Gossage got free in the 38th minute but junior goalkeeper Grace Pearse came up with a big save.
“It was huge for us to get out of that first half at 0-0,” Theiss said. “We tried to sag off Gossage and not let her get behind us, because she’s so fast. We did a good job and then Grace stepped up and made the save when we needed it. That boosted our confidence heading into the second half.”
After Pinkerton broke the deadlock, the Warriors continued to create dangerous opportunities.
Wintercorn was a major offense generator. She put another shot on goal just 40 seconds after Pinkerton’s goal, then set up Sara Loichinger for a good look in the 46th minute, Loichinger fired just high.
“The momentum was huge after we scored,” Pinkerton said. “It’s super contagious when something like that happens. We really picked it up after that.”
The Knights did not go down without a fight, picking up their offense over the final 15 minutes.
After the Warriors avoided danger on a Central corner kick and a free kick from striking distance, Lincoln-Way Central forward Maddie Melde sent a bouncing shot from 35 yards that Pearse saved with 8:35 to go.
The biggest scare for Lincol-Way West, though, came in the final minute.
With the Warriors looking to clear the ball and kill the clock, Gossage intercepted a pass 45 yards from goal and made a mad dash down the middle of the field.
The speedster got behind a pair of West defenders and looked to be one-on-one with Pearse, but defender Meghan Schick recovered to block Gossage’s shot, directing it wide.
That resulted in a corner kick and one last look for the Knights and Melde, who ripped a shot just wide with five seconds left on the clock.
“You’ve always got to play the full 80 minutes,” Schick said. “We talk about that all the time. That showed right there.”
Pearse made three saves to record the shutout, while Schick, Sam Sarna, Amanda Yaeger, Kylee Brandau and Savina Filip were among the key defensive contributors.
“Our backline plays great together,” Schick said. “We’re all communicating and winning balls out of the air.”
Theiss credited Schick and Sarna for being unsung heroes.
“Sam Sarna is such a solid player in the back,” he said. “She times everything so well. She loves putting her head on the ball. She’s one of the shortest girls on the field and when she comes flying in and wins a ball in the air, that’s contagious. Schick does a lot of grunt work back there, too.
“We try to instill that attitude in our girls. As much as we want to score pretty goals, we’ve got to do that grunt work too.”
Knights coach Dan Radz was frustrated after his team fell to 1-6-1 in its last eight games.
“Team chemistry-wise, we’re not there,” he said. “We’re out of sorts. We just didn’t connect passes. There’s no composure on our squad right now. West had the composure, and we didn’t. That’s the story of the game. Congrats to West.”
Farr, who made five saves, was a bright spot. She recently took over in goal after Peyton Vecchiet, a starter for one season at Lincoln-Way East and the last two at Central, suffered a potential season-ending back injury.
“Jenny’s a freshman in a tough situation, and she’s played well,” Radz said.
Lincoln-Way West, meanwhile, got a result Theiss felt was overdue.
“We were 1-4-0 in our last five games before this, and I didn’t feel like we were playing like a 1-4-0 team,” he said. “You’ve got to create your own luck, but at the same time in the back of my mind I’m thinking ‘How many posts can we hit?’
“This was a big one for us to get.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way Central
GK: Jenny Farr
D: Dana Boucher
D: Shannon Klemm
D: Val Adams
D: Lauren Limpin
MF: Nicolette Gossage
MF: Grace Klevorn
MF: Audrey Bulow
MF: Megan Andjelic
F: Katie Farr
F: Maddie Melde
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Grace Pearse
D: Sam Sarna
D: Kylee Brandau
D: Meghan Schick
D: Amanda Yaeger
MF: Savina Filip
MF: Angela Skonicki
MF: Sara Loichinger
MF: Anna Kirk
MF: Jane Pinkerton
F: Sarah Wintercorn
Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match: Jane Pinkerton, jr., MF, Lincoln-Way West
Scoring summary
First half
None
Second half
Lincoln-Way West: Jane Pinkerton (Sarah Wintercorn), 44th minute
Junior tallies 1st score of season, Warriors gets payback
By Steve Millar
NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss saw the hard work junior midfielder Jane Pinkerton was putting in and was confident there would be a payoff soon.
“Jane has been a tank in training,” Theiss said. “She’s stood out. She’s always doing the right things.”
Pinkerton had yet to score this season. When Theiss elected to switch from a 4-5-1 formation to a 4-4-2 ahead of the second half of Tuesday’s game against rival Lincoln-Way Central, he moved Pinkerton up-top and gave her a message.
“We told her, ‘This is your day, go score one,’” Theiss said. “Sure enough she goes out and gets one.”
Pinkerton pounced on a rebound in the 44th minute and delivered her first goal of the season, and the only goal of the night, as the host Warriors made it hold up for a 1-0 SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division win over the Knights.
Lincoln-Way West (7-7-1, 2-2-0) got revenge for a 2-0 loss to the Knights (10-8-1, 2-2-0) in a Windy City Ram Classic game on March 15.
“We were scrapping really hard to get that goal,” Pinkerton said. “We battled the whole first half, and we wanted to take that energy into the second half and get a goal.”
Junior forward Sarah Wintercorn helped make it happen as she sped around a Knights defender and tested goalkeeper Jenny Farr with a strong shot.
Farr was able to make the save with her body but the rebound bounced out and Pinkerton, Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match, was there to tap it into the open net with 36:41 left in the match.
“Sarah was really scrapping up-top,” Pinkerton said. “She took the shot and then it just popped out, and I tapped it in. It felt great to get my first goal, especially against Central.
“They’re our crosstown rival, and they beat us last time. So we were definitely fired up to play them.”
Theiss felt good things were coming in the second half after the Warriors kept the game scoreless through the first 40 minutes while playing into a strong wind.
West held Central to just one good look at goal in the opening half. Speedy midfielder Nicolette Gossage got free in the 38th minute but junior goalkeeper Grace Pearse came up with a big save.
“It was huge for us to get out of that first half at 0-0,” Theiss said. “We tried to sag off Gossage and not let her get behind us, because she’s so fast. We did a good job and then Grace stepped up and made the save when we needed it. That boosted our confidence heading into the second half.”
After Pinkerton broke the deadlock, the Warriors continued to create dangerous opportunities.
Wintercorn was a major offense generator. She put another shot on goal just 40 seconds after Pinkerton’s goal, then set up Sara Loichinger for a good look in the 46th minute, Loichinger fired just high.
“The momentum was huge after we scored,” Pinkerton said. “It’s super contagious when something like that happens. We really picked it up after that.”
The Knights did not go down without a fight, picking up their offense over the final 15 minutes.
After the Warriors avoided danger on a Central corner kick and a free kick from striking distance, Lincoln-Way Central forward Maddie Melde sent a bouncing shot from 35 yards that Pearse saved with 8:35 to go.
The biggest scare for Lincol-Way West, though, came in the final minute.
With the Warriors looking to clear the ball and kill the clock, Gossage intercepted a pass 45 yards from goal and made a mad dash down the middle of the field.
The speedster got behind a pair of West defenders and looked to be one-on-one with Pearse, but defender Meghan Schick recovered to block Gossage’s shot, directing it wide.
That resulted in a corner kick and one last look for the Knights and Melde, who ripped a shot just wide with five seconds left on the clock.
“You’ve always got to play the full 80 minutes,” Schick said. “We talk about that all the time. That showed right there.”
Pearse made three saves to record the shutout, while Schick, Sam Sarna, Amanda Yaeger, Kylee Brandau and Savina Filip were among the key defensive contributors.
“Our backline plays great together,” Schick said. “We’re all communicating and winning balls out of the air.”
Theiss credited Schick and Sarna for being unsung heroes.
“Sam Sarna is such a solid player in the back,” he said. “She times everything so well. She loves putting her head on the ball. She’s one of the shortest girls on the field and when she comes flying in and wins a ball in the air, that’s contagious. Schick does a lot of grunt work back there, too.
“We try to instill that attitude in our girls. As much as we want to score pretty goals, we’ve got to do that grunt work too.”
Knights coach Dan Radz was frustrated after his team fell to 1-6-1 in its last eight games.
“Team chemistry-wise, we’re not there,” he said. “We’re out of sorts. We just didn’t connect passes. There’s no composure on our squad right now. West had the composure, and we didn’t. That’s the story of the game. Congrats to West.”
Farr, who made five saves, was a bright spot. She recently took over in goal after Peyton Vecchiet, a starter for one season at Lincoln-Way East and the last two at Central, suffered a potential season-ending back injury.
“Jenny’s a freshman in a tough situation, and she’s played well,” Radz said.
Lincoln-Way West, meanwhile, got a result Theiss felt was overdue.
“We were 1-4-0 in our last five games before this, and I didn’t feel like we were playing like a 1-4-0 team,” he said. “You’ve got to create your own luck, but at the same time in the back of my mind I’m thinking ‘How many posts can we hit?’
“This was a big one for us to get.”
Starting lineups
Lincoln-Way Central
GK: Jenny Farr
D: Dana Boucher
D: Shannon Klemm
D: Val Adams
D: Lauren Limpin
MF: Nicolette Gossage
MF: Grace Klevorn
MF: Audrey Bulow
MF: Megan Andjelic
F: Katie Farr
F: Maddie Melde
Lincoln-Way West
GK: Grace Pearse
D: Sam Sarna
D: Kylee Brandau
D: Meghan Schick
D: Amanda Yaeger
MF: Savina Filip
MF: Angela Skonicki
MF: Sara Loichinger
MF: Anna Kirk
MF: Jane Pinkerton
F: Sarah Wintercorn
Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match: Jane Pinkerton, jr., MF, Lincoln-Way West
Scoring summary
First half
None
Second half
Lincoln-Way West: Jane Pinkerton (Sarah Wintercorn), 44th minute