Early goals lead Lyons past Lake Forest
Lions cruise to 2-0 win in Malnati's opener
By Mike Garofola
LAKE FOREST -- No. 2 Lyons (5-0-0) made a winning Malnati's Deep Dish Classic start against host Lake Forest on Saturday morning.
Katie O'Malley and Caroline Mortonson delivered a 2-0 victory with one goal each before the 20-minute mark in this Group C opener.
O'Malley brought down a goal kick off the foot of Lake Forest keeper Sarah Constantine, then made a lovely one-touch to her teammate Mortonson, who in return gave a near-perfect early ball back to O'Malley. She split the Scouts backline in half before a sublime finish made in 1-0 in the 11th minute.
Five minutes later, the Class 3A state runnerup doubled its advantage. Kate Fulscher won a ball on the left side and played quickly into the box. Niamh Griffin played the thief and recovered possession with a nice steal and passed to Mortonson, who beat a helpless Constantine from in-close at the 16th minute strike.
"We had a great start today: possessed; had a high passing-completion rate; moved the ball around, back to front," said Lyons manager Bill Lanspeary, whose club will host Glenbrook South (4-5-0) Monday (April 11) at Bennett Field. “It was a terrific first half of soccer. Our play kind of fell off a bit after the break, but we got the three points we wanted, which is so important in tournament group play.”
"That is an experienced, talented, a very mature Lyons team we played today," said fine, longtime Lake Forest manager Ty Stuckslager. “I really feel that with our youth and inexperience we were a little intimidated in that first half.
"We told the girls afterwards that we lost the first half, but drew in the second half. So, there were some very good things we can take going forward in this tournament."
The Scouts (2-4-0) play at no. 15 Loyola (7-2-1) on Monday in Wilmette when group play continues.
Lake Forest will be a club to watch as the season progresses in Class AA play.
By Stuckslager's own admission, his club had trouble with the Lions work-rate, particularly in the middle of the park. It was the size, strength and crafty play of Griffin, Mortonson and O'Malley that had its way in the first 40 minutes.
"No. 7 (Mortonson) and no. 9 (O'Malley) were very good at holding the ball, turning, then serving in and around the box," began Stuckslager. “No. 4 (Griffin) was quick and agile enough to get around our backline and midfield.
"Their midfield was solid and never stopped running and building their attack, and connecting with their forwards. We were not ready, or equipped, to handle that in the first half."
Although the visitors came out in a 4-3-3 formation, it seemed at times as if the Lions were playing with five in the middle of the park thanks in part to the extremely high work-rate of Eleanor Musgrove, who ran the show as the no. 10. Her equally talented mates alongside, Riley Chesna and Josie Pochocki, ran riot in the middle of the park and helped the Lions dominate first half play.
"Those three play so well together," said Stuckslager. “They can attack, come back and defend, run all day. They were a very impressive unit.”
The early goals, plus the energy Lyons brought, really put Lake Forest on their heels according to junior defender Sophie Benjakul and senior midfielder Kathy Peterson-Ross.
Benjakul turned in a strong performance as one of the Scouts outside backs. Peterson-Ross played at the six where she won her share of 50/50 battles and first and second balls both on the floor and in the air against her vaunted Lions counterparts.
"They were so much better than us in the first half," offered Peterson-Ross, who will play both soccer, and basketball next fall at Plattsburgh State, located in upstate New York. “It seemed like all we did was defend, but I really felt like we came back (late) in the first half to play better soccer and definitely much better after the break.”
"We were overwhelmed in that first 30 minutes and those two goals we gave up did not help us at all,” added Benjukal. “I agree we came back and played well in the second half. Our spirit on the field and from our players on the bench helped us.”
The home side could muster little threat attacking. It was unable to find its two top players, seniors Emerson Waddle and Ashleigh Rupprecht, who each had too few touches.
"We take a lot of pride in our defending, it's what got us to the state final a year ago, and we hope will do the same this year," said Lyons senior Kate Fulscher, who has welcomed a new teammate in the center of the backline.
"I feel more-and-more comfortable with each game we play together," says sophomore Brennan Israel, who fits like a glove alongside Fulscher.
"Kate has been a great teammate, and mentor to Brennan," said a proud Lanspeary. “You can see them beginning to form a great partnership as our central defenders.
“Along with (Ava) Pike, who was terrific today, and along with Caroline (McKenna) we feel we have a top notch defense in front of Izzy (Lee), our all-state keeper.”
While this quartet conceded nary an attempt on frame at Lee or her Brigid Dunne, who came on at the hour mark, it was the play from Pike, who added so much quality to the Lions attack who earned the defense’s share of the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor with Mortonson.
Pike was superb at coming up the flanks both in solo and overlapping runs, and providing meaningful service and pace to the attack.
Both managers found plenty of time for their reserves. Lyons junior Riley Wengerd made an impression on play whenever she was brought on.
Mortonson and Chesna each had a chance to add goals to the scoreline before the break. O'Malley had an opportunity after the break, but a sharp tackle by the Scouts Riley Hoskins stopped the chance in the 47th minute.
After that near chance by the visitors, the home side got on its collective front foot. Waddle and Rupprecht were found by their teammates. That resulted in a pair of corners, inspired by some nice work from freshman Ava Walsh.
The second corner of the half made Lyons Izzy Lee use her length and physical prowess to come off her line to punch the well-driven serve from Lainey Tabor out of the area to end any further ideas by the Scouts to pull one back.
Lake Forest was much better in the second half winning first balls, but they quickly surrendered possession to the Lions, much to the chagrin of Stuckslager.
"We were better in that department after the break, but we all too often gave the ball away, either because of their pressure or the lack of composure on the ball," said Stuckslager.
Constantine was magnificent in stopping a point-blank effort from Sarah Schierl late in the contest after her teammates blocked a trio of close-range attempts.
The junior turned away Pochocki in the 71st minute as the visitors tried in vain to add one more before the final whistle.
The Lyons defense was happy with its rock solid performance.
"We played very well as a unit along the back," said Fulscher. “Our communication was very good, and we got ourselves into the attack when the opportunity was there for us.
“I thought it was a good effort from the entire team.”
Her coach agreed.
"I would have liked to see a little more from us after the break," added Lanspeary. “I thought we let up a little too much with that two-goal advantage, but we were able to get everyone playing time today, and as I said, we got the result we came for.”
Lyons left an impression.
"Bill has a terrific team with some very good individual players," said Stuckslager. “There's no doubt they are one of the top teams once again, in my opinion.”
Starting lineups
Lyons (4-3-3)
G- Izzy Lee
D- Ava Pike
D- Kate Fulscher
D- Brennan Israel
D- Caroline McKenna
M- Rielly Chesna
M- Eleanor Musgrove
M- Josie Pochocki
F- Niamh Griffin
F- Caroline Mortonson
F- Katie O'Malley
Lake Forest (4-4-2)
G- Sarah Constantine
D- Hanna Sands
D- Riley Hoskins
D- Lyla Walsh
D- Sophie Benjakul
M- Charlotte Andress
M- Kathy Peterson-Ross
M- Emerson Waddle
M- Lainey Tabor
F- Ava Walsh
F- Ashleigh Rupprecht
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Caroline Mortonson, fr., F, Lyons;
Ava Pike, sr., D, Lyons
Scoring summary
First half
Lyons: O'Malley (Mortonson) 11'
Lyons: Mortonson (Griffin) 16'
Second half
No scoring
Match stats
Shots on goal
Lyons, 10; Lake Forest, 0
Shots off goal
Lyons, 8; Lake Forest,1
Fouls
Lyons, 5; Lake Forest, 5
Corner kicks
Lyons, 6; Lake Forest, 2
Offsides
Lyons, 7; Lake Forest, 0
Officials: Demetre Sarikoudis, referee; Jay Weis, assistant; Oleg Podtynov, assistant
Lions cruise to 2-0 win in Malnati's opener
By Mike Garofola
LAKE FOREST -- No. 2 Lyons (5-0-0) made a winning Malnati's Deep Dish Classic start against host Lake Forest on Saturday morning.
Katie O'Malley and Caroline Mortonson delivered a 2-0 victory with one goal each before the 20-minute mark in this Group C opener.
O'Malley brought down a goal kick off the foot of Lake Forest keeper Sarah Constantine, then made a lovely one-touch to her teammate Mortonson, who in return gave a near-perfect early ball back to O'Malley. She split the Scouts backline in half before a sublime finish made in 1-0 in the 11th minute.
Five minutes later, the Class 3A state runnerup doubled its advantage. Kate Fulscher won a ball on the left side and played quickly into the box. Niamh Griffin played the thief and recovered possession with a nice steal and passed to Mortonson, who beat a helpless Constantine from in-close at the 16th minute strike.
"We had a great start today: possessed; had a high passing-completion rate; moved the ball around, back to front," said Lyons manager Bill Lanspeary, whose club will host Glenbrook South (4-5-0) Monday (April 11) at Bennett Field. “It was a terrific first half of soccer. Our play kind of fell off a bit after the break, but we got the three points we wanted, which is so important in tournament group play.”
"That is an experienced, talented, a very mature Lyons team we played today," said fine, longtime Lake Forest manager Ty Stuckslager. “I really feel that with our youth and inexperience we were a little intimidated in that first half.
"We told the girls afterwards that we lost the first half, but drew in the second half. So, there were some very good things we can take going forward in this tournament."
The Scouts (2-4-0) play at no. 15 Loyola (7-2-1) on Monday in Wilmette when group play continues.
Lake Forest will be a club to watch as the season progresses in Class AA play.
By Stuckslager's own admission, his club had trouble with the Lions work-rate, particularly in the middle of the park. It was the size, strength and crafty play of Griffin, Mortonson and O'Malley that had its way in the first 40 minutes.
"No. 7 (Mortonson) and no. 9 (O'Malley) were very good at holding the ball, turning, then serving in and around the box," began Stuckslager. “No. 4 (Griffin) was quick and agile enough to get around our backline and midfield.
"Their midfield was solid and never stopped running and building their attack, and connecting with their forwards. We were not ready, or equipped, to handle that in the first half."
Although the visitors came out in a 4-3-3 formation, it seemed at times as if the Lions were playing with five in the middle of the park thanks in part to the extremely high work-rate of Eleanor Musgrove, who ran the show as the no. 10. Her equally talented mates alongside, Riley Chesna and Josie Pochocki, ran riot in the middle of the park and helped the Lions dominate first half play.
"Those three play so well together," said Stuckslager. “They can attack, come back and defend, run all day. They were a very impressive unit.”
The early goals, plus the energy Lyons brought, really put Lake Forest on their heels according to junior defender Sophie Benjakul and senior midfielder Kathy Peterson-Ross.
Benjakul turned in a strong performance as one of the Scouts outside backs. Peterson-Ross played at the six where she won her share of 50/50 battles and first and second balls both on the floor and in the air against her vaunted Lions counterparts.
"They were so much better than us in the first half," offered Peterson-Ross, who will play both soccer, and basketball next fall at Plattsburgh State, located in upstate New York. “It seemed like all we did was defend, but I really felt like we came back (late) in the first half to play better soccer and definitely much better after the break.”
"We were overwhelmed in that first 30 minutes and those two goals we gave up did not help us at all,” added Benjukal. “I agree we came back and played well in the second half. Our spirit on the field and from our players on the bench helped us.”
The home side could muster little threat attacking. It was unable to find its two top players, seniors Emerson Waddle and Ashleigh Rupprecht, who each had too few touches.
"We take a lot of pride in our defending, it's what got us to the state final a year ago, and we hope will do the same this year," said Lyons senior Kate Fulscher, who has welcomed a new teammate in the center of the backline.
"I feel more-and-more comfortable with each game we play together," says sophomore Brennan Israel, who fits like a glove alongside Fulscher.
"Kate has been a great teammate, and mentor to Brennan," said a proud Lanspeary. “You can see them beginning to form a great partnership as our central defenders.
“Along with (Ava) Pike, who was terrific today, and along with Caroline (McKenna) we feel we have a top notch defense in front of Izzy (Lee), our all-state keeper.”
While this quartet conceded nary an attempt on frame at Lee or her Brigid Dunne, who came on at the hour mark, it was the play from Pike, who added so much quality to the Lions attack who earned the defense’s share of the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honor with Mortonson.
Pike was superb at coming up the flanks both in solo and overlapping runs, and providing meaningful service and pace to the attack.
Both managers found plenty of time for their reserves. Lyons junior Riley Wengerd made an impression on play whenever she was brought on.
Mortonson and Chesna each had a chance to add goals to the scoreline before the break. O'Malley had an opportunity after the break, but a sharp tackle by the Scouts Riley Hoskins stopped the chance in the 47th minute.
After that near chance by the visitors, the home side got on its collective front foot. Waddle and Rupprecht were found by their teammates. That resulted in a pair of corners, inspired by some nice work from freshman Ava Walsh.
The second corner of the half made Lyons Izzy Lee use her length and physical prowess to come off her line to punch the well-driven serve from Lainey Tabor out of the area to end any further ideas by the Scouts to pull one back.
Lake Forest was much better in the second half winning first balls, but they quickly surrendered possession to the Lions, much to the chagrin of Stuckslager.
"We were better in that department after the break, but we all too often gave the ball away, either because of their pressure or the lack of composure on the ball," said Stuckslager.
Constantine was magnificent in stopping a point-blank effort from Sarah Schierl late in the contest after her teammates blocked a trio of close-range attempts.
The junior turned away Pochocki in the 71st minute as the visitors tried in vain to add one more before the final whistle.
The Lyons defense was happy with its rock solid performance.
"We played very well as a unit along the back," said Fulscher. “Our communication was very good, and we got ourselves into the attack when the opportunity was there for us.
“I thought it was a good effort from the entire team.”
Her coach agreed.
"I would have liked to see a little more from us after the break," added Lanspeary. “I thought we let up a little too much with that two-goal advantage, but we were able to get everyone playing time today, and as I said, we got the result we came for.”
Lyons left an impression.
"Bill has a terrific team with some very good individual players," said Stuckslager. “There's no doubt they are one of the top teams once again, in my opinion.”
Starting lineups
Lyons (4-3-3)
G- Izzy Lee
D- Ava Pike
D- Kate Fulscher
D- Brennan Israel
D- Caroline McKenna
M- Rielly Chesna
M- Eleanor Musgrove
M- Josie Pochocki
F- Niamh Griffin
F- Caroline Mortonson
F- Katie O'Malley
Lake Forest (4-4-2)
G- Sarah Constantine
D- Hanna Sands
D- Riley Hoskins
D- Lyla Walsh
D- Sophie Benjakul
M- Charlotte Andress
M- Kathy Peterson-Ross
M- Emerson Waddle
M- Lainey Tabor
F- Ava Walsh
F- Ashleigh Rupprecht
Chicagoland Soccer MVPs of the Match: Caroline Mortonson, fr., F, Lyons;
Ava Pike, sr., D, Lyons
Scoring summary
First half
Lyons: O'Malley (Mortonson) 11'
Lyons: Mortonson (Griffin) 16'
Second half
No scoring
Match stats
Shots on goal
Lyons, 10; Lake Forest, 0
Shots off goal
Lyons, 8; Lake Forest,1
Fouls
Lyons, 5; Lake Forest, 5
Corner kicks
Lyons, 6; Lake Forest, 2
Offsides
Lyons, 7; Lake Forest, 0
Officials: Demetre Sarikoudis, referee; Jay Weis, assistant; Oleg Podtynov, assistant