Lincoln-Way East's Seper saves the day
Two stops in shootout help Griffins advance over Providence
By Derek Wolff
FRANKFURT -- After walking through the first two rounds of the Windy City Ram Classic by outscoring opponents 14-2, Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Papa knew the road ahead would be more challenging as his team edged closer to the title game.
He was right. The Griffins (4-0) had to fight through Stagg in the quarterfinals and were three minutes away from being eliminated at the hands of Providence on Wednesday afternoon.
Then sophomore midfielder Stefani Cetera took a cross from Jillian Kilrea inside the 18 close to the near post. Cetera lofted a volley over the head of Celtics goalkeeper Tess Barrett, who tried to get back into position.
The 57th-minute strike lifted the Griffins, who had changed their formation to an attacking 3-4-3 in the final 10 minutes and had gotten chance after chance to level the score.
“I saw Stef running into the box and made a move by the girl and saw Stef wide open,” Kilrea said. “I did what I had to do to get it to her, and luckily she came through and scored.”
After two five-minute overtime periods, the sides headed to the shootout to determine who would advance to the championship game at Toyota Park on Monday.
With East shooting first, Kilrea stepped up and buried the ball left-side in the lower corner. Then sophomore goalkeeper Kimberly Seper stopped Providence’s Mikayla Sanders, diving to her right to make the kick save.
East went up 4-2 on goals from Caroline Kilrea, Cetera and Jessica Rajca before Seper faced down Chase McCool, diving to make her second save and carry the Griffins to the title game.
Papa said the team had not practiced penalty kicks yet this season, while Seper, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match, admitted she was nervous but able to collect herself when the whistle blew.
“I was freaking out but I knew what I had to do and what I could do to save it and win it,” Seper said.
The nerves weren’t as frayed for Kilrea when she opened the scoring, having already taken one earlier in the tournament.
“I had one earlier in the season, so that was kind of the nerve-breaker one,” Kilrea said. “I had my spot and stayed calm and knew I had to finish it leading off.”
East controlled the tempo and the possession in the first half and earned a few scoring chances, including a look from Cetera in the 26th minute that missed wide right.
But Providence found the net first in the second half. The Celtics played a ball over the top to Cory Griffith, who stayed onsides by a few feet and beat Seper. The keeper came out trying to make a play.
“Cory's tough out there,” said Providence coach Dan Potempa. “She finds the open spots, the open space.”
The defensive scheme gave away a loose ball in the midfield on the play, enabling Providence to play the correct ball in for Griffith.
“We were fine in the back,” Papa said. “We made a mistake and when teams make a mistake like us, we usually pay. Our mistakes are usually inside the box, they're too close to the net and that's what's happened on all three goals against us this year. But we were good enough to overcome it so we were lucky today.”
The relief was palpable 20 minutes later when Cetera scored after the Griffins surged throughout the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Cetera had a shot saved by Barrett in the 53rd minute, and it looked like Caroline Kilrea had the equalizer in the 56th, but her left-footed shot sailed a few feet over the bar.
Cetera’s strike put the Grifins back in business, swinging the momentum to the hosts.
It was great,” Seper said. “It was so exciting to get that goal in the last couple of minutes, just knowing that even though we messed up once we still got the win.”
Potempa said the 3-1 start was the best in his eight-year tenure at Providence. The coach hopes his side will benefit from the early success and playing close games, especially in the postseason.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with East -- it always is,” Potempa said. “We play tight games, and it almost feels like a playoff atmosphere. I'll give East credit; they did good things on that goal, the right things to fight back. They didn't give up. Not that we did anything bad, they just did the right things to score.
“We were playing well; in the first overtime I thought we played really well too. I'm happy with our girls. I hope they learned something from it and I think it will help later on in this season and in the playoffs especially.”
Papa said his side made the correct adjustments and fought through the necessary amount of adversity to reach overtime and ultimately the title game on Monday.
“That was a good game,” Papa said. “It's been a long time coming for our girls to feel this and I told them, the big thing is what are you going to do with adversity? We learned last year how to win a little bit but when it gets real tough, what are you going to do about it? I told them right before they went in (to overtime) there that they had adversity this time. We played physical, we changed the system to get us more attack, we adjusted to that, and I said they also fought back in the last five minutes to score a tying goal. That's adversity, now let's go win it (in overtime). We didn't win it there but we won it in the PKs.”
Lincoln-Way East will face Glenbard East at 5 p.m. Monday in the championship game at Toyota Park.
Kilrea said the team could not be more confident heading in. “I don't know how much stronger we can be going into the next game,” she said. “Going to overtime and we hold it, we come back with under five minutes to play to tie it up and we win in PKs. This is as strong as it's going to be going in.”
Starting lineups
Providence
GK Tess Barrett
D Mary Murphy
D Jill Sweeney
D Caitlin Shanahan
D Katie Rasmussen
M Alli Bebar
M Chase McCool
M Mikayla Sanders
M Maggie Broderick
F Regan Flaherty
F Cory Griffith
Lincoln Way East
GK Kimberly Seper
D Jade Christensen
D Lindsey Murphy
M Emily Bicek
M Jillian Kilrea
M Caroline Kilrea
M Hanna Dolan-Cook
F Stefani Cetera
F Jessica Rajca
F Emily Scianna
F Hanna Dawczak
Officials: Chuck Reynolds, Frank Rego
MVP of the Match: Kimberly Seper, Lincoln-Way East
Two stops in shootout help Griffins advance over Providence
By Derek Wolff
FRANKFURT -- After walking through the first two rounds of the Windy City Ram Classic by outscoring opponents 14-2, Lincoln-Way East coach Brian Papa knew the road ahead would be more challenging as his team edged closer to the title game.
He was right. The Griffins (4-0) had to fight through Stagg in the quarterfinals and were three minutes away from being eliminated at the hands of Providence on Wednesday afternoon.
Then sophomore midfielder Stefani Cetera took a cross from Jillian Kilrea inside the 18 close to the near post. Cetera lofted a volley over the head of Celtics goalkeeper Tess Barrett, who tried to get back into position.
The 57th-minute strike lifted the Griffins, who had changed their formation to an attacking 3-4-3 in the final 10 minutes and had gotten chance after chance to level the score.
“I saw Stef running into the box and made a move by the girl and saw Stef wide open,” Kilrea said. “I did what I had to do to get it to her, and luckily she came through and scored.”
After two five-minute overtime periods, the sides headed to the shootout to determine who would advance to the championship game at Toyota Park on Monday.
With East shooting first, Kilrea stepped up and buried the ball left-side in the lower corner. Then sophomore goalkeeper Kimberly Seper stopped Providence’s Mikayla Sanders, diving to her right to make the kick save.
East went up 4-2 on goals from Caroline Kilrea, Cetera and Jessica Rajca before Seper faced down Chase McCool, diving to make her second save and carry the Griffins to the title game.
Papa said the team had not practiced penalty kicks yet this season, while Seper, Chicagoland Soccer's MVP of the Match, admitted she was nervous but able to collect herself when the whistle blew.
“I was freaking out but I knew what I had to do and what I could do to save it and win it,” Seper said.
The nerves weren’t as frayed for Kilrea when she opened the scoring, having already taken one earlier in the tournament.
“I had one earlier in the season, so that was kind of the nerve-breaker one,” Kilrea said. “I had my spot and stayed calm and knew I had to finish it leading off.”
East controlled the tempo and the possession in the first half and earned a few scoring chances, including a look from Cetera in the 26th minute that missed wide right.
But Providence found the net first in the second half. The Celtics played a ball over the top to Cory Griffith, who stayed onsides by a few feet and beat Seper. The keeper came out trying to make a play.
“Cory's tough out there,” said Providence coach Dan Potempa. “She finds the open spots, the open space.”
The defensive scheme gave away a loose ball in the midfield on the play, enabling Providence to play the correct ball in for Griffith.
“We were fine in the back,” Papa said. “We made a mistake and when teams make a mistake like us, we usually pay. Our mistakes are usually inside the box, they're too close to the net and that's what's happened on all three goals against us this year. But we were good enough to overcome it so we were lucky today.”
The relief was palpable 20 minutes later when Cetera scored after the Griffins surged throughout the final 10 minutes of regulation.
Cetera had a shot saved by Barrett in the 53rd minute, and it looked like Caroline Kilrea had the equalizer in the 56th, but her left-footed shot sailed a few feet over the bar.
Cetera’s strike put the Grifins back in business, swinging the momentum to the hosts.
It was great,” Seper said. “It was so exciting to get that goal in the last couple of minutes, just knowing that even though we messed up once we still got the win.”
Potempa said the 3-1 start was the best in his eight-year tenure at Providence. The coach hopes his side will benefit from the early success and playing close games, especially in the postseason.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with East -- it always is,” Potempa said. “We play tight games, and it almost feels like a playoff atmosphere. I'll give East credit; they did good things on that goal, the right things to fight back. They didn't give up. Not that we did anything bad, they just did the right things to score.
“We were playing well; in the first overtime I thought we played really well too. I'm happy with our girls. I hope they learned something from it and I think it will help later on in this season and in the playoffs especially.”
Papa said his side made the correct adjustments and fought through the necessary amount of adversity to reach overtime and ultimately the title game on Monday.
“That was a good game,” Papa said. “It's been a long time coming for our girls to feel this and I told them, the big thing is what are you going to do with adversity? We learned last year how to win a little bit but when it gets real tough, what are you going to do about it? I told them right before they went in (to overtime) there that they had adversity this time. We played physical, we changed the system to get us more attack, we adjusted to that, and I said they also fought back in the last five minutes to score a tying goal. That's adversity, now let's go win it (in overtime). We didn't win it there but we won it in the PKs.”
Lincoln-Way East will face Glenbard East at 5 p.m. Monday in the championship game at Toyota Park.
Kilrea said the team could not be more confident heading in. “I don't know how much stronger we can be going into the next game,” she said. “Going to overtime and we hold it, we come back with under five minutes to play to tie it up and we win in PKs. This is as strong as it's going to be going in.”
Starting lineups
Providence
GK Tess Barrett
D Mary Murphy
D Jill Sweeney
D Caitlin Shanahan
D Katie Rasmussen
M Alli Bebar
M Chase McCool
M Mikayla Sanders
M Maggie Broderick
F Regan Flaherty
F Cory Griffith
Lincoln Way East
GK Kimberly Seper
D Jade Christensen
D Lindsey Murphy
M Emily Bicek
M Jillian Kilrea
M Caroline Kilrea
M Hanna Dolan-Cook
F Stefani Cetera
F Jessica Rajca
F Emily Scianna
F Hanna Dawczak
Officials: Chuck Reynolds, Frank Rego
MVP of the Match: Kimberly Seper, Lincoln-Way East