Girls Soccer: Fenwick shuts out Lincoln-Way West
By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media March 15, 2013 11:22PM
Lincoln-Way West's Hope Rackelkn traps the ball while battling Fenwick's Cali Pzydrowski. | Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 18, 2013 6:30AM
Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss knew his team matched up well with Fenwick in a lot of ways.
In Friday’s evenly played Windy City Ram Classic semifinal, though, it boiled down to one area where the Warriors were at a disadvantage.
“It came down to size in the box,” Theiss said. “(The Friars) had a lot more size than us and on balls in the air we were at a huge disadvantage. We knew we had to limit corner kicks.”
Despite West’s efforts, Fenwick earned five corner kicks. Putting one away was good enough as Lauren Frank scored to lift the Friars to a 1-0 win in New Lenox.
Frank got free in the middle of the box and leaped to get a foot on Cali Pyzdrowski’s cross off a corner, tucking her shot inside the left post with 28:31 left in the second half.
“That’s our thing,” said Frank, who scored her fourth goal in three games. “Corner kicks are our thing. We had a couple earlier that were so close. We just had to keep it up.”
Fenwick (3-0) advanced to meet Bolingbrook in Sunday’s championship at Toyota Park. The Warriors (2-1) will host Willowbrook in Saturday’s third-place contest.
After surrendering the goal, the Warriors turned it up a notch and created several late chances.
Cori Brennan had three shots sail just wide, her best opportunity coming off a steal. She sprinted down the right side, but saw that shot go awry with just under 16 minutes left.
West also came up empty on a corner kick and a free kick from striking distance late in the match.
Kayla Lojas had three saves for the Warriors.
“Fenwick is a very good team and I talked to our players about embracing the challenge,” Theiss said. “We could have been more composed on the ball and we have things to work on, but this experience will help.”
