Floodgates open late for Sycamore in win over La Salle-Peru

SYCAMORE – For most of the first half Wednesday, it seemed Sycamore was going to carry a one-goal lead into halftime against La Salle-Peru.

The Spartans relentlessly attacked the Cavaliers’ net, but the shots that weren’t off the mark were being turned away by goalie Lily Higgins.

But the Spartans scored three goals in the final eight minutes of the first half on the way to a 9-0 Interstate 8 victory on a cold and wet day.

“It definitely takes a lot of pressure off,” Sycamore midfielder Izzie Segreti said of the Spartans’ late first-half outburst. “It helps calm us down, and then we work a lot better.”

The Spartans (5-0-1 overall, 2-0 conference) spent the entire match basically in the L-P box. It took 10 minutes for their first goal despite several good looks. Kelsie Ryder got a hard roller past Higgins on a feed from Taylor Zemanek for a 1-0 lead.

The shots kept coming, but Higgins still didn’t let anything past.

With 8:06 left in the first half, Hailey Clawson fed the ball ahead to Charlotte Yates, who finally got one past Higgins.

That opened up the floodgates for Sycamore. Less than two minutes later, Segreti scored her first goal of the match. Then in the 37th minute, Zemanek scored on a bouncer up the middle from 35 yards out and Sycamore took a 4-0 lead into the break.

“We held them to one goal for almost half the game,” L-P coach Christian Pappas said. “I was pretty happy with that. I was hoping we could do that a little longer, but they’re a tough team.”

The Spartans wasted no time scoring in the second half, with Cortni Kruizenga taking a feed from Ryder in the 42nd minute, then Clawson scored on a feed from Grace Amptmann two minutes later.

Peyton Wright added goals in the 52nd and 58th minutes with Zemanek adding the game-ender at the 60-minute mark.

“We start off every game saying the next five, and the first five,” Segreti said. “It’s a constant reminder to keep looking for those shots.”

Pappas said six Cavaliers (0-8, 0-2) were out with the flu Wednesday, including three starters.

Despite the nine goals, Higgins made 20 saves for the Cavaliers.

“That’s her consistent keeping skills,” Pappas said. “She’s really come a long way. She’s a junior. She’s worked three years, offseason as well, to learn her diving.”

Pappas said the Cavaliers were trying to protect the middle of the box, and Sycamore coach Kevin Bickley said the packed-in defense made things challenging for the Spartans’ offense.

“It’s not like we weren’t getting chances,” Bickley said. “They were just going wide or the goalkeeper made a good save. Finally things opened up. We didn’t play bad, it’s just very hard when you have 10 girls inside the 18.”

Bickley said he liked the goal distribution, with defenders Ryder and Clawson scoring and the first seven goals coming from different players.

“We were trying to get them in the attack,” Bickley said. “On a day like today you tell them to shoot. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Then things started going our way.”