La Salle-Peru gets first victory of season, eliminates Streator in 2A regional play-in

STREATOR – The 2025 La Salle-Peru Cavaliers didn’t manage to score a single victory during the regular season.

They opened the second season with one.

It took until their Class 2A Metamora Regional play-in match against rival Streator for the Cavs to score their first win of the spring, but score it they did in a 2-1, wind-swept nail-biter on Friday at Streator’s James Street Recreation Area.

“It’s been a rough season so far, but we were hoping for it today,” said La Salle-Peru coach Christin Pappas, who brought up a handful of players from the JV team for the postseason to bolster the Cavaliers’ physicality against a physical and also young Streator squad. “We’ve had a couple close games, and the last time we saw [Streator] it came out 3-4, so we were really grateful we came out on top this time. ...

“I couldn’t be more proud of these girls, losing all season and coming out the way they did today. It’s beyond words.”

While Streator’s season ends with a record of 5-16, L-P – now 1-18-1 – advances on to Tuesday’s 5 p.m. semifinal in Metamora against the top-seeded Morton Potters. Ottawa plays the host Redbirds in Tuesday’s late semifinal.

La Salle-Peru junior captain Vicky Tajada scored what proved to be the winning goal just under five minutes into the second half, starting and ultimately being the recipient of a nifty give-and-go with sophomore Vizion Byrd, credited with the assist.

“It was just instinct,” Tajada said of her goal. “I had other ones today that I shot but didn’t make it, but I knew this one was guaranteed right when I saw where [the goalie] was.

“I was like, ‘Finally, yes!’ ”

Tajada’s goal – which was followed by 35 minutes, 14 seconds of scoreless soccer despite Streator having the strong, dust-filled wind somewhat in its favor – broke the 1-1 tie from halftime.

The host Bulldogs struck first just over 15 minutes into the match when sophomore Audrey Arambula lasered a direct kick around L-P’s human wall, past L-P keeper Lily Higgins (eight saves, one goal allowed) and into the net untouched after a penalty just outside of the box.

“I’m usually the one to take our free kicks,” Arambula said, “and I was lucky enough that it went in that time. ...

“We definitely came together this year. From the beginning of the season to now, it was definitely a huge improvement, and I think we played our hardest. That’s what matters.”

The Cavaliers found the equalizer later in the opening half. Earning a corner kick, the wind-affected ball rattled around between players until finding the feet of JV call-up Iyana Jones, who tapped it in while Streator keeper Lahla Thompson (seven saves, two goals against) was on the ground after lunging to defend a previous shot attempt.

Both teams finished with nine shots on goal. Part of the low shot numbers were no doubt caused by the rivals’ familiarity with one another, and part due to the physical nature of the match. A large portion, however, came as a result of the high winds affecting not only the trajectory of the ball, but the players’ ability to communicate.

“Weirdest game I’ve been involved in, regional or not,” Bulldogs coach J.T. Huey said. “My players couldn’t hear me, they couldn’t hear each other, the ball was moving weird. It was one of those games where we were playing a competitive team, and it just didn’t go our way. ...

“But I pulled up the IHSA record book right in front of the girls and told them, ‘I took over in this year with ‘x’ amount of sophomores and ‘x’ amount of juniors, just four seniors, same as this team. We went 7-13 back then, and two years later we had a regional title, a conference title.

“It’s the same thing here with a young team. We’re building something.”

Standouts defensively included: for Streator in front of Thompson – Joey Puetz and Jillian Clift; and for L-P in front of Higgins – Lilyana Hernandez and Sophie Bratkovich.