Paige Lilek helps save Hinsdale South soccer’s first win over Morton since 2018

DARIEN – Paige Lilek used to play volleyball.

These days she’s playing soccer, having taken up an extended residency as Hinsdale South’s sophomore goalkeeper.

Lilek made some tough saves late and the Hornets withstood Morton, 2-1, during Tuesday’s West Suburban Gold Conference match in Darien.

“So we brought her in from volleyball and trained her in everything as a freshman,” Hornets coach Jen Belmonte said. “I mean, she’s only been playing a season and a half. Our starting goalie (Nina Kremper) got hurt and Paige stepped in last year after six games and played great. She’s learned something from every game.”

Hinsdale South (7-2, 2-0) had not beaten Morton (7-3, 1-2) since 2018.

Brynn Diedrich won possession in the box, displaying a little razzle dazzle to create before putting it away for an early Hornets’ 1-0 lead.

Later she connected with senior Audrey Atkinson with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half for a 2-0 advantage.

“I feel like our mindset was basically for today to focus on this because we haven’t beaten them in so long,” Atkinson said. “I’d never beaten them in my high school career. Now we’re just fixing our mistakes that we had today so we’re ready for our next conference game.”

Karina Estrada-Vargas was able to beat three defenders and pull Morton to within 2-1 with 4:20 remaining in the game. The junior was fired up but the Mustangs couldn’t pull off the comeback.

“I saw the center back and she was fast,” Estrada-Vargas said. “She was probably the only one that I was worried about because she was coming in on my left side and I’m a little weaker on my left side so I felt like if she would have actually ran into me maybe I would’t have gotten a shot. That was a really good ball (from Adamary Huitron). I knew if she played me that through ball I could run onto it.”

Morton’s offense was too little, too late.

“I just think we needed that goal right off in the second half,” Estrada-Vargas said. “I think the urgency would have been a lot higher. The first half was all a mess. We woke up in the second half and it’s like that can’t happen at this level of the game, it’s going by way too fast. You can’t wait until the last couple of minutes to do something.”

Hinsdale South’s backline of Molly Curley, Olivia Harding, Alyssa Watson, Samantha Johnston and Fatima Mendoza Lopez may not get the same attention as its high-powered offensive attack, but they’re getting the job done while easing the pressure on their teammates to produce crooked numbers.

“I think we’re learning to communicate with each other and figuring it out,” Lilek said. “Who’s going to take that person, stuff like that. I think I was talking pretty good with my defenders, too, so they kind of knew what I was yelling at them about.”