Cate Carter, York jump on Oak Park-River Forest early, cruise into sectional final

DOWNERS GROVE – York sophomore Cate Carter is comfortable at her old position on the pitch.

In her freshman season, Carter was forced to play in an unfamiliar role at center back, mainly because of the Dukes’ surplus of talented players up top.

“I feel like last year was a different team,” Carter said. “We had different strengths and I just filled in where I was needed, but this year I’ve been able to play up top and have more vision of the field and can talk to my teammates through things we need to work on.”

And she showed her ability to impact a game on Tuesday night.

York jumped on Oak Park-River Forest in the first half to seize control of Tuesday’s game, picking up goals from Izzy Voirol and Carter to cruise to a 2-0 win in a Class 3A Downers Grove South Sectional semifinal.

The No. 3 seeded Dukes (11-5-4) advance to battle sizzling top-seed Hinsdale Central in Friday’s 6 p.m. sectional championship game. The Red Devils (19-5) defeated York 2-1 in their lone regular season meeting on May 6.

Hinsdale Central has won 12 straight games since dropping a 1-0 decision to New Trier on April 24.

“I think the difference in this game was we finished our chances and created a lot of pressure on them in their back third of the field,” York coach Stevan Dobric said.

Dobric said Carter has become a reliable scorer for his team, helping the Dukes reach the sectional championship game for the second straight season. York lost to Lyons in last season’s sectional title game.

“We were pretty stacked and an older team last year,” Dobric said. “This year we moved Carter up top and she’s really good at holding the ball and beating players 1v1 and getting our other wingers into play to put pressure on other team’s defenses.”

Voirol got York rolling with a goal early in the first half, continuing her playoff surge of goals for the Dukes. Carter added an insurance goal late in the 21st minute, scoring off a pass from Jordan Ebner.

“I was wide open after Jordan had an amazing run and all I had to do was touch it for the goal,” Carter said. “Everyone is playing well. We’ve definitely taken a lot of steps since playing them and losing to them in PKs earlier in the year.”

York senior goalie Ava Lewandowski continued her impressive play between the pipes in the playoffs, collecting five saves to notch another shutout. Lewandowski stopped one late threat by racing to the ball and kicking the ball into the stands. She added a key save in the 67th minute to deflate the Huskies’ chances for a comeback.

York sophomore defender Evelyn Messacar, a first-year varsity player, said the backline was motivated to beat the Huskies.

“I think it feels really good as a team and played them earlier in the season, but we were still building as a team so it was great to come out today and to finish with a win was really huge,” Messacar said. “We were really upset with that last game, but we all came together for the shutout. Everyone sported each other and everyone had their lightbulbs on.”

In the first semifinal, Hinsdale Central scored two goals in the second half to post a 2-1 comeback win over Lyons. Peyton Rohn tied the game in the 67th minute, off an assist by Avery Edgewater. Five minutes later, Emily DiTomasso, thanks to a great feed by Caitlin Doherty, scored the winning goal.

“Persistence and not changing our brand of soccer were keys tonight,” Hinsdale Central coach Tony Madonia said. “The (girls) handled an emotional game and came back against a really strong team. We did a better job of controlling play in the second half. Their goalie made a lot of good saves, but the girls kept their heads up.

“Our backline of Tegan Steines, Audrey McLaughlin and Adriana Giannini and goalie Emeline McClenahan stayed extremely organized and playing strong against some really strong LT players. They handled that and stuck to the plan.”