Girls soccer: Lincoln-Way Central cruises past Joliet West for Class 3A regional title

Christine Erdman scored twice for the Knights in the 5-0 win over the Tigers

NEW LENOX — It didn’t take long for the Lincoln-Way Central girls soccer team to assert itself Friday in the championship game of the Class 3A Lincoln-Way Central Regional against Joliet West.

The Knights (21-1) scored twice in the first 5:02 of the game, and having only allowed a total of three goals in their previous 21 games, things looked well in hand.

But, the Tigers’ defense stiffened and held the Knights scoreless for the remaining 35 minutes of the first half and nearly the first 20 minutes of the second before Lincoln-Way Central added three goals in the final 21:39 to come away with a 5-0 victory.

Christine Erdman scored two goals for Lincoln-Way Central, which will take on Andrew, a 2-0 winner over Lincoln-Way West in the Lincoln-Way West Sectional, on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Sandburg Sectional.

With the Knights leading 1-0 after a goal by Reagan Schultz at the 36:45 mark of the first half, Erdman found the back of the net with 34:58 to play for a 2-0 lead.

“It was wonderful to score a couple of goals right away,” Erdman said. “It relaxed us and we were able to keep our energy up.

“It feels great to win the regional championship. We want that to be just one of the championships we win. We have the attitude that it’s 0-0 at the start of each game, and we have to keep our heads in it and not give up. We don’t worry a lot about what the other team wants to do. We just want to go out and play our game.”

The Knights were able to do that, peppering the Joliet West goal with shot attempts throughout the first half. The Tigers (10-13-2) got six saves by freshman goalie Kaleigh Blatti and one sliding save by defender Yoselin Garcia in front of the goal after a shot had gotten past Blatti to keep the score at 2-0 entering halftime.

“To be honest, we had hoped to have a better first half,” West coach Alan Stewart said. “We wanted to do something when we had the wind at our backs. With Lincoln-Way Central only giving up three goals all year, we knew it would be tough going into the wind.

“But, our girls did a good job of tightening up after they scored two early. I am really proud of our girls for holding them scoreless for the last 35 minutes of the first half and the first 20 minutes of the second half.”

With the strong wind in Joliet West’s face in the second half, Lincoln-Way Central goalie Alexa Headley was the loneliest girl on the field as the defensive back line of Chloe Grundhofer, Grace Grundhofer and Abby Sudkamp turned away nearly every Tiger attempt to get the ball in scoring position.

“I think I touched the ball maybe three times,” Headley said. “And, they were all with my feet. That’s a good thing. Our defenders like to keep the ball away from me.

“I know as we move on, I will have to step up and make some saves, and I am ready to do that.”

Central scored with 21:39 remaining in the game on a header by Jenni Andjelic before Erdman scored her second goal of the game with 14:59 remaining. The final goal was scored by Madi Watt with 2:53 to play.

“This was a solid effort for us,” Central coach Sean Fahey said. “We were able to dictate our style of play pretty well. We knew that the second half would be tough for them going into the wind.

“We had plenty of shots, but couldn’t get any to go in early. That’s a good lesson for us. We have to make our shots count. Moving on, the chances are going to be fewer, but getting five to fall tonight was a good night. The sectional is going to be tough. Any one of the four teams there can win it.”

The young West team, which started seven freshmen, will draw from the experience gained from playing for a regional title.

“Our girls got to see what that next level is,” Stewart said. “Give all the credit to Lincoln-Way Central. They are a great team. It was good for us to see a team at their level.

“After they scored two early, it was nice to see us play disciplined and keep it at 2-0 at halftime. We had some great stretches of quality play.”