Girls Soccer: Lockport strikes early, downs Lincoln-Way Central 3-1 on Tuesday

If the Lockport girls soccer team was hoping to set the tone early Tuesday evening, mission accomplished.

Brinlee McNabb scored less than three minutes into the match against Lincoln-Way Central and finished with two goals as the Porters got the 3-1 win over the Knights to remain undefeated.

It didn’t take long for McNabb to make her presence felt. She put one in the back of the net while the starting lineups were still being announced just 2:17 into the match. She made her mark again 18 minutes after that with a goal in front of the net off a corner kick to increase the advantage to 2-0.

“I just wanted to get on the revenge tour,” McNabb said. “We’ve lost to [LWC] the past, like, three years, so I really wanted to bring it to them today.”

Tiffany Giannese scored the Porters (6-0) third goal in the 47th minute, another sizable margin for Lockport. Aside from a 2-1 overtime win against Glenbrook South on March 16, Tuesday’s match was the closest result the Porters have had this season along with the 4-2 season opener over Hinsdale South. The Porters have outscored their opponents 24-5 this season.

“Emma (Czech) put a great ball in and Brinlee was aggressive,” coach Todd Elkei said. “She finished the first (goal) with her foot and the second one was just a classic finish with her head. It was good to see because she works on it a lot in practice.”

For Lincoln-Way Central (3-2) it was the second consecutive loss after losing on PKs to Lincoln-Way East on March 19. That game was scoreless in regulation but came after a red-hot start to the season for the Knights. They were 3-0 with a 4-0 win over Plainfield South, a 5-1 win against Marist and a 1-0 victory over Andrew.

The Knights had control of possession early in the game, and Madi Watt managed to get LWC on the board with 10:52 left on the clock, but there was no salvaging a victory at that point.

“[Lockport] is always going to be hard,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Sean Fahey said. “That being said, I thought our girls fought tooth and nail. Tip of the cap to [Lockport] for finishing their shots. We found our stride a bit down the stretch, but it was kind of too little, too late. As good as Lockport is coming back from down 3-0 is always tough. We knew coming in it was going to be tough, but we need these games to prepare for May.”

LWC now prepares for Sandburg on Thursday before playing Minooka on Saturday.

As for Lockport, the next game comes Thursday against Stagg at home. For McNabb, it’s all about bringing a good energy each and every match. For Elkie, it’s just about doing the little things that add up for when the postseason push comes around.

“We’re always trying to get better,” Elkie said. “We’re trying to get better as a team every week and every game in order to try to get ready for the playoffs..