Winning touch returns for Lions

Updated: April 6, 2011 3:26PM

Just how important are Kelsey Holbert and Ari Kowalski to the Lyons girls soccer team?

So important that recently they are the difference between winning and losing.

Holbert, a Wisconsin-Milwaukee signee, and Kowalski, a sophomore stopper, spent spring break in Georgia with a church group building a house for Habitat for Humanity. Without them, the Lions suffered their first loss of the season Saturday, 2-0 to Lincoln-Way North.

They were back in the lineup Monday and the result was much different. Holbert had two goals and an assist and Kowalski made a spectacular play to save a goal as host Lyons knocked off Glenbard West 4-0 in a West Suburban Conference Silver Division opener in LaGrange.

"It's good to be back," Holbert said. "I hate not playing."

Despite playing with a sore knee, Holbert created plenty of havoc in the first half. The Hilltoppers (2-4-2, 0-1) did a good job of containing her for the first 30 minutes, but with 8:14 left in the first half Holbert sent a pass up the middle of the penalty area to senior Coco Corrigan, who finished from eight yards out for her first goal of the year.

"We did [miss her]," Corrigan said. "She is just a vital player to us. She really controls the field and sets up good scoring opportunities for herself and the rest of the team. She helps me be a better player."

The Lions (4-1, 1-0) broke the game open by scoring three times in a 12-minute span in the second half. Freshman forward Emily Lange made it 2-0 when she scored her first career goal on a well-struck 18-yarder at the 36:35 mark.

Holbert then put the game out of reach by striking twice in 33 seconds. The first was a 23-yard rocket that was too hot for Glenbard West keeper Michelle Vonachen to handle and the second was an 18-yard blast into the upper left corner of the net.

"I was miss-hitting them in the first half," said Holbert, who now has five goals. "It's this [grass] field; I hadn't played on it yet with my knee, but I figured things out in the second half."

The condition of Holbert's knee will be closely watched this spring by LT coach Bill Lanspeary, who can't afford to lose the elusive midfielder for any length of time.

"My therapist didn't have me do anything over spring break," Holbert said. "I think that helped. It feels pretty good now. It still has to be iced and [I have to be] doing the therapy."

It was Holbert's first action in 11 days.

"Honestly, the rest probably helped her," Lanspeary said. "She just goes hard all the time, trains hard and the rest is a good thing as this point."

Glenbard West, which mustered only three shots, appeared poised to take a 1-0 lead with 26:00 left in the first half when a shot by Kaitlin Moore got past Lions goalie Maggie Orlowski. The ball was headed wide left but Hilltoppers star Katie Watt got to it and was just about to score into the empty net when Kowalski slide-tackled the ball over the left end line.

"I just read it," Kowalski said. "Someone always has to be covering the keeper if she steps out so I took that position on that play."

"She's such a smart player," Lanspeary said of Kowalski. "She usually puts herself in the right spot, plays pretty simple, reads the game unbelievably well and makes tremendous plays for us."

Orlowski made two saves and backup Molly Henderson, who played the final 17 minutes, had one as LT recorded its fourth shutout.

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