Knights’ Post records hat trick in win

Updated: May 21, 2011 4:45PM

Lincoln-Way Central’s Rachel Post scored a hat trick as the Knights turned on the offense and cruised to a 5-1 victory over crosstown opponent Providence in the title game of the Lincoln-Way Central Class 3A Regional on Saturday.

The Knights (9-10-5) will play Normal Community, a 3-0 winner over Pekin, in the Joliet Central Sectional semifinals - which will be held at Joliet Memorial Stadium, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Providence finishes the season at 10-10-4.

“I’ve had two or three hat tricks this season,” Post said. “But this was definitely a nice time for it.

“Everyone has been working hard. We knew this was a big one, so we kept working hard and finishing.”

Post, a junior striker who now has 22 goals on the season and 43 in her three-year varsity career, had the best finish of the day to put the dagger into the Celtics in the first half.

Providence had just cut the lead in half on a penalty kick goal by senior forward Chris Reed with 20:57 left. But the Knights came right back on the attack and Kim Rietveld had the ball on the right side.

The senior striker crossed a pass to the middle and there was junior midfielder Somer Druszkowski on a run. But instead of shooting, Druszkowski did a quick flick to Post on her left. From there Post put it inside the right post for her second goal of the game and a 3-1 Central lead with 17:37 to play in the first half.

“Somer made an excellent run to draw everyone’s attention, including the goalie,” Post said. “I had alerted her I was there, called for the ball and she got it to me. I just put it toward the far post. 

“That was definitely big. When Providence got the penalty kick, they thought they had the momentum. But we showed them that we were not giving up and got it right back.”

The tally capped a wild 10 minute stretch that saw four goals scored. The Knights got on the board first when senior defender Jenna Proctor converted off a nice left side corner kick feed by sophomore defender Meghan Killinger with 27:41 remaining in the first half.

Just over a minute later Proctor fed Post in front and she put it through for a 2-0 lead at the 26:06 mark.

The Celtics, who last won a regional title in 2006, finally got some offense moving about midway through the half. First freshman midfielder Alyssa Dorning had a good strike from the left side that Central junior goalie Becca Petrone made a nice save on. Then Reed was awarded her PK and she slid it into the bottom right corner to cut the lead to 2-1.

But otherwise Providence, which has nine sophomores, six freshmen, four juniors and only three seniors on the roster, couldn’t generate much else until some good runs by sophomore midfielder Hannah Nichols and junior midfielder Erin O’Donnell at the end of the game.

“They came at us strong from the first play of the game,” said Providence coach Dan Potempa of Central. “I don’t know if the girls were ready for that. We were playing a defensive game and didn’t get much moving the other way.”

The Knights added a pair of second half goals. Post, who had numerous other shots that just missed or were saved by Celtic senior goalie Megan Hettinger, took an assist from junior defender Alyssa Leggero and scored to complete the hat trick with 26:14 to play.

Post later assisted on a pass from the left, as Druszkowski capped the scoring on a goal in front with 5:44 remaining. The Knights, who won their fifth regional title in the past seven seasons, also only have three seniors.

“This is good for the kids and they did a great job of stepping toward the ball,” Central coach Dan Radz said. “We concentrated on stopping Chris Reed, and other than the penalty kick, we did that.

“For Rachel to get a hat trick was beautiful. She works so well in tandem with the other players. She’s like Allison Doyle, who we had a few years ago. She’s so smart and reads the defenders so well.”

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