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Lincoln-Way Central edges out Normal
Updated: May 24, 2011 10:18PM
Record-wise, Lincoln-Way Central’s girls soccer team wasn’t even supposed to be on the field with undefeated Normal Community.
Someone forgot to tell the Knights.
Central never trailed and held on down the stretch to punch its ticket for the Sweet Sixteen by edging Normal 3-2 in the Joliet Central Class 3A sectional semifinals Tuesday evening at Joliet Memorial Stadium.
The Knights (10-10-5), who were playing in their fifth sectional in seven seasons advanced to their fourth title game in that span. They will play Granite City, a 1-0 winner over Alton in a the other semifinal at Edwardsville High School. The title game is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium.
Normal closed at 22-1-2.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” Central coach Dan Radz said. “The kids adapted to the wind and we’ve played in conditions like this before. We might not have always won the possession battle, but we put enough balls in the back of the net and that’s the name of the game.”
That they did, including one from Somer Druszkowski off a corner kick that put the Knights ahead for good at 2-1 with 6:25 left in the first half.
Druszkowski, a junior midfielder, takes all the corner kicks from the left side. She showed why when her ball took a perfect bend toward the net and Normal goalie Julie Schultz couldn’t handle it as the ball glanced off her hands and into the goal.
“I take the ones on the left because the right foot swings it in,” Druszkowski said. “It’s always nice when that (goal) happens. We usually execute well off them.
“We play a really hard schedule and that’s what prepared us to come through at the end.”
The 2-1 score stood up at halftime. Then Central got the all important third goal when Cailyn Harrington chipped a shot in from about 25 yards out that floated over Schultz’s head and into the net with 31:06 left in the game.
It was the second goal of the year for Harrington, a freshman who came up to the varsity at the end of the regular season.
“I just saw the opportunity and chipped it in the upper left corner,” Harrington said. I was just really happy and excited to be playing today. We worked really hard preparing and it all paid off in the long run.”
Radz was happy Harrington had the opportunity to hammer it home.
“I was a striker and I saw that potential in her from the get-go,” Radz said. “I wanted to pull her up to the varsity earlier, but I’m glad we did now and she’s so coachable.”
The Ironmen came back to cut the lead to 3-2 when Parisa Ghasemi blasted a top-shelf goal from nearly 30 yards out with 17:49 remaining.
The Knights fought off an onslaught of Normal shots in the final 12 minutes. But each one was just wide, or saved by goalie Becca Petrone.
Give Becca her props,” Radz said. “She did a really good job of putting the ball on her mitts and keeping it in front of her.”
Rachel Post, who was coming off a hat trick in Central’s 5-1 win over Providence in the regional final, picked up where she left off by scoring the games first goal. The striker stepped through traffic and found the back of the net just 2:36 into the game.
Normal came back to tie it as star senior Erin Shulman scored from about 20 yards out after the Knights failed to clear a corner kick. That goal came with 23:49 left in the first half.
“What a good group Normal has,” Radz said. “My concern at halftime was for us to keep the ball goal-side, to keep it in front. It was really nice to see our kids prevail.”
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