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LeFevour leads Marian Central to final
Updated: June 3, 2011 8:15PM
Marian Central couldn’t find the combination to unlocking Lemont’s defense for the first 33 minutes Friday.
Then Laura LeFevour figured it out. The forward took a pass in her own end and raced 60 yards up the right wing, turned a defender and slotted an eight-yard shot inside the left post with 6:10 remaining in the first half.
That goal, the 17th of the year for LeFevour, broke a scoreless tie and Marian Central went on to a 3-0 Class 2A state semifinal victory at Naperville Central.
The Hurricanes (20-9) will try to win their first state championship Saturday against Troy Triad, which beat Wheaton Academy 2-1 in double overtime in the other semifinal.
“Those are my favorite types of goals to score,” LeFevour said. “I like using my speed to get past the girl and then hoping for that open corner shot. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get this.’ All of my adrenaline was going.”
LeFevour’s strike was like a bolt from the blue, energizing players and fans alike.
“(It was a) great team effort but I always say in a big game like this it’s going to normally take a bit of magic or a mistake to unlock a team and today it was LeFevour with a bit of magic that gave us the lead,” Marian Central coach Kristian Rockall said. “Then the crowd came to life, all of our players got a lift. (LeFevour) came off the field and was hyperventilating she was so excited.”
Lemont never recovered. The Indians (22-5), who had a nine-match winning streak snapped, mustered only two shots, neither of which was on goal, and spent much of the second half chasing the ball.
“That was a very, very tough game today, (the) first 20 minutes especially,” Rockall said. “We’re not used to being boxed out so quickly. The other team defended so hard and with so much intensity that we couldn’t get into any rhythm, but we rode the storm and the first goal was huge.”
The Hurricanes increased their lead to 2-0 on goal by Robin Wentzel 6:46 into the second half. Tess Bottorff sent a 47-yard free kick into the Lemont penalty area. The ball bounced off a defender to Wentzel near the penalty spot and the sophomore took a touch before finishing under the crossbar.
Samantha Koffler finished the scoring with 9:48 remaining, taking advantage of a turnover and sending a 17-yard shot inside the right post.
“With our team, when we score we relax and we start to play better,” Rockall said. “When we score two, we relax even more, we play even better. It’s almost like the fear disappears completely once we score a goal.”
The Hurricanes have been scoring in bunches lately. They have outscored their six playoff opponents 24-1 and have won 13 of their last 15 matches after a 2-7 start.
“We’ve come a long way throughout the season,” LeFevour said. “We’ve learned to play as a team. At first we were a little shaky with our shots but this game we were great. We were right on target.”
Indeed, it was a case of quality over quantity for the Hurricanes, who scored on three of their four shots.
“That’s been one of our struggles all season is often in big games our shot-to-goal ratio has not been as good as it should,” Rockall said. “A couple games ago we were about 1-in-20, 2-in-20 Today was better. We had to work hard to create our first opportunity but were efficient with our finishing.”
Now a team that had never won a sectional before is one match away from making history.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” LeFevour said. “We’re all so excited. We always had high hopes and we were like, ‘Let’s go as far as we can.’ We were all confident in each other and we did it.”
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