Lewers lifts H-F past Marist

Updated: March 28, 2011 9:38AM

Marist had momentum and a tie game with 18 minutes to go after Jessica Socha's goal against Homewood-Flossmoor on Wednesday night.

What the RedHawks didn't have was a way to stop Kelly Lewers.

The Vikings' star senior forward scored two goals – including the game-winner less than 10 seconds after Socha's score – and had an assist to lift H-F to a 3-1 road win in nonconference girls soccer.

On the Vikings' backbreaking second goal, they got the ball directly to Lewers off the kickoff and the senior powered past a pair of Marist defenders before burying a shot past goalkeeper Tori Jercich.

"(Marist) shouldn't have scored that goal," Lewers said. "We just had to come right back at them."

Lewers scored again 16 minutes later, earning a penalty kick and converting to wrap up H-F's fourth win in as many chances under new head coach Charlie Ward.

"(Lewers) is phenomenal," said Ward, a longtime assistant under former Vikings coach Todd Elkei, who is now at Lockport. "When she needs to, she can put the game on her back and that's what she did today.

"She deserves all the accolades she gets."

H-F generated a ton of good chances in the first half, testing the RedHawks (1-2) and Jercich (6 saves) with six shots on goal.

The Vikings struck first 19 minutes in on a counter-attack after a Marist corner, Haley Hruska scoring off a Lewers pass on a 2-and-1. H-F's transition attacks gave Marist problems all day.

"Ali (Farkos) in the middle is a huge part of that," Lewers said. "She sets us up with great passes and I give all the credit to her."

Marist rebounded nicely in the second half, keeping possession on H-F's end for much of the half until Socha broke through, nailing a rocket from 30 yards out that went off the outstretched hands of goalie Kim Boehm (3 saves) and in.

The momentum, however, was thwarted mere seconds later.

"It's early in the season, but we can't let that kind of thing happen," Marist coach Sean Maxwell said. "I'm pretty certain we won't again. We're happy that our energy level was strong and any time you learn a little bit from a loss, that helps."

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.