Defenders get offensive for Lyons

Updated: April 27, 2011 12:00PM

Lyons’ defenders have done a great job of preventing goals this season, but they also are adept at creating and scoring them.

The No. 5 Lions demonstrated that Tuesday as stopper Elise Gordon scored the first goal and fullback Ari Kowalski set up the second in a 2-0 West Suburban Silver victory over rival Hinsdale Central in Hinsdale.

Gordon set the tone early, taking a pass from Coco Corrigan and blasting a 30-yard shot through the teeth of a biting wind and into the upper left corner of the net just 2:29 into the contest. It was the senior’s third goal of the season. All have come on long-range bombs.

“Definitely knowing that I can put it in from there has given me a lot more confidence and so I’m more relaxed when I take that shot,” Gordon said. “I’m just looking to get open more (from) there.”

Gordon’s score was important because while the Lions (12-2-1, 3-0) controlled much of the action, they were unable to dent Hinsdale Central’s defense again until midway through the second half.

“You always want to score within the first five minutes and just kind of set the tempo and send a message,” Gordon said. “So I think it was good for us to get a goal early on.

“We didn’t finish our chances like we would have liked to and they came out very hard in the second half and put a lot more pressure on us, so we kind of had to deal with that and it was great to get a goal [thanks to] Ari stepping up and making that nice play.”

Kowalski’s play came when she possessed a loose ball just shy of midfield and sprinted uncontested 35 yards up the middle of the field before threading a lead pass on the left wing to fellow sophomore Abbie Pasquinelli, who went top shelf for a 15-yard finish to give the visitors a 2-0 lead with 20:05 remaining.

“I just got the ball and I didn’t feel like anyone was following me so I just started going as fast as I can and I just looked up and found Abbie,” Kowalski said. “(Freshman Emily) Lange was making a good run too, but Ab just had the one step further on the girl. It was a great finish.”

It was an example of how the Lions are diversifying their offense so they can still produce even when teams key on star midfielder Kelsey Holbert, who was held to one shot by the Red Devils.

“(We’ll do it) when the opportunity is there,” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said. “We don’t want to get caught up and leave the counter open, but all of our backs are capable of bringing the ball up.”

All of them are capable of defending well, as they did in helping goalie Maggie Orlowski (three saves) record her 11th shutout. The Red Devils (6-7-2, 1-2) managed only five shots and nearly every time they made a move into the box they were knocked off the ball by Gordon, Kowalski, Sarah Mazur or Emma Meyering.

“We just got off to a bad start,” Hinsdale Central coach Skip Begley said. “You’ve barely sat down and you’re down 1-0. Then after that we hung in there for a while, didn’t generate a lot of offense, but the defense was solid and they weren’t, I think, as dangerous as they were at the beginning, so you can’t have everything when you’re struggling like we are against the better teams.”

All seven of the Red Devils’ losses and one of their ties have come against ranked opponents.

“I hate to say it, we’re 6-7-2, but I still think we’re decent and still have a chance to get better, so we’re working at it,” Begley said. “We still have high expectations. Nobody from our group walks out on to the field saying we’re happy to lose 1-0 or 2-0.”

© 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.