Pelafas strikes for Wheaton North

Lexi Pelafas missed a practice, which resulted in her sitting on the bench for the first half of Tuesday's DuPage Valley Conference cross-town girls soccer match against Wheaton Warrenville South.

She wasn't sitting during the second half and she definitely didn't miss her best scoring opportunity, which arrived in the final minute.

The senior's penalty kick with 29.2 seconds left was the difference, as the Falcons didn't succumb to a late second-half goal from Wheaton Warrenville South, squeaking out a 2-1 victory.

"I knew we had 29 seconds left and we really needed it against our cross-town rival," Pelafas said. "I was really nervous because everyone was watching and I knew I had to get it right in the corner because I needed to score."

Pelafas was taken down in the box with time winding down during a second half that was undeniably controlled by the opposition. She most certainly made sure she converted such a great opportunity with the game on the line and with her biggest rivals defending.

"I'm usually not that nervous when I take a PK," she said. "It's different when there is (29 seconds) left and it's your cross-town rival and you want to win."

Wheaton North (3-0-2, 1-0) was clinging to a 1-0 lead for most of the night and appeared as if it might make it hold up.

Hannah Atkinskon scored less than four minutes into the action, and the Falcons were on the defensive for most of the evening, doing a solid job of refuting any scoring attempts from the Tigers.

Wheaton Warrenville South (2-1-0, 0-1-0) was especially aggressive on its attack in the second half, controlling play and constantly challenging the Falcons and their freshman goalkeeper, Zoe Welsh.

"(Welsh) was really their player of the game," Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. "She kept them in the game the entire time, but credit to them, they did a nice job."

Welsh admitted that she knew the rivalry was big but had never witnessed it personally.

"I had no idea what it would be like, but I knew it was going to be big because of the rivalry," she said. "I knew I had to go out with all my heart because if I didn't give my full effort I was going to get busted."

The Tigers aggressive attack finally resulted in the equalizer as Tori Adomshick scored with 6:35 remaining, but the Falcons never lost their composure.

"We never gave up," Pelafas said. "This feels really good. We've been looking forward to this game all year; it's our favorite game of the year. Even though the season isn't ending - we have a long way to go - it's good to get this win. It's very important to us."