Girls soccer: Westmont outlasts Montini for regional title

The Westmont girls soccer team made history a season ago, winning the first regional title in program history.

This year's version is hoping to make even more history.

On Friday the Sentinels captured the Class 1A Lisle regional championship. The game was tied 1-1 against Montini after regulation and two overtime periods and then decided by penalty kicks, which Westmont won 4-1.

Now Westmont has a chance to grab its first sectional win when the Sentinels play Tuesday at Nazareth.

"It's fantastic," said retiring Westmont soccer coach Ron Neurauter, whose team won its 11th game, eclipsing last year's final total by one. "This is a program with a lot of young kids. We are only losing three seniors. It's a good feeling."

Two of those seniors came up especially big. Lily Lalonde found the back of the net for the clinching penalty kick; teammates Kerry Slaga, Julia Siroky and Brenna Kapusta also all connected before her as Westmont went a perfect 4-for-4.

"It was awesome," Lalonde said. "I just hit it right in the corner. It came down to who wanted it more, we were pretty evenly matched."

Fellow senior Hannah O'Malley made one save on a penalty kick while another Montini attempt sailed over the crossbar. She made 15 saves during the match.

"We lost 2-0 to them in the first game of the year," O'Malley said. "So to get the win against them in overtime, it makes it even better. It's been years since we beat Montini."

After a scoreless first half Slaga put the Sentinels up with a left-footed goal from 30 yards out with 37:43 left. She has 21 goals and 17 assists.

"It feels amazing," Slaga said. "It's our second regional in a row, this is Neurauter's last year. I'm so proud of our team and it is so cool because we were seeded sixth."

The Broncos tied the score on a breakaway goal by Margaret Sullivan off a pass from Alondra Holler. Montini finished with a record of 10-8-2.

"It was a great game," coach Sue Brown said. "The girls played hard and tough. We are really young so we should have a strong group coming back."