Girls soccer: Kaneland survives Boylan on PKs

Kaneland always feels comfortable going into penalty kicks knowing that senior Emily Chapman is manning the goal.

After the Lady Knights and Boylan Catholic played to a 1-1 tie after 100 minutes in Tuesday night's Class 2A DeKalb sectional semifinal, the two teams remained deadlocked at 3-3 after five rounds of penalty kicks.

Kaneland freshman Rachel Lutter stepped up and calmly deposited her sixth round kick into the back of the net and Chapman followed with a clutch save on Allyson Fiederis' attempt to the right, giving the Knights a thrilling 2-1 victory.

The contest was reminiscent of Kaneland's 1-0 sectional final victory over Freeport last season that ended after 12 rounds of penalty kicks.

"We don't mind going to PKs," said Kaneland coach Scott Parillo. "It may bite us sometime, but we've got Chapman, I'll go to PKs all the time and take our chances."

"I had a feeling she was going that way because she was left-footed," Chapman said. "She kicked it and I made an easy save to my left. I feel confident in the PK situation since I've been in it so many times the last couple of years."

The Knights (17-4-2) earned a date with Sycamore (21-2-1) in Friday night's 5 p.m. sectional final and will try to avenge a pair of regular season defeats.

Despite getting outplayed for the majority of the first half, Kaneland found itself with a 1-0 lead courtesy of Lutter's free kick from 25 yards out in the 32nd minute that caromed into the left corner off a Boylan defender.

The Titans (19-3-3) came out strong to open the second half and tallied the equalizer in the 49th minute when senior Brianna Ciaccio headed in a perfect corner kick from Maggie Woods.

Boylan pushed for the potential game-winning goal in regulation, but Chapman make an outstanding diving save on Kailey Parnello's blast to the left corner from over 20 yards out with just under 7 minutes remaining.

Neither team mounted a serious scoring chance in overtime.

"I think their strength was their defense and their goalkeeping and they built it around that," said Boylan coach Mark Couper. "Not many goalies in the state would have stopped Kailey's shot. We had our chances, but hats off to them."

Freshman Morgan Dolphin played keeper for Boylan in regulation and overtime, but Couper turned to sophomore Moire McMahon in penalty kicks.

Kaneland gained a 2-1 advantage on successful attempts from Taylor Zitkus and Gabby Cano, but a Knights' miss high and a key save from McMahon gave Boylan a chance to take the lead, but the Titans fired wide.

Kaneland's Becca Richtman and Ciaccio both connected in the fifth round.