Girls soccer: Wheaton Academy's Lindquist good from the spot

Sophie Lindquist had never taken a penalty kick in a game.

On Friday she took two of them.

The second came in the 12th and final round of a shootout and lifted Wheaton Academy to a 7-6 victory in the shootout in a Class 2A semifinal. The Warriors advanced past Lemont to Saturday's state championship game against Troy Triad.

Regulation and overtime were scoreless.

"I never had done one in a game before, but after that first one, I just wanted to win and for the game to be over," Lindquist said. "I'm just so relieved and excited because the longer the game went the more pressure there was."

Pressure was especially apparent in the shootout and the crossbar did the Warriors no favors during it as well as in regulation and overtime.

Wheaton Academy (21-5) controlled possession throughout the game, not allowing Lemont any true scoring opportunities, including no corner kicks, while seeing a pair of its own shots carom off the crossbar. The last one came from Gretchen Pearson with 7:39 left in the second overtime as her curling attempt from 30 yards away bounced off the crossbar.

"I felt like in the second half we had some scoring chances, hitting the crossbar twice and felt like we were knocking on the door," Warriors coach Jeff Brooke said. "Lemont was a very tough defense to break down, though. We created some good chances, but credit to them, their center backs and goalkeeper worked really hard."

Lemont (20-2-4) appeared as if it would be satisfied for the game to be settled via a shootout because it was constantly defending and rarely creating chances.

"They were better than us in the run of play, so I thought a PK shootout was to our advantage, because they outplayed us," Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. "We defended most of the game so in that scenario getting to PKs gave us a chance. I don't think we were going to score in the run of play. I thought they were better than us today."

The Warriors had a chance to win it in the fifth round of the shootout but again found the crossbar.

Lemont's Michaela Egan and Pearson converted their attempts in the sixth round, but then both teams missed the next six attempts, which included two diving saves from Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Marta Oster.

"It's all reaction," Oster said. "It was just trying to get my hands out. It was definitely a different experience. None of us has ever played in a game like this. It was fun."

Lemont's Danielle Irwin converted her attempt in the 10th round, but Sarah Brcka answered to keep the Warriors alive.

Mariead Ruane then delivered for the Indians, but once again the Warriors responded to stay alive thanks to Izzy McNally's conversion.

"When we came out of the huddle for the third shooting series, we were determined we were going to win," McNally said. "We had more opportunities all game and just wanted to do it for our team, especially after Marta made so many saves to keep us in contention."

Lemont missed its attempt in the 12th round, which set the stage for Lindquist's game-winner that she sent into the upper left corner.

"Marta made some amazing saves and kept us in the game so I just got up in line and waited in case I had another chance," Lindquist said. "I got it and just wanted to place it there like I did."

Now last year's Class 1A champs are a victory away of becoming Class 2A champs.