Girls soccer: Lisle discovers a new scorer against Timothy Christian

Francesca Wagoner and the Lisle girls soccer team knew they had a strong core.

Wagoner knew they were just missing a cog in the attack. The Lions may have found it in freshman Tara Kane.

"It's beautiful because last year we weren't used to that," the senior stopper said. "We had a new team, but we didn't have forces like her. It's like wow, we have something new."

Kane showed off her attacking prowess. The forward scored her first varsity goals, notching a hat trick in a 6-2 win over Timothy Christian in Elmhurst.

"It was pretty cool, I was proud of myself," Kane said. "It was nice."

Kane opened up the scoring early. Just 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the game, Alexa Fasone played in a cross from the left wing and Kane hit a first-time shot into the right corner of the net.

"Knowing that we can score early on, it set the tempo," Kane said. "We weren't sure how this team was going to be, so it was good."

Lisle's confidence grew with the goal. The Lions (2-0) nearly doubled their lead five minutes later, but Sara Carstensen cleared the ball off the goal line.

Eventually, Lisle's pressure did break down the Trojans defense. Chloe Pokorny slotted home a goal with 17:27 left in the first half.

But Timothy Christian (1-1) responded quickly.

A minute later, Emma Carter dribbled through a pair of Lions defenders and cut the deficit in half.

"She's going to be a good little player," Timothy Christian coach Jon Hamelinck said. "She's tenacious (and) she understands the game."

Lisle had a response. With 11:29 left in the half, a blocked shot fell to Alexis Juveland, who ripped a shot into the net to take a 3-1 lead.

Carter and Timothy Christian responded a minute later, again, when Carter made the score 3-2 going into halftime.

"I told the girls that we were pretty lucky to be where we are (at halftime), based on how much more energy they brought than what we had," Hamelinck said.

Kane and Lisle, though, started the second half much like the first. Kane scored two goals in a 10-minute span that made it 5-2.

Her first goal gave her confidence.

"That was my first (varsity) goal so I was pretty excited," Kane said. "After that then it just started rolling."

Wagoner came up big on the defensive end in the second half. Timothy Christian's Maddie Schaafsma dribbled around goalkeeper Grace Hoscheidt and seemed to have an open net, but Wagoner blocked the shot.

"Putting your body in front of anything is the goal as a stopper," Wagoner said. "I think that's a big momentum swinger."

Three minutes later, Fasone capped off the scoring when a ball fell to her on the left wing and she slotted it home and the Lions defense kept a second-half shutout.

"We weren't closing down like we need to in the first half," Lisle coach Paul Kohorn said. "That's what we talked about at halftime, just make sure everyone is closing down like they're supposed to and I think we did a much better job of that."