Girls soccer: Kane gets Lisle started in sectional final win vs. Timothy Christian
Tara Kane wasted little time putting her coach's mind at ease.
The Lisle sophomore scored just 26 seconds after kickoff Saturday and the Lions cruised to a 6-0 victory over Timothy Christian at the Class 1A Lisle sectional final at Benedictine University.
This is the first sectional title since 2012 and third in program history for Lisle (17-1-2), which will play Stillman Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Benedictine supersectional.
For Lisle coach Paul Kohorn, the early goal and subsequent win was a relief.
"It took a lot of pressure off of us," Kohorn said. "This is our third sectional championship and it is the first time I guess you could say we were the favorites.
"As a coach, I don't like the favorite position. I like coming in as the underdog so no one expects anything from you.
"So it made me all kinds of nervous. When that first goal went in, it's like, OK, we're good.'"
Kane, who didn't score in Lisle's 3-2 sectional final loss to U-High last year, made sure of that, finishing off a fast and well-executed attack. It began when senior Alexa Fasone passed up the right wing to senior McKenzie Weaver, who took the ball into the box before centering to Kane, who converted a tap-in.
"In pregame Coach talked about how we were going to beat them by going outside-in, so we knew right away that was what we needed to work on," Kane said. "And I'm pretty sure Alexa had the ball to Kenzie and I was in the right spot. It was a perfect ball from Kenzie."
Fasone and Weaver, the leaders of Lisle's potent offense, each finished with 2 goals and 1 assist.
Weaver scored on Lisle's second shot. Freshman Emma Webb's corner kick was deflected toward the goal by a Timothy defender and right to Weaver, who blasted a 12-yard shot under the crossbar at the 31:40 mark.
Webb made it 3-0 with 14:45 left in the half when she curled in a beautiful corner kick. The Lions outshot the Trojans (11-4-1) only 5-4 in the opening half but held a commanding lead.
"They had three or four dynamic players up top and we didn't really have an answer," said Timothy coach Jon Hamelinck, whose team had an eight-game winning streak snapped. "They jumped on us early.
"(The first goal) was a phenomenal play. I'm happy with our positioning on it. I thought we were in the right spots, but we couldn't connect."
Fasone and Weaver continued to connect in the second half, accounting for the final 3 goals. Fasone scored on Lisle's first and third shots after halftime, then intercepted a goal kick and set up Weaver for the final tally with 26:44 remaining.
"I'm so proud of our team," Fasone said. "We knew from the beginning that we had something special, as coach has been saying.
"We're achieving our dreams and our potential right now and it's just so good to see that. It means a lot to me as a senior to achieve this."
The Lions might not be done just yet. They beat Stillman Valley 2-0 on April 13 and have improved drastically since tying Timothy 2-2 in the second game of the season.
"I think we're at our peak right now," Kane said. "We're playing better than we've played all season."