Girls soccer: A goal, but not the goal, for Lisle

Lisle sophomore Madison Manns surprised herself by scoring a goal on the final day of the Class 1A tournament Saturday.

But what she really wanted was a victory.

Manns became the first girl in soccer program history to score a goal in a state finals game, but the Lions could not hold the lead. Herscher rallied in the second half to win the third-place game 2-1 at North Central College in Naperville.

Manns, a defender who had scored 2 goals this season, took advantage of a scramble following a Lisle corner kick and booted a 10-yard shot past Herscher goalkeeper Rourke Zigrossi with 7:13 gone in the first half.

"I was honestly in shock," Manns said. "I didn't process it at first."

It was the first time the Lions (18-2-2) had found the back of the net in six state finals games. They were shut out twice in both of their matches at the 2010 and 2012 finals and were beaten 5-0 by Columbia in Friday's semifinals.

The early score gave a boost to a team that was physically drained after the battle with Columbia.

"This was everything (to us), so we just had to push," Manns said. "We just had to give it our all and try as hard as we could."

The Lions did so, but the effort could not stop Herscher (24-5) from controlling the second half.

The Tigers, who edged the Lions 3-2 in the regular season, tied the game on Mattie Brown's 37th goal of the season with 27:08 remaining.

Lisle junior goalkeeper Grace Hoscheidt, playing with a painful thigh injury, made 6 of her 8 saves after halftime, including a tremendous stop on a breakaway by Brown with 17:40 to go.

But she couldn't control Chloe Walsh's spinning shot from 8 yards out, which rolled into the net with 8:22 to go.

"I wish I could have done better, but in the previous game I got an injury to my thigh and it was just much harder to (put weight) on it," Hoscheidt said. "So I played the best I could.

"I need improvement, just like everybody else, and I wish we could have won, but the better team won today."

Even so, Lisle coach Paul Kohorn was upbeat. The Lions graduate senior forwards Alexa Fasone and McKenzie Weaver, who combined for 60 goals and 28 assists this spring. But they return eight starters.

"I'm proud of this team," Kohorn said. "We were so beat up after yesterday's game.

"Of our 21 girls, we probably have 14 of them with ice somewhere so it was hard for us to fully compete, but we did our best. Herscher played a great second half."