Wheaton Academy breaks the ice in 5-2 win
Wheaton Academy wanted to do something to Sycamore on Friday morning that hadn't been done in the Spartans' previous 13 games.
"We knew that they hadn't allowed a goal since April, and our goal was to score in the first 10 minutes just to see how they'd react," Warriors coach Scott Marksberry said. "If you're not used to playing down a goal, it's really tough mentally to adjust to that, so we wanted to put them on their heels and see how they'd react to it. Our girls did a great job. They capitalized and capitalized again."
The Warriors (21-3-2) capitalized in a way that no other team had against Sycamore this season, ending the shutout streak with a 5-2 Class 2A semifinal victory at North Central College in Naperville.
"I think today we started out a bit flat and they certainly made us pay for it," Spartans coach David Lichamer said.
The first goal came in the 10th minute, senior Leah Fortune sending Lexi Sharkey through the defense with a nice pass and Sharkey nailing a shot near the left side of the 6-yard box off the far post and in.
In the 19th minute a 12-yard shot from freshman Ally Witt hit the same post and had the same reaction. Four minutes after that Fortune cut through the Spartans defense, zeroed in on the goal and rifled a shot into the net to end her day. The Texas-bound Fortune, one of many Warriors nursing nagging injuries, is expected to be available to play in today's 1 p.m. championship game against Lemont, a 1-0 winner over Chatham Glenwood on Friday afternoon.
A goal by freshman Crystal Thomas to open the second half allowed Marksberry to pull most of his starters. Then Sycamore found new life with a Nici Newquist goal in the 65th minute, followed a minute later by an Emma Norris goal.
"Honestly, though, they fought really hard. They did not give up until the last seconds," Wheaton Academy midfielder Meghan Grant said. "It was a good game, and they have a really good team no matter what the score because they fought the whole game."
Those Sycamore goals got seven white shirts off the Wheaton Academy bench in a hurry.
"We had at that point nine of our starters off the field, just trying to get some girls rest, trying to get some other girls some minutes in," Marksberry said. "We said if they score two, then we'd start running everybody back in, but until then we were just going to let it roll."
Sycamore didn't get another shot after that, though it did earn a corner kick.
"The defense is great. They've been great all season," Marksberry said. "Lindsey Burke and Kerrin Clancy were unbelievable today. Christi Dithrich does a good job anchoring us.
"Jenn Lee, she's a striker and she became a stopper midway through the season, and since she did that it's just totally turned the way that we play. We get a lot more things going in the attack out of the back because of what Jenn's doing back there. She just breaks up plays. Jenn, Lindsey and Kerrin break up so many plays it's just tough for another team to get going, and they did a great job of it today."
Witt's second goal of the game in the 77th minute allowed the Wheaton Academy faithful to breath a sigh of relief and some players to go back to their ice packs.
"It's actually been kind of hard with all the injuries, but we've really been working together and we've been icing like crazy," Grant said. "One more game and then we're good. Everyone's really playing through the pain."