Girls soccer: Columbia stymies Lisle in semifinal
Lisle ran into the juggernaut that is downstate Columbia during Friday afternoon's Class 1A semifinal at North Central College in downtown Naperville.
The Eagles, undefeated against Illinois opponents this spring, blanked the Lions 5-0 to advance to Saturday's state championship game against North Shore Country Day.
Lisle, which was trying to win a semifinal for the third time since 2010, fell short again, having lost the previous two times in 2010 and 2012.
For the only time this season Lisle (18-2-2) looked overmatched.
"We knew they were good and we had a lot of good information so we knew what to expect," Lisle coach Paul Kohorn said. "We didn't know whether we could play with them. They actually play the game almost the same way as we do except they do it a little faster, quicker and stronger."
Columbia (26-2-1) didn't waste much time, attacking Lisle from the get-go. The Eagles misfired on their first few opportunities, but Reagan Mauch then dribbled inside the box and snuck a shot just inside the near post in the 13th minute.
In the 16th minute Mauch launched a long free kick to Fae Harrell, whose header was out of reach of Lisle goalkeeper Grace Hoscheidt, who made 10 saves.
Haley Glover then scored unassisted in the 25th minute and Lisle was suddenly down 3-0 and hadn't even attempted a shot on the other end of the field.
"They're obviously a good team, fast and smooth," Kohorn said. "They beat us off the ball more than anything and that's what we preach too. At one point I said to my assistant that now I know what the last five teams felt playing against us."
Perhaps Lisle's best opportunity in the first half didn't even result in a shot attempt as a Columbia player appeared to take down Lisle's leading scorer Alexa Fasone in the 36th minute, but with a no-call the teams just played on.
They really didn't have another one until the 67th minute, when Fasone fired a shot, her lone one of the game, but Columbia goalkeeper Rylee Iorio was well positioned to make the save.
"They did a great job around us and we couldn't turn it around on them and play offensively," Fasone said. "And our defense is amazing. We just hadn't seen anything like that this season."
Columbia outshot Lisle, 33-1. That's certainly eye-popping since Lisle has scored 128 goals in its 22 games. But this Columbia team is really something else too. The Eagles even knocked off Class 3A Neuqua Valley 2-1 in late March and own a plus-115 scoring differential.
"We don't like being blindsided like that, but they had some strength up there," Fasone said. "We tried shutting them down, but they found a way through it."
Lisle will try to regroup for Saturday's third-place game against Interstate Eight Conference rival Herscher, a team that it lost to 3-2 in late April.
"It'll be interesting to play them again," Kohorn said. "We didn't play particularly well in that game. We got a little beat up in this game and the weather bothered us. We weren't expecting the sun and the heat and I think some of the kids got dehydrated. So we'll try to rebound and do the best we can."