The biggest shot in the soccer career of Lincoln-Way Central’s Sarah Borsellino probably shouldn’t have gone into the net. And there were two big reasons why.
First, the ball went wrong off the senior forward’s foot, which is never a good sign. Second, Lincoln-Way East goalkeeper Lindsay Fortier got her hand on the attempt.
Still, Borsellino didn’t panic.
“I tried to stay composed,” she said of her successful penalty kick. “I watched it and said, ‘Oh, shoot, it’s not going to go in.’ I saw she hit it, and it’s all good.”
It was as good as it gets on a rainy Thursday night for Borsellino as the Knights beat the Griffins 2-1 in the Windy City Ram Classic championship game at Reavis.
Sure, Borsellino got a little luck, but she was due for some. Her winning penalty kick in the shootout took a nice bounce off the goalie’s glove and into the net.
“She’s been dinged up a little bit and is trying to find her legs a little bit,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Sean Fahey said of Borsellino. “She was hurt most of last year and had some bad luck with injuries in the offseason with her club.
“But she’s got ability, and I tell her all the time she can change a game. I’m excited to see her work through and get those legs back.”
Jenni Andjelic, Christine Erdman and Abby Sudkamp also scored in PKs for Lincoln-Way Central (5-0). Ellie Feigl, Thea Gerfen and Olivia Desjardins converted for East (4-1).
Junior goalkeeper Alexa Hadley came up with key saves in the PK session for the Knights.
“I’ve been involved in two penalty kick games for club,” said Hadley, who pointed out she was 1-1. “To be able to win one with this team feels so amazing.
“I’m proud of the hard work we’ve done, and 5-0 is pretty nice.”
Borsellino, who said she also was involved in two PK games, missed one during a state semifinal in club.
“This makes up for that one,” she said.
Lincoln-Way East opened the scoring with 24:40 left in the first half when sophomore forward Cami Butler delivered even though she was being brought down by a defender.
For Lincoln-Way Central, which had outscored Bremen, De La Salle, Glenbard East and Glenbrook South by a combined 14-0, it was uncharted territory.
Grace Grundhofer, however, scored to force a 1-1 tie with 31:04 left in the second half. And the defense held the rest of regulation.
“Obviously, we had to come from behind and we responded,” Fahey said. “That was definitely our best 55 minutes of soccer we’ve played.”
It was a night full of kicks — penalty kicks.
Andrew, which lost 1-0 to Lincoln-Way East on PKs in Tuesday’s semifinals, took third place with a 2-1 win over Glenbrook South on PKs.
Emily Tobin, Bella Lemus and Leah Crotty earned converted as Andrew (5-1) won 3-2 in the shootout.
Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way East will meet again April 21 at East in a Southwest Suburban Conference crossover.
Fahey thinks the two teams will also battle it out in the sectional.
Lincoln-Way East coach Michael Murphy thought his team played well under wet conditions.
“I like how we possessed the ball in stretches,” he said. “I looked at my girls and told them, ‘Hey, this is the beginning of the season.’ We wanted to get them good competition. This shows we can compete with anybody in this area.
“It stinks to lose in PKs, but to be able to get this far, we played well.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
