Warriors win in a shootout over Crete-Monee

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By Bill Scheibe

Uh-oh.

The last line of Lincoln-Way West’s defense, sophomore sweeper Lea Gindville could only turn her back and watch as a 25-yard bullet shot by Crete-Monee’s A.J. Rodas exploded off the gloves of freshman goalkeeper Mia Biangamano and made a loud booming sound as it rocketed off the right post.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the spinning soccer ball then made a beeline for the far-left corner with 5 minutes and 14 seconds remaining in the first half. Tracking back as fast as a sprinter over hurdles, Gindville barely arrived in time to clear the ball off the goal line – one thought burning in her mind.

Uh-oh.

“When I saw that happen, my heart dropped,” Gindville admitted. “I just knew I had to get there and get it out as fast as I possibly could so nothing bad would happen for our team and to keep us in the game.”

That Gindville did indeed keep host West in the first-round game of the Warrior Invite could have been lost in the shuffle. Senior midfielder Kylie Hermanson netted the winning goal in a penalty-kick shootout and Biangamano stopped Crete’s final attempt en route to a stunning 1-0 victory in New Lenox.

Saturday morning’s makeup of Friday afternoon’s rainout turned out as good as the respite of the Easter holiday break for Lincoln-Way West (3-7-1), which controlled much of the 30-minute halves against Crete-Monee (5-3-1). The tournament setup featured no overtime, heading straight into penalty kicks.

With the Warriors shooting first, senior midfielder Kalin Winans converted into the lower right-corner for a 1-0 lead. Sophomore forward Kara Winans also went low to the right corner in forcing a 2-2 tie and, after a Crete miss, sophomore forward Cori Brennan tallied into the lower-left corner for a 3-2 lead.

The deadlock remained at 3-3 when Hermanson – whose free kick with 3:08 left in the first half deflected off the gloves of goalkeeper Nicole Reardon and banged off the crossbar – hit a shot that whipped into the upper-left corner. This time, Hermanson’s shot nicked Reardon’s gloves for a 4-3 lead.

Grab an aspirin.

“I was worried,” Hermanson nodded. “My heart kind of dropped when that happened, but I kept my head up and it went in, so … I always stay with the same corner, left and low. I try to keep it consistent.”

“Kylie has been big for us,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jeff Theiss said. “She scored our lone goal against Stagg on a free kick and she has really stepped up and found a niche. She’s one of our players who’s confident with the ball, can slow down the tempo and just make sure we move forward as a unit.”

From there, Biangamano made sure the Warriors went home with the win, thwarting a dead-on shot by senior Morgan King. Playing in only her second varsity game after sitting out with a pulled hamstring and groin, Biangamano made her third save the biggest by aggressively rushing off her line on the PK.

“Mia deserves it so much,” Theiss said. “It’s only her second game back. We played her a half against Andrew and she was supposed to start yesterday, so she has been itching to step onto the field. To get her first shutout in her second game, I’m excited for her and the girls are excited for her, too.”

“It gives them less space to shoot at and I try to take up most of the net,” Biangamano said of her shootout approach. “But I was surprised because I thought she’d go for a corner. It’s nerve-racking and I would rather have us make a shot during the game, but I was glad to save it. It was very, very exciting.”

Likewise, West got off to a very, very good start. Hermanson’s left-footed direct kick barely went wide with 28:52 remaining in the first half. A direct kick by Brennan from the circle of the box sailed through the football goal posts with 23:46 to go. In the final three minutes, Hermanson had two chances.

“I just felt like one of those times, it’s going to go in,” she said. “I have to keep them going and I know that my team is always there to back me up. We were trying so hard and we kept our heads up the whole game. We thought we would get one, unfortunately we didn’t, but we pulled it out anyway.”
In the second half, West nearly pulled ahead 1-0 on a direct kick by Gindville. She grooved a hot potato of a shot toward the right post that Reardon bobbled and dove back toward the net to save before the ball could roll past the goal line. Brennan also came close on a shot toward the far-left corner.

“It was an up-and-down game,” Theiss said. “I thought especially in the second half, we did a better job of controlling the tempo and imposing our well. We spend so much time defending in conference that sometimes we’re unfamiliar with having space in front of us. We settled down in the second half.”

Thankfully for Theiss, the Warriors didn’t settle for less in penalty kicks despite falling behind in the second round. Biangamano forced a wide-right shot in the third round, Hermanson managed to connect for the go-ahead strike in the fifth round and Biangamano notched the biggie thereafter to clinch.

“That was great,” Hermanson said. “It won us the game. We worked hard for it and Mia deserves it.”
So, too, did the sweeper.

The combination of Hermanson’s goal and Biangamano’s save wrapped up an affair that would not have reached the shootout if not for Gindville’s regulation dandy of a clear. Still, she was crystal clear afterward about the importance of the Warriors’ hard work translating into gametime success.

“We all get nervous on penalty kicks,” she said. “But we practice them often. We were trying and hoping to get in more than the other team and they did an awesome job, keeping it close and keeping it tied, but everyone was excited when Kylie scored and Mia made the save. It was so exciting for everyone.”