Griffins can't hold off late Plainfield North comeback effort

Click to read Plainfield North story

By Curt Herron

On paper, Lincoln-Way East shouldn't have been leading in the late stages of Thursday's home opener against Plainfield North.

After all, the Tigers owned decisive advantages in both totals shots as well as shots on goal over the Griffins.

And East played the entire second half without its starting goalkeeper, Arianna Nie, who left with an injury at the break.

Despite all of those things, Brian Papa's Griffins still held a 1-0 advantage with less than 15 minutes remaining.

To Plainfield North's credit, it stepped up down the stretch and scored a pair of goals to capture a 2-1 win in Frankfort.

But East also deserves note for overcoming a great deal of adversity to actually put itself in a position to win the match.

Click to hear coach Brian Papa interview

Griffin senior Hayley Gerdes, who is a midfielder, stepped in for Nie as her squad's keeper during the second half.

But for much of the half, the visitors were unable to capitalize on the situation since they had a drought without any shots on goal.

The Tigers (1-0) tied things up with 14:54 remaining on a goal from Ashley Handwork, following an assist from Madison Hansen.

North scored the game-winner with 9:50 left when Ashley Auble connected for a short shot, off of a pass from Katie Cox.

For the match, the Griffins (1-1) faced a 26-5 disadvantage in total shots and also trailed 13-3 in shots on goal.

Plainfield North nearly grabbed the first lead when it just missed capitalizing on the first good chance of the day.

Callie O'Donnell's header looked like it might find the net but East's Kelsey Kurey made a non-goalie save with 16:15 left in the first half.

Less than four minutes later, the Griffins made the most of their first good scoring chance to grab a 1-0 advantage.

Senior Corie Elam sent in a short free kick and senior Claire Krieger was there to put the ball in with 12:46 left in the half.

That score would hold up for over 38 minutes before the Tigers began their eventual-winning rally by getting the equalizer.

Click to hear Claire Krieger interview

East went with two senior starters beside Elam, Gerdes and Nie, and they were Elizabeth Grever and Theresa Tynski.

Other junior starters for the Griffins on Thursday were Nicole Ernat, Erin Mangia, Kelly McGovern and Maggie Wojtulewicz.

Stacey Sons was the lone sophomore starter for East, which won 2-1 over Marian Catholic on Tuesday in its season opener.

Two additional seniors, Lauren Ebeling and Giselle Sabal, are joined by seven juniors to round out this season's roster.

East's other juniors are Elise Bicek, Emily Boyich, Cassidy Cassello, Dana Gleason, Molly Imguret, Christa Kordik and Jennifer Rajca.

The Griffins return to action next Thursday when they host Mother McAuley and then entertain Lincoln-Way Central next Saturday.