McGowan is the McHero
L-Way E. shuts down Joliet in defensive battle
FRANKFORT -- All season long the Lincoln-Way East soccer team has been playing good defense. Now, that defense is transferring into victories.
The Griffins stifled Joliet Township 1-0 in a SouthWest Suburban crossover Thursday night for their fourth victory in the last five games.
(MICHAEL R. SCHMIDT/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The win improves East to 4-8-2 and 3-1 in the SWSC. JT lost its second straight and fell back to 6-6 and 2-2.
"We had a rough start at the beginning of the year," East coach Brian Papa said. "Now, we're starting to make some breaks."
On the other side, JT is now the team not able to put the ball in the net.
"We've been having trouble scoring," JT coach Eduardo Contreras said. "We had a starting defender (senior Rudy Aguirre) out because of two yellow cards in Tuesday's game at Andrew, so we had to mix-and-match out there tonight."
In the early going, neither team could find much mix.
JT had long shots by senior defender Angel Mancera and junior forward Axel Morales that were corralled by Griffins goalie keeper Jeremy Stachura.
On the other end, East had two header shots by junior defender Matt Crumb. One was headed back out by Morales and the other was saved by Steelmen junior goalie Mike Vertin.
Actually, Vertin made the best save of the night when he turned back a header by senior midfielder Brian Burke and then had to make a stop on a rocket rebound off the foot of junior midfielder Kevin Wegner with about 24:30 left in the first half.
"We had some opportunities," Papa said. "But their goalie made some really nice saves."
"The good news for us is that Mike played like the old Vertin from last year," Contreras said. "He made a lot of good saves."
While Vertin made many saves, he couldn't get a finger on what turned out to be the game's only goal.
That came off the foot of East junior midfielder Robbie McGowan on direct kick into the right side of the goal with 23:07 remaining in the first half.
"It was on a restart, and I usually take those direct kicks if they're from 20 yards or under," McGowan said. "I saw that (Vertin) was lined up on the near stake, so I went to the back stake.
"I was about 19 yards out and I put it right on top of the back stake. The way we lined up, he couldn't see it and I knew I had to make it."
McGowan also had reason to make the kick. He and his teammates remembered how their season ended last year, with a 4-3 loss in penalty kicks (5-3 on PKs) to the Steelmen in the Lincoln-Way Central sectional semifinals on Oct. 24.
"They beat us in PKs after we had a couple of bad breaks last year," McGowan said. "So, it's always good to come back and beat a team that knocked you out from playing the previous season.
"Our defense played really well again (Thursday). We haven't allowed more than two goals in a game this season, so it was another good job from the 'D.' "
"Give East credit for taking advantage of that direct kick," Contreras said. "You can't give a team like that too many opportunities."
The Steelmen came out on the attack in the second half as sophomore midfielder Juan Carranco ripped a shot from 22 yards that was saved by Stachura just over three minutes into the half.
In the midpoint of the second half, East had chances. However, Vertin made nice saves on a header by Crumb and a shot in front by senior midfielder Jared Rohlf's.
JT tried for one last charge in the final 7:30, but couldn't find the net. The best chance may have been when Steelmen senior forward Jose Vargas sent in a corner kick that was corralled by Stachura with 6:00 to play. Stachura made five saves on the night.
"We're not an offensive dynamo, but if the kids can find a way to score, we'll be OK," said Papa, whose team has only scored 13 goals thus far this season. "Our defense played strong and played super.
"We moved (junior) Mike Hegazin from midfielder to sweeper the last three games and he's done a great job there for us."
Despite the loss, Contreras saw positive signs from his team.
"We kept the pressure up at the end," he said. "Even though it was a loss, I liked the way we played with some heart and passion out there.
"Still, we're at .500 now and back to ground zero."
