LEMONT -- The Lockport High School soccer team was looking for a breakthrough with its first-ever sectional victory.
Problem was that the Porters were facing an opponent in Sandburg, that had been here many times before.
Sandburg scored two goals in the final 16:47 to rally for a 2-1 victory over Lockport in the Class AA Lemont Sectional semifinals.
The top-seeded Eagles (13-7) will play Lemont, a 2-1 winner in triple overtime over Marist, for the sectional championship at 6 p.m. Thursday. That is a rematch of last year's sectional title game which Lemont won 2-1.
The Porters (11-11-1) advanced to the sectional semifinals for the first time since 2001. It was the fourth time in school history that Lockport has advanced this far, also dropping sectional semifinal games in 1998 and 1999.
Lockport didn't lose because of lack of effort. The Porters came out strong and were ready to avenge a 3-0 loss to Sandburg in the team's SouthWest Suburban Conference game on Oct. 4 in Orland Park.
"Just from the get-go we were intense," Lockport coach Jeff Brown said. "The guys really, really wanted it and left it all on the field."
"They didn't think anything of us after they beat us 3-0 earlier," said Lockport junior forward/midfielder Brandon Hodolitz, who scored the Porters' goal. "We wanted this game and we fought till the end."
But in the end, the Eagles showed why they are a program that has won nine sectional titles and three Class AA state championships.
Sandburg tied it on a goal by sophomore forward Tyler Engel. He was right in front to kick it in off a crossing assist from junior defender Fahad Nazir with 16:47 remaining in the game.
Just over six minutes later, Ross Tanzer put in the game-winner off a crossing pass from Dave Peterson with 10:27 left.
"We worked the field and Petey (Peterson) gave me a great ball," Tanzer said. "Props to him. I can't tell you how good that pass was."
Lockport argued that Tanzer was offside on the play. The referees conferred and counted the goal.
"It was close," Tanzer said. "I saw them (referees) talking and crossed my fingers and prayed that it wasn't offside."
"That didn't come out in our favor," Brown said of the call. "I told the guys that they have to keep playing through until there's a whistle, but they know that."
The Porters had two chances to tie the game. First a header from junior defender Mike Diaz deLeon was saved by Sandburg senior goalie Jake Kenny with 7:40 to play. Then Kenny came out and corralled a last-ditch effort on a feed in from Diaz deLeon with just 18 seconds remaining.
Hodolitz gave Lockport the lead 1:57 into the second half. He had the ball on the left side and had Kenny leaning to his right. Hodolitz veered the ball to his right and it sliced perfectly off the right post and in.
"I took it down the left side and was looking to maybe cross it, but took the shot at the far post," Hodolitz said. "That made it worthwhile, especially to hear our fans cheer like crazy."
However, Hodolitz was his own worst critic later on.
"Defensively, the only time I didn't mark up, they scored," he said. "Their guy just slipped behind me."
In the first half, Lockport outshot Sandburg 4-1, but it ended scoreless as Kenny (12 saves) made two diving saves on shots by junior midfielder/forward Raul Vigil.
"Boy, he made a couple of nice saves there," Brown said. "If we could have got a 2-0 lead we would have had a more confident feeling."
Vigil had all four of Lockport's first-half shots and had five chances on goal in the game. Also having good shots for the Porters were senior forward Bart Kowalczyk and junior midfielders Lucas Zeiler and Ryan Turner.
"We had a lot of shots," said Vigil, who transferred to Lockport before the school year. "We just didn't put the ball into the net. We played better and had more shots than them.
"Still, we learned a lot this year and we know we can do better next year."
Close
Community Login
You've successfully logged in to the Sun-Times News group Community, click the close button to return to browsing.
Facebook App
Font Size
Email
Bookmark
Black Text
