Zallis has recipe for success

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FRANKFORT -- In the culinary world, nutmeg is a spice commonly used to flavor eggnog, puddings and fruit pies.

In the high school soccer world, "The Nutmeg" is the given name for a spicy between-the-legs move favored by Lincoln-Way East senior captain Lauren Zallis. She offers no help in tracing the origin of the move's name. She does know how to take over a game with her fancy footwork.

Zallis used a head-and-shoulders fake to draw Lincoln-Way Central's Angie Brown up on her, then put the ball between her legs and chased it down in a one girl give-and-go type offense in the second half of East's 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.

Zallis came out the other side and blasted a 25-yard shot that kicked through the mitts of Central goalkeeper Jamie Panfil and snapped a 1-1 deadlock with 24:24 remaining in the SouthWest Suburban Red clash between district rivals and old friends.

"Yeah, that's my favorite move," Zallis said. "It's called 'The Nutmeg' -- I have no idea why. Coach has been telling me to shoot, and I knew I wanted to get the shot off. So, it was, 'Beat the girl and shoot. That's all I was thinking.' "

Central (10-3-2, 5-1) was thinking of taking command of the conference race and had a 10-15 mph wind blowing at its back in the first half. The Knights built a 1-0 lead on Allison Doyle's 14th goal with 11:44 left. She took a feed from Beth Petrone in the left corner and launched a shot that curled over East's Allison Breakey and into the upper right corner of the net.

East, after being outshot 8-3, turned the tide in the second half and kept its conference title hopes alive. The Griffins (6-5-1, 4-2) tied the score 1-1 on a goal by Kaci Jazo at the 32:37 mark. She took a feed from sister Taylor Jazo and moved in one-on-none on Panfil before striking pay dirt.

"In the first half, I really didn't know what I was doing as much as in the second half," Kaci Jazo said. "And, then, the coaches at halftime told us what to do. They told us we needed to get the ball because we weren't really running at first. We weren't into the game. They were like, 'You need to get into the game.' "

To help in that endeavor, East coach Brian Papa switched from a 4-4-2 set to a 3-4-3 and moved Zallis from the back line to the front line. She went from playing defensive stopper to floating forward.

"We changed our lineup, so that usually helps us with our attack," Zallis said. "And, once we got our attack going -- plus the wind -- there was no stopping us.

"Because, in our previous games in the Naperville tournament, we had been scored on within the first 10 minutes. (Coach) Papa wanted to strengthen up the defense with four defenders back there. Then, when we were down, he decided we needed more of an attacking strategy. So, that's why in the second half it switched.

"Then, when we went up, I was moved back to defense."

Zallis has the all-around skills to play almost anywhere on the field. She traveled to Phoenix two years ago with her club team to play in the President's Cup and made such a strong impression she ended up gaining a Division I scholarship offer. She recently signed with Northern Arizona University.

"I got a letter in the mail from the coach and kept in touch with him," Zallis said. "And I went and visited. It's Division I. That's what I've always wanted to do. I'll be playing center-mid, so nothing you saw today. I'll be playing where Taylor (Jazo) and Brittany (Purtell) were playing."

East finished with a 14-13 edge in shots and an 11-5 margin in the second half.

"Yeah, I thought it was a tale of two halves," Central coach Dan Radz said. "Obviously, with the wind to their back, they did a better job. I was very impressed with Zallis' play and (Taylor) Jazo's play. I thought they did a fabulous job of attacking us. We sat back. We put more of a defensive system out there for them, and we couldn't stop them."

The Knights played without two injured regulars -- Claire Zoellner and Michelle Wick.

"We played well in the first half -- we did some nice things," Papa said. "But for some reason, we weren't going to the ball. They were beating us to those 50-50 balls in the box. We were trying to say, 'All we ask is for the effort.' They gave us that in the second half.

"That was a great play by Taylor Jazo, taking it to the end line. She found her sister right in front. Thank God, the post was nice to us and it went into the thing. And then the shot by Zallis, that thing was a rip. I've seen them go through other people. But that was a hard shot."

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