Joliet West’s season comes to an end with regional semifinal loss to Homewood-Flossmoor

NEW LENOX – The past few years have seen a ton of growth for Joliet West.

This year the team even managed to win six Southwest Prairie Conference games for the first time ever. It was a successful year all around for the Tigers.

Unfortunately for them, though, that year has now come to an end.

Joliet West’s year is over after losing 1-0 to Homewood-Flossmoor on Tuesday at Class 3A Lincoln-Way West Regional semifinals.

The conditions were tough given the heavy rainfall throughout most of the evening. It was even harder for the Tigers going in as they were forced to play without their top player. Freshman Emma Vugteveen put up 30 goals and 12 assists this season but was unable to go with an injury.

“Losing a forward that’s scored 30 goals is tough,” Joliet West coach Alan Stewart said. “I thought we battled well and H-F always plays tough. ... One unlucky mistake late in the first half and that was all it took. It was always going to be a battle and the conditions are always the great equalizer.”

The game was nearly scoreless with both teams struggling to create chances with the rain pouring down early. Paris Jones managed to sneak one into the back of the net with one minute remaining in the first half to make it 1-0. That was the only offense the Vikings needed to get the win.

The Tigers had a pair of solid chances in the final three minutes but were unable to convert on either.

It doesn’t take away what the Tigers managed to do this year.

In addition to the best conference mark, Joliet West finished the year 15-9 overall a year after breaking the program record with 16 wins. The Tigers won the Body Armor Tournament, and they beat Plainfield South and Bolingbrook for the first time in program history. They couldn’t have asked for much more than that.

“The girls worked hard,” Stewart said. “They deserved everything they got this year.”

The Tigers will say farewell to nine seniors who have been with Stewart since their freshmen season. Statistically, the most significant loss will be goalkeeper Kaleigh Blatti, who made 261 saves on the season while only allowing 31 goals. In terms of leadership, though, losing all nine will be a tough blow.

All of them can go out knowing that they did things no group from Joliet West before them had. According to Stewart, this will go down as the winningest senior class in Joliet West history.

“This senior class has been great,” Stewart said. “I brought up all of them as freshmen and that was a big risk reward that saw them grow a lot. It’s been a good run, especially the last two years. ... Prior to Joliet West being a non-co-op, our previous wins record was 12 in a season. This group has finished with double-digit wins for all four years.”

As for the future, the loss of nine seniors will be a challenge, but there are many promising pieces to build around.

As mentioned, Vugteveen is just a freshman. Sophomores Alicia Casillas (12 goals, six assists) and Isabel Cordova (nine goals, eight assists) also put up strong years. Juniors Jovi Biancorosso (three goals, three assists) and Natalia Bedolla (one goal, four assists) will be back as well.

All of that is to say the future remains bright at Joliet West.

“We want to build up our program and keep growing as much as possible,” Stewart said. “We want to get respect for the city of Joliet because they deserve it. It’s a blue collar, hard-working town that deserves to have successful programs. We hope to keep giving them that.”

Lincoln-Way West dominates Thornwood

The fourth seeded and regional host Lincoln-Way West Warriors had no issues advancing to the regional finals. They dominated Thornwood to the tune of an 8-0 victory.

The game was never in question as Lincoln-Way West was up 5-0 by halftime and cut the time in half during the second 40 minutes. The effort was led by Kiersten White, who scored four goals for the Warriors.

The other four goals were scored by Ava Casner, Emily Tigchelaar, Natalie Borchert and Katelyn Mrozowski. The Warriors will host Homewood-Flossmoor for the regional title at 4:30 p.m. Friday.