Lincoln-Way East cruises past Lincoln-Way West and into the sectional finals

JOLIET – The first time Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way West met on the girls soccer pitch this season, East came away with a convincing 5-0 victory. The second time, the Griffins again were dominant, winning 6-0.

The third time the two faced off was Tuesday in the Class 3A Joliet West Sectional semifinals. Nothing comes easy in the playoffs, as people say. Those same people say it’s not easy to beat a team three times in a season.

They’d never admit it, but the Griffins sure made it look easy Tuesday.

Adelyn Thomas completed a hat trick just 17 minutes into the game, and the Griffins made it a hat trick on the season against the Warriors with a 4-1 victory. With that, Lincoln-Way East heads to the Joliet West Sectional championship game against Lincoln-Way Central.

Lincoln-Way East (18-3-1) entered the game after a 6-1 regional championship win over Sandburg on Friday. The Griffins fell behind 1-0, took a 2-1 lead at halftime, and outscored Sandburg 4-0 in the second half in impressive comeback fashion.

There was no need for a comeback Tuesday as Thomas scored nine minutes in and made it a two-score game one minute afterward. The freshman made it three goals for her and the team in the 17th minute before senior Ellie Fiegl, a Missouri State commit, made it 4-0 just 90 seconds later.

“We’ve been playing very [well],” coach Mike Murphy said. “It started about three games before the playoffs when we started playing as a team. We started getting some very good assists, and I told them that’s how we’re going to win games.”

Lincoln-Way East controlled the flow of the game in the second half but rested starters by the final 20 minutes.

Credit Lincoln-Way West for refusing to be shut out a third time. Kiersten White gave the Warriors their lone goal in the 12-minute mark with a magnificent strike from 35 yards out. That was all they’d get, however, as their season came to an end.

Thomas has eight goals in three playoff games and brought her season total to a team-best 21 to go with 15 assists.

“I didn’t think I’d have this much of an impact [entering the season],” Thomas said. “At the same time, the girls have been super supportive. Once I met all of the girls, I felt it would be a great season [for us].”

And a great season it’s been. The Griffins haven’t lost since May 1 against Naperville Central, 4-1. Otherwise, they lost a razor-thin 2-1 match to an outstanding Lockport team and lost in PKs the first week of the season to Andrew. They got revenge on Andrew three weeks ago with a 4-0 win.

Now, they’re one win away from reaching a supersectional for the second time in three years.

“We just played as a team today and each player was unselfish,” Thomas said. “Everyone took advantage of their own personal skills, which helps us connect with each other.”

Lincoln-Way West (10-8) finishes the year having made an impressive run to the sectional semis. The Warriors dominated Thornwood 8-0 in the regional semifinals before knocking off Homewood-Flossmoor 1-0 in the regional final. While it’s an unfortunate end to the year, coach Joe Stephens was optimistic about the future.

“We’re going to miss the seniors not just on the soccer field but also as people,” he said. “We had three freshmen starting in the sectional semifinals, which is huge for us. We have a lot of freshmen at the JV level that are going to step up in the future years along with our sophomores and juniors. I expect them all to step up in the future.”

Lincoln-Way East will play Lincoln-Way Central at Joliet West at 5 p.m. Friday. Murphy said the Griffins will be ready.

“They’re very well coached and have very good athletes,” he said. “When we beat Central it was a very close game. It should be a very good match.”

Lincoln-Way Central edges Andrew

Lincoln-Way Central made the sectional final by knocking off Andrew 2-0 after Lincoln-Way East’s game.

A scoreless contest the first 62 minutes, Ruby Hillegass finally broke through for a goal with 18 minutes remaining. Andrew nearly equalized it five minutes later, but the Knights got a fortunate bounce off the post. Lincoln-Way Central added an insurance goal with 11 minutes to go to seal it.

The Knights are now 16-3, including a 3-0 loss to Lincoln-Way East.