Nia Lawrence leads late Bradley-Bourbonnais rally past Kankakee

BRADLEY – The Kankakee girls soccer team has never won an All-City championship, something that appeared ripe for change when Jocelyn Sanchez put the visiting Kays up 2-0 early in Thursday’s match at Bradley-Bourbonnais.

But Nia Lawrence and the Boilermakers never gave up.

Lawrence cut the Kays lead to 2-1 just before the half, assisted Aaliyah Lanum’s equalizer just after the half and went on to record the go-ahead goal for a 3-2 Boilers win.

“We all played as a team, and it was just really nice that we could have that, especially at the beginning when we were all frantic,” Lawrence said. “We were able to settle ourselves down and get the win.”

The Boilers (2-2) now are in the driver’s seat to retain their All-City title when they host Bishop McNamara on Tuesday. The Kays (3-1) can be a part of a three-way All-City tie should the Fightin’ Irish, who they defeated 2-1 on March 22, top Bradley-Bourbonnais.

Thanks in large part to Sanchez, who got on the board eight minutes into the match and then took a beautiful assist from Regina Vazquez-Vargas eight minutes later, the Kays took early control with a 2-0 lead just 16 minutes in. Sanchez, one of the state’s top midfielders, is no stranger to scoring goals like she did Thursday, but Kankakee head coach Vincent Mkhwanazi said that her leadership has grown to match her talent.

“I remember reading this one quote that said, ‘When you have a core group of players with leadership that actually drives the team in a positive direction, it makes the coach’s job that much easier,’ ” Mkhwanazi said. “That’s exactly what she is.”

But the Boilers have their own resilient leader in Lawrence, who floated one in with a couple minutes left in the first half to tighten the gap to 2-1. Even with some momentum at the break, Boilers head coach Kristen Powell said she knew the Kays would come out of the for the second half reinvigorated, so they couldn’t let that momentum go to waste.

“We just knew that this was gonna be a competitive match, and they needed to find the energy to fight in the second half because we knew [the Kays] were gonna come back organized and strong in the second half,” Powell said. “We just needed to bring it.”

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Aaliyah Lanum sends a pass during the Boilermakers' 3-2 victory over Kankakee in the All-City matchup on Thursday, March 27. (Tiffany Blanchette)

Bring it they did. Lawrence streaked down the left side of the pitch before perfectly timing a pass back to the middle, where Lanum tied the match at 2 just two minutes into the second half.

After both teams traded a couple scoring chances for about the next 20 minutes, the Boilers finally pulled ahead. As Rylee Villegas moved her way down the pitch, she drew just enough defensive attention away from Lawrence, who took a perfectly-placed pass and buried the eventual game-winner with 19 minutes remaining.

“I saw Rylee, she had the right look,” Lawrence said. “I was there, went through, and just knew I had to let it bounce and rip it.”

Lawrence, a junior, has been a vital part of the Boilers since her freshman year, and after a breakout sophomore season has shown that she’s on the brink of stardom with nights like Thursday.

“I think that she’s doing a great job of playing with her teammates, making runs off the ball and being able to receive balls coming up the sidelines, or just being dangerous and making plays,” Powell said, “That’s what Nia’s good at, plus her speed, and when she gets her eyes on the goal there’s nothing else between her.”

As the Boilers celebrated their thrilling victory, the Kays were met with disappointment at the hands of their rivals, but for Mkhwanazi that disappointment certainly had optimism. After winning the program’s first-ever regional last spring and first-ever game against McNamara last weekend, they would have liked to achieved another first Thursday but know their arrow is pointing straight up.

“Today’s disappointment is a disappointment of hope in the sense that we’re so close, we’re almost there,” Mkhwanazi said. “We can do it. We’re trending in the right direction. Their spirits are high, far from down.”