2A Girls Soccer: La Salle-Peru, Ottawa see seasons come to an end in Metamora

METAMORA – The La Salle-Peru Cavaliers and Ottawa Pirates girls soccer teams both put in good efforts Tuesday in their Class 2A Metamora Regional semifinal matches, but ultimately were just overmatched by Mid-Illini Conference powerhouses.

Top-seeded Morton (10-5-3) will face Metamora (6-9-2) for the regional championship at 7 p.m. Friday at the Metamora High School athletic complex. Morton defeated Metamora, 5-0, earlier in the spring.

Metamora 7, Ottawa 1: The late semifinal was the more competitive of the two, as Ottawa trailed 3-0 at halftime and 3-1 just over five minutes into the second half before the regional host Redbirds slowly but surely wore the Pirates down and pulled away.

“We made mistakes, and [Metamora] was very efficient at capitalizing on those mistakes,” Ottawa coach Sean Porter said. “At the end of the day, it’s the playoffs, and the better team is going to advance, but we competed with our nature, did everything we could energy-wise. ...

“We put our heart into the game, and that’s the one thing consistent about them. They always try to do their best. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t find the back of the net, and [Metamora] was very efficient at finding the back of the net.”

That efficiency shows when comparing the lopsided final score with the game’s much closer shots-on-goal statistic – 21 for the Redbirds, and 15 for Ottawa.

Metamora’s attacks came in waves, however, and despite the best efforts of keeper Cameron Johnson (15 saves), Ryley Jett, Isabella Podman and the rest of the Ottawa defense, seven shots found twine, including two first-half strikes off the foot of Katie Trompeter and what proved to be a speedy and back-breaking reply by Mia Hutchison exactly two minutes after the Pirates’ lone goal of the night.

Down 3-0 five minutes into the second half, Ottawa star senior Gabi Krueger did a phenomenal job shaking her defender in the corner and lofted the ball in front of the goal. Redbirds keeper Ella Russell (14 saves) came out to intercept, but the ball slipped through her hands and bounced to Pirates junior Lauren Podman, who booted it through to cut Ottawa’s deficit to 3-1.

Hutchison’s rebound goal at the 32:26 mark, however, returned the Metamora lead to three and all the momentum to the hosts, who added three more scores to close out the night.

Ottawa finishes the season 6-7-1.

Morton 10, La Salle-Peru 0: In Tuesday’s early semifinal, top-seeded Morton looked every bit as good as advertised, scoring in the game’s opening 30 seconds on its way to an 8-0 lead with 21:38 still remaining in the opening half.

“We expected a lot out of [Morton], and they showed it and more,” L-P coach Christin Pappas said. “I wish them nothing but the best. They’re a clean team, and there’s not one dangerous player, there are multiple players who can finish. We just didn’t have the talent today show up, and we chased the ball a lot, too much. …

“We do have some talented players, but I think once you get scored on in the opening 30 seconds of the game and three goals in five minutes, it’s hard to keep the morale up, but I am proud of the girls.”

Freshman Addison Dea put in three of the Potters’ first four goals before being called off the field with things well in hand. Fellow Morton underclassman Arlie Akers, a sophomore, added a pair of first-half goals as well, with Morton crafting a 9-0 lead by halftime and spending the final 9:42 of the first half and almost the entirety of the second half playing keep-away with the ball instead of attacking.

The Potters added a 10th score in the opening minutes of the time-reduced second half.

The Cavaliers (7-15-3) saw some bright spots, including strong defensive play against constant pressure from the likes of Litzy Lopez, Isabella Lambert, Nica Hein, Analiyah Flores, Lexi Robbins (eight saves) and second-half goalie Addison Small-Jeffrey (three saves).