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NEW LENOX – To say the Class 3A Lincoln-Way Central Regional semifinal between the host Knights and Joliet West started with a bang would be underselling it a bit.
Tuesday’s boys soccer match saw each team score in the opening five minutes with a third goal in the eighth. Two more goals were scored before the halftime whistle, and seven goals were counted overall.
Fortunately for the Knights and unfortunately for the Tigers, Lincoln-Way Central scored all but one of them.
Lincoln-Way Central was on fire from the opening whistle as Connor Pate scored just three minutes into the game. After a brief tie thereafter, the Knights took control and never loosened their grip en route to a 6-1 victory to advance to the regional championship game against Stagg on Saturday.
“I thought we came out with the right mentality to get the win,” Knights coach Dave Brown said. “I thought we started off well with our front foot to score a goal early. We kind of gifted them their goal on the corner kick trying to get it clear, and we did not. I thought we rebounded well to get things gathered back under control. Once we got our front foot back, I thought we held on the rest of the game.”
The game got off to as fast a start with the Knights recording the opening goal just three minutes in by Connor Pate. Things looked quite promising for Lincoln-Way Central to start, but the Tigers were in the regional semifinals for a reason and they showed it just two minutes later. That’s when Ivan Moreno’s header drew the Tigers even at 1-1.
That’s not what the playoff script called for, however, as the Knights were back in front just three minutes after that. That’s when West keeper Noah Tarver made a brilliant save only for the Knights’ Jackson Meyer to collect the rebound off the deflection and score to make it 2-1 LWC.
After a busy opening 10 minutes, things slowed down a bit. That was until Aidan Byrne was called upon to attempt a penalty kick for the Knights and the junior knocked it in to extend the lead to 3-1. With three minutes left in the half, Reilly Follet scored another goal to make it 4-1 entering the midway point.
After play resumed, it only took another three minutes for Lincoln-Way Central to extend the lead to 5-1 as Jamison Stockrahm was called on to attempt a penalty kick. Tarver went right to block it, but Stockrahm’s kick went left and into the back of the net.
The final score came in the 55th minute as Follet made it a brace with the third penalty kick of the day for the Knights. Joliet West finished the season 7-14-2.
Lincoln-Way Central will host Stagg at 2 p.m. Saturday after the Chargers defeated Sandburg 1-0 Tuesday night.
Follet believes the team simply has to remain focused and committed in order to get the win and advance to sectionals.
“I think we just have to play as a unit and not individually,” Follet said. “[Stagg and Sandburg] are both strong teams and both gave us really good tests in the regular season. I know that they’re great programs with great coaches, and I think that playing together as a unit will be a recipe for success.”