Aleko Kolliniatis’ late goal gives Lockport stunning comeback win over Lincoln-Way East in sectional final

JOLIET – Lockport freshman Aleko Kolliniatis saw the ball coming his way. Although he’d assisted on the first goal of the game, he hadn’t been asked to score just yet. The previous two minutes had been a whirlwind for the Porters and Lincoln-Way East, and Kolliniatis had an opportunity to twirl things 180 degrees and etch his name into the Lockport history books.

“I was not expecting the ball to come to me off a rebound shot,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, the ball’s coming to me.’ I just had one thing in the back of my mind, and that was to put it in the back of the net.”

Mission accomplished.

Kolliniatis kicked the ball into the Lincoln-Way East goal with 8:44 left on the clock to break a tie and ultimately win the Class 3A Joliet West Sectional championship for the Porters, 3-2. Lockport, the second seed in the sectional, advances to the supersectional round with a trip to state on the line.

Lockport (17-4-1) managed the win after a swift turn of events in the final minutes. Kolliniatis’ goal was preceded first by Josh Mensching’s second goal of the game for Lincoln-Way East two minutes earlier that gave the Griffins a 2-1 lead. Ismael Gomez’s goal for Lockport, his second of the game, came 65 seconds later to tie it once again and set the stage for Kolliniatis’ game-winner.

“We’re a tough team,” Gomez said. “We’re one of the toughest teams in this whole area. ... No matter what the score is we just keep going forward. We created a lot of chances and the possession was like, 75% us. We just kept pushing forward and knew the goals were going to come.”

It was a scoreless affair for the first 35 minutes with Lockport holding a slight edge in time of possession, but both teams created quality chances. When the scoring did come, however, it came in style.

The Griffins had the ball down in front of the Porters’ net when Dennis Apraku faked out Lockport keeper Matas Odinas and crossed the ball over to Mensching, who pounded the ball into the back of the net to give Lincoln-Way East a 1-0 lead.

After no one scored for 35 minutes, the Porters needed just 40 seconds to respond to the Griffins’ goal. Kolliniatis collected the ball in front of the Lincoln-Way East goal and kicked it toward Gomez, who slammed it in mid-air past Griffins’ keeper Noah Brown to draw the score even at 1-1 with 4:20 to go until halftime.

The Griffins suffered a serious blow when they lost Camden Williams midway through the second to a lower body injury. Yet with 10:44 left in the game, it was Lincoln-Way East that appeared to score a dagger when Mateo Espinosa’s corner sailed into the front of the Porters’ goal and Mensching scored off a header to put the Griffins up 2-1.

Again, the Porters responded in the blink of an eye. Just 65 seconds later, Kacper Sikon sent a free kick toward Gomez in massive traffic and Gomez scored his second of the day off a header to tie the score at 2.

Then came the true dagger just 1:15 later as Kolliniatis scored the game winner.

The top-seeded Griffins (18-5-2) saw a historic season come to and end, but coach Matthew Ribbens was grateful to his players and seniors in particular for all that they gave this year.

“The seniors made this team a family,” he said. “[We set] a school record for wins, won our first regional championship in seven years, but what you don’t see is everything we’re doing in the offseason. I just want to say to my seniors, thank you.”

The Porters’ next challenge will be qualifying for state Tuesday. They’ll go up against seventh-seeded Hinsdale Central at Morton High School. That game is set to start at 5 p.m., and Porters coach Chris Beal is looking for an even better performance.

“I think we need to improve our offensive game,” Beal said. “We haven’t really gotten into our groove in our last two or three games. We haven’t really fired on all cylinders offensively, and I feel like if we can do that, get more in rhythm and more possession in final thirds, I think it’ll improve our chances of going to state.”