Koveck lifts Brookfield Academy
She scores lone goal in 86th minute
Adrianne Koveck sat, watched and stewed for more than half of the girls soccer season. Koveck, a sophomore midfielder at Brookfield Academy, missed five weeks of the season with tendinitis in her hip.
Years from now, no one will ever remember that Koveck was sidelined for a stretch. All they’ll recall is that she was the hero of the WIAA Division 4 state championship game at Uihlein Soccer Park.
In the 86th minute of a scoreless game with Lake Country Lutheran / University Lake, Koveck unleashed a left-footed rocket from 28 yards out. Koveck’s blast snuck inside the near post and gave Brookfield Academy a 1-0 victory over the Lightning in an all-Midwest Classic Conference championship game.
Brookfield Academy won the first state title in school history and finished the year, 17-4-3, while the Lightning ended the season, 17-4-1.
“I got a perfect ball and I thought, ‘Why not take a shot?’ ” Koveck said. “It worked out great.” And how. Koveck hadn’t scored a goal since April 26 largely due to the time she missed from her hip injury. Koveck returned for the postseason, though, and was beginning to round into form when she notched the biggest goal in school history.
“When you have a natural left footer on the left side, what a weapon it can be,” Brookfield Academy coach Lee Rogers said. “And that’s what happened. She was ready to take a shot and you want to put your players in the position to make a play if it happens.”
Lightning coach Jeremy Hedrick called Koveck’s shot “lucky” and guessed the normal success rate was about 3%.
“Every now and then you get the ball to fall exactly right,” Hedrick said. “There’s literally nothing anybody could have done at that point.”
Most expected this battle to be a high scoring affair. Brookfield Academy averaged 3.7 goals per game in 2017, while the Lightning was even more potent, averaging 5.14 goals per contest.
When these two juggernauts met 51⁄2 weeks ago, the Blue Knights posted a 5-4 win over the Lightning. So the last thing anyone expected was a defensive slugfest. Surprise, surprise. Both teams had chances that went awry throughout. Lake Country’s Anna Knueppel had four shots, including two on goal. Brookfield Academy’s Anika Washburn took six shots (three on goal), while Serena Shah had four shots (three on goal).
But no one could convert until Koveck came up huge.
“We worked so hard all season, so I think we definitely deserve this,” Koveck said. “And playing our rivals made it a heck of a game. It just feels amazing … and we made school history today.”
“I got a perfect ball and I thought, ‘Why not take a shot?’ ” ADRIANNE KOVECK BROOKFIELD ACADEMY SOPHOMORE MIDFIELDER