LONDON’S CALLING
A minute after H-F forces tie, junior forward scores winning goal for Andrew:
Taylor London started her high school experience by diving into every sport she could.
Her freshman year at Andrew, she played volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter and then competed in both soccer and track during the spring.
It was a fun schedule, but an exhausting one, and London decided to throw all her energy into her favorite sport. The junior forward is now playing only soccer.
“It was busy,” London said. “I like staying busy so I had fun with it, but I’m focusing on soccer for now. We do club soccer all year long and it can be a lot, but it’s fun.
“A lot of my teammates and I are on the same club, so it’s good for us to work together. I just really wanted to give soccer my all.”
It’s paying off for London, who has become one of the Thunderbolts’ top scorers.
She came through with her biggest goal of the season in the second half Friday night to lift fourth-seeded Andrew to a 2-1 victory over the host and seventhseeded Vikings in the Class 3A Homewood-Flossmoor Regional championship game.
Abbie Bosco also scored and Kadence Jones made two saves for the Thunderbolts (15-7), who won their seventh straight regional title and advanced to take on top-seeded LincolnWay Central (17-1-2) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in a Shepard Sectional semifinal.
Solana Hernandez converted a penalty kick after Dakota Dixon drew the foul for H-F (10-9-2), while Cristina Ramirez made seven saves.
After Hernandez tied it for the Vikings with 16:02 left in the second half, London came through with the game-winner just over a minute later.
London ran to the front of the net and got her foot on the ball off Erin O’Neill’s corner kick, directing it into the net for the decisive goal.
“It was super exciting,” London said. “During practice, we walk through our corners all the time and I feel like that’s why it resulted the way it did. Hard work paid off.
“We were all just crashing the net, and the first one who touches it, you’ve just got to finish. I just tapped it in.”
It was the 13th goal of the season for London, whom Andrew coach Loren Zolk depends on to be a constant force up top.
“She’s insanely fast and insanely strong, so in the box in those moments, she’s going to come up big,” Zolk said of London. “She’s not going to get pushed around, and she’s not a player who gets a chance and shoots it wide or high.
“When she gets a chance, she’ll put it away.”
Bosco opened the
scoring, ripping in a 35-yard shot with 31:11 to go in the second half.
Dixon, whose speed and dribbling abilities caused Andrew problems all game, danced her way through a series of defenders before being taken down in the box. Hernandez converted the PK for a 1-1 tie.
Ten days after losing 4-0 to Andrew, H-F put a scare intotheThunderbolts.
“After that first game against them, you know Andrew’s a good team and you know they’re going to compete, but as long as we don’t make it easy for them, that was going to be a success,” H-F coach Ali Farkos said. “Our girls are obviously sad, but they’re proud of our effort. They left it all out there.”
London made sure the Thunderbolts would play on.
“I’ve been lucky to play with Taylor my whole life and I’ve been able to see her grow as a player,” Bosco said. “She brings speed and skill and she’s overall just a dynamic player.
“She’s never afraid to throw her body in front of a ball, and she’s never afraid to just go for it and give her all.”