Dziedzic drives at 0:55
After Lockport scores, Lincoln-Way East forward responds with a goal less than a minute later in Griffins’ win over Porters
Junior forward Madison Dziedzic felt good fortune was on her side Tuesday for Lincoln-Way East, first when she scored a goal and then when she avoided a major injury during a scary moment.
After Lockport took an early lead, Dziedzic scored 55 seconds later to tie it. When she was informed of that fact after the game, she lit up with excitement.
“Fifty-five is my favorite number, so that probably had a hand in it,” Dziedzic said. “That was probably good luck. It’s my club number, so it just means a lot to me.”
Dziedzic’s goal also meant a lot to the Griffins, who took over the rest of the way for a 3-1 SouthWest Suburban Blue victory over the host Porters.
Sophomores Daniela LaPonte and Cami Butler added goals for Lincoln-Way East (9-4-1, 1-1). Lindsay Fortier made eight saves.
Megan Posmer scored the lone goal for Lockport (9-5, 1-1). She found the net off a corner kick as the Porters put together a nice combination play.
Katie Cavallo took the corner and sent a cross into the middle of the net, with Meghan Mack flicking the ball toward the far post. Posmer was there to bury it.
Dziedzic, though, had the quick response.
She ripped a high shot from 25 yards into the top of the net.
It was the fourth goal of the season for Dziedzic, who confirmed she has been working on being more aggressive with her shot.
“Coach (Mike Murphy) has been telling me to start shooting more,” Dziedzic said. “With the wind, we needed to get the ball high.
“I saw some open space and I could have dribbled it more, but I just thought it was the time to take a shot and take a chance and it went in.”
Murphy has seen Dziedzic develop into an offensive threat this season.
“Last year, I felt like she brought speed and a little bit of physicality,” Murphy said. “But now, she’s putting it together where she’ll do what she did (Tuesday) and beat a defender and take a shot.
“She’s been one of our better players. She’s been a dangerous player. She’s been big for us.”
Dziedzic had a scare just a couple minutes after her goal when she got tangled up with a Lockport defender and fell to the ground with pain in her knee.
She immediately feared a bad injury, but it was a false alarm.
“I had this moment of scaredness,” she said. “I thought I was dying, clearly. I was dramatic, rolling over. But luckily it was just a charley horse.”
LaPonte gave the Griffins the lead on a similar situation in the 34th minute, taking a pass from Butler and tucking a high, looping shot from 25 yards that the wind played tricks with before the ball settled into the top of the net.
LaPonte came off the bench to provide a boost.
“I just try to play hard and make
good things happen when I get in there,” she said. “I didn’t think that was going to go in. I thought it was going over. I was just in shock it went in.
“I think the wind helped — it kind of pulled it down and in.”
The Porters created some chances in the second half but could not find the equalizer, then Butler iced the win off an assist from Hannah Tokarski with 8:33 to go.
“We had some mental mistakes,” Lockport coach Todd Elkei said. “Physical mistakes are going to happen, but mental mistakes you have to eliminate.
“We were out of sync for a while there and they were able to take advantage of it. We played much better in the second half. We just lacked a little bit of quality with finishing.”