Persistent New Trier puts away Lane Tech in second half

Trevians get rolling to extend 1-0 halftime lead in sectional semis

The New Trier girls soccer team, the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A Maine South Sectional, has displayed its full arsenal on the field while cruising to the title of its own regional.

On Tuesday, the Trevians had to rely on their persistence to come away with a 5-0 victory over No. 5 seed Lane Tech in the sectional semifinals in Park Ridge. New Trier will play No. 2 seed Loyola in the sectional championship at 5 p.m. Friday at Maine South.

Despite New Trier controlling the midfield and threatening with shots in the box for most of the first half, Lane Tech’s defense and goalie Ana Hernandez were able to keep New Trier (25-1) at bay.

With the scored tied at 0-0, the Trevians finally capitalized on a corner kick with 4 minutes, 59 seconds remaining. Senior Dani Fraelick controlled the corner kick from junior Eliza Fisher and passed it to junior Morgan Steinberg,whose shot deflected off an Indians defender into the goal.

“I just tried to get a foot on it really,” Steinberg said. “In practice, you have to keep it low, and if it goes off other people, which is what happened, that’s good. Whatever way it happens doesn’t matter, a goal is a goal.”

The Trevians, who led at 1-0 at halftime, broke the game open right off the opening kickoff in the second half. Senior Melina Wezerek dribbled the ball down the sideline and sent a beautiful cross, and as Fraelick and senior Amber Fry both ran over it, senior midfielder Layne Teska knocked the ball in for a dazzling goal near post and a 2-0 lead with 36:16 remaining in the game.

Fry rebounded her own shot for a goal off a feed from Fraelick with 6:16 left to give the Trevians a 3-0 lead after a game of many previously empty opportunities.

“It was frustrating to a certain point,” Fry said. “It would’ve been really frustrating if we hadn’t gotten five. It was frustrating in the first half because we did have so many opportunities. But you can’t have goals without opportunities, so we just take them as chances and we’ll get it again. Every time we miss, were just like, ‘We’ll get it next time.’ ”

Wezerek’s end line assist on Fraelick’s only goal of the game with 3:28 remaining gave New Trier a 4-0 advantage. The second-half influx of goals was no coincidence, according to Fraelick.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but the heat definitely got to us,” Fraelick said. “Mentally that’s the first thing to go when it’s hot like that. We weren’t really thinking too much or listening as much as we needed to. We realized they’re giving us the outside and letting us go wide. So we listened to our coaches, took it wide, took the end line and crossed it – and that’s something we’ve been working on a lot in practice. That’s what a lot of teams are going to give us. They’re not going to let us take the inside. So we tried to finish our opportunities there, and we did.”

Lane Tech (20-3-2) threatened with 2:30 remaining after New Trier goalie Laura Martorana misjudged a high bouncer, but senior defender Anne Marie Thomas had her back and diverted the Indians’ only scoring attempt of the second half.  Fisher scored the Trevians’ fifth goal from 20 yards out as time expired in the game.

“Sometimes you have those games where you get one chance and win 1-0 and get 30 chances and win 1-0,” New Trier coach Jim Burnside said. “They were good. I don’t want to make it seem like we were always up in their face. Their keeper played nicely, and they pressured us. I didn’t think we did everything we needed to do. But when you get in the state tournament, it’s a battle. I think we wore them down a little bit. This time of a year, a win is a win.”

Burnside hopes New Trier can capitalize against Loyola early on rather than waiting until the second half.  
“We need to take what the other team gives us. That’s the key,” Burnside said. “I don’t think we did a very good job of adjusting to what they gave us until the second half when we started to play with width.”
Looking towards Friday, Fry was confident with the way her team has been playing. 

“We really don’t have to change anything,” Fry said. “That’s what would get us in trouble is if we change too much. We just play our game. If we play our best game, we can beat anyone.”