Sandburg coach Evan Fiffles may disagree with the penalty-kick system, but he must be overjoyed with its results.
Tuesday, his Eagles survived two batches of penalty kicks to defeat Lincoln-Way 1-0 in the finals of the Homewood-Flossmoor sectional and advance to the state quarterfinals in St. Charles Friday.
”I hated for this game to come down to penalty kicks; I hate penalty kicks,” said Fiffles. ”But what can I say? I`m happy.”
It marks the first time No. 8 Sandburg, which has won 17 straight games and is 18-2, is going to state.
Lindy Carroll, Sherrie Donnells and Holly Ranquist were the main cause for Fiffles` happiness. The three converted penalty shots in the second batch of kicks. Both teams played 20 minutes of sudden-death overtime and then netted three goals in the first batch of kicks.
Sandburg goalie Audrey Konauka (13 saves) allowed just one goal in the second batch of five kicks.
”I was a little tense,” she said. ”I tired to come out of the net controlled on the penalty kicks.”
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Lincoln-Way ended its season at 14-3-2, but the loss couldn`t dim a stellar performance by goalie Jessica Prokop. She stopped 22 shots on the night, including three clear Sandburg breakaways in the first half.
Downers Grove South sectional-Downers Grove South defeated Hinsdale Central 4-1 to earn a berth against Schaumburg in Friday`s quarterfinals.
Hinsdale Central (12-7-2) scored first when Carrie Kroll rammed home a shot to break Downers South`s playoff run of 12 shutout quarters.
”We were a bit deflated,” Downers coach Barry Jacobson said later.
But less than a minute later, Stephanie Contole scored for No. 9 Downers
(17-2-2) and the Lady Mustangs were on their way.
Kathy Mitchell also had a bit to do with Hinsdale`s fall. Mitchell notched her 24th and 25th goals of the season in the second half to put the game out of reach.