Girls Soccer: Lyons, Sandburg play to 1-1 tie

Updated: April 26, 2012 10:34PM

Two programs, Lyons and Sandburg, struggling to score lately ended with a 1-1 tie in the Naperville North Invitational Thursday.

Entering Thursday’s game, Lyons had scored only one goal in its last three games. Make that two after a 1-1 tie against Sandburg.

But Lyons cut it pretty close with a late goal.

Mackie Furlong tapped in Iowa-bound Sarah Mazur’s cross with 8:30 remaining in the game to give Lyons (9-2-3) a deadlock against Sandburg (6-4-4) in the consolation round of the Naperville North Invitational.

Furlong scored her third goal of the season to avoid another shutout for Lyons, which has been shut out only three times this season. Two of those shutouts were against Huntley April 21 at the Pepsi Showdown and against No. 1 Naperville North April 19.

Mazur, who scored in Lyons’ 1-0 win over Lincoln-Way Central April 20, sent the ball into the box, but Sandburg goalkeeper Nicole Kulovitz could not get a hand on it. Furlong was left wide open as the ball passed Kulovitz.

Furlong nearly had the game-winner with a header that went over the crossbar with 15 seconds remaining in the game.

Lyons will play the winner between Fremd and St. Viator at 2 p.m. Saturday while Sandburg faces the loser at noon Saturday. Both games will be held at Naperville North.

“We could win a lot more games if we score more,” Furlong said. “I was not nervous [behind 1-0 at halftime]. We still had another half to play.”

Defender Carly Katalinic scored her first goal of the season with 18:24 to go in the first half when her left-footed shot hit the crossbar and bounced down to catch enough of the goal line for the score.

Sandburg did not take a shot in the second half until Emily Osoba’s attempt with 9:24 to go. Osoba was charged with a yellow card less than one minute and then Furlong scored 11 seconds after the yellow.

“It was a good feeling,” Katalinic said. “We needed something to get going and it picked us up after that.”

The Eagles have won only once in their last five games, but have two ties during that streak.

“We try to favor defense and don’t want to lose that,” Sandburg coach Desi Vuillaume said. “It’s a rebuilding year for us. We have not had a lot of scoring opportunities.”

Lyons earned the No. 1 seed in its Class 3A sectional and remains 3-0 in the West Suburban Silver with three games remaining.

“We feel good about where we are at. We would have liked to advance further in both tournaments [Pepsi and Naperville North],” Lyons coach Bill Lanspeary said.

Furlong is one of only three senior starters for Lyons with Mazur and keeper Maggie Orlowski.

“We lost seven seniors from last year,” Furlong said. “Before every game, the seniors get the team in a huddle and we get everyone pumped up.”

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