Girls Soccer: Lincoln-Way East blanks Reavis

Updated: May 16, 2012 10:46PM

The pass Jessica Bicek made to Stacy Sons for the first goal in host Lincoln-Way East’s 3-0 Class 3A regional semifinal victory Wednesday over Reavis was a mirror image of the one she made when the two teams met last week.

It worked then, too.

“It felt good to do that again,” Bicek said, smiling. “Hopefully, we can do that on Friday.”

The Griffins (9-12) will be aiming high, with top-seeded Sandburg (13-5-4) their opponent in the regional final.

Sandburg beat East 1-0 during their regular-season encounter.

“It would be really nice to beat them because we haven’t done that in a long time,” Bicek said. “And to beat a team that’s top-seeded would feel amazing.”

Bicek scored a goal on an assist from Sons, while Morgan Pigusch added a third tally for the Griffins.

Goalkeeper Cristal Kurkowski registered her sixth shutout, but it was more the defensive quartet of Lindsey Murphy, Stephanie Budzinski, Meaghan Grady and Claire Cable that stopped Reavis.

The Rams would manage just one shot on goal, on a free kick by Chanel Koepke with 17:18 left to play. Kurkowski gobbled it up.

“There were moments when we looked good, but (East) outhustled us today and deserved the win,” Reavis coach Phil Basile said. “They were the better team - better touch, better distribution, more speed in general.”

Reavis goalkeeper Heidi Ibrahim kept the Rams in contention with seven early saves, but was caught off guard on East’s first shot, a turnaround snapper by Sons at the 10-minute mark.

“(Bicek) had the ball in the middle of the field and I made a run across the front of the defense,” Sons said. “I don’t think the defense saw me coming. I had my back to the goal, and I turned. At that point I just shot it and it got by the keeper.”

The score would stay 1-0 until the 13-minute mark of the second half, when on a rush from the right side Bona Shin passed perfectly across to Pigusch, who beat Ibrahim to the top left corner.

The energized Griffins would pepper Ibrahim with three more shots before Bicek scored on a breakaway after a pass from Sons.

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