Girls soccer: Willis' goal boosts Glenbard South against Lake Park

Soccer players tend to keep things tight when playing against heavy winds, utilizing short passes, keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible, making clearances wide and looking for opportunities to pounce on.

Glenbard South found one of those chances, capitalized on it and held on for a 1-0 victory over Lake Park during Monday's Raiders Invitational game in Glen Ellyn.

"I'm very happy with 1-nil against a tough Lake Park team, and I was happy with 0-0 against Hinsdale South," Raiders coach Kevin Berner said. "Being a young team still, we kept it glued together in tough conditions."

The Raiders (1-0-1) stunned the Lancers with just 33 seconds remaining before halftime.

Against the wind Abby Showalter located Clare Willis in the penalty area, and Willis converted.

"We had three or four corner kicks in a row there and coaches are always emphasizing high pressure so we get chances like that and we got one," Willis said. "I had an open shot and I hit it right into upper 90 on the right side."

Talk about a big boost before the break.

"In soccer going into the wind that's like a short-handed goal in hockey," Berner said. "So we'll take them into the wind. We even knew that going downwind (in the second half) would be a little tough on turf with the through balls, so it was a different approach more than anything."

Said Willis: "It was a great energy boost, especially off a dead tie in our last game. It gave us energy going into the second half."

Berner wasn't surprised that it was Showalter and Willis who connected like they did to score the team's first goal of the season. If they can do more of it, the Raiders will be heading in the right direction.

"We've been training for Abby and Claire to get some touches," Berner said. "It can't just be Erin (Haslett) and Sam (Schutte). It was great she got that goal. She deserved it."

Frustration is mounting for the Lancers (0-3), who were blanked for the third straight time. Scoring problems aren't anything new; the Lancers were shut out in eight of their final nine games last spring.

There are positives in Lancers Land though. They created a good amount of scoring chances in both halves, which was a vast improvement compared to their losses to Conant and Naperville North.

"I guess it's a better frustration today than opposed to the first two games where we didn't materialize a lot of those chances and just played a lot of defense," Lake Park coach Sean Crosby said. "Today we got dangerous, got risky and tried to take advantage of them out of position at times."

Senior Lauren Tarchala sent in a great-looking cross in the 76th minute, but none of her fellow Lancers could reach it. Tarchala also ran down a ball in the final seconds and earned a corner kick but goalkeeper Emily Villasenor was there to snag it and seal the victory.

"Emily has been phenomenal as a sophomore, and it's tough to stay focused on a night like this and she kept it together," Berner said. "She's strong, she's vocal and she's got a booming leg."

It's only been 160 minutes, but the Raiders haven't surrendered a goal yet.

"I think the story so far is the defensive approach all over the field," Berner said. "It's not just the back line. Everybody is getting involved on the defensive side of the ball."

The Lancers left defeated, but Crosby is still optimistic.

"The great things is we are creating chances, but it doesn't make it any easier going home," he said. "We still want to get in the back in the net and start seeing things roll. But it's progress."