Who's going to sectionals in 1A? Sacred Heart-Griffin highlights area's regional champs
The Sacred Heart-Griffin girls soccer team immediately dropped behind 1-0 against the defending Class 1A state champions.
It only lit a fire under the No. 2 seeded Cyclones.
SHG rallied with four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory over No. 3 Quincy Notre Dame in the 1A Sacred Heart-Griffin Regional final at Ken Leonard Field on Friday.
The Cyclones (14-7-1) advance to the Riverton Sectional semifinal against Alton Marquette (18-3-2) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in another rematch from last year’s sectionals. SHG knocked off the Explorers 1-0 in the 2022 sectional semifinals before falling to QND 3-2 in the next round.
“We came out of the gate with a slow start but obviously it was a strong finish,” SHG senior forward Hannah Lambert said.
QND senior forward Lia Quintero cranked out the opening goal from long range in the first three minutes of the game.
The Cyclones responded with two goals in the next seven minutes.
Junior forward Lily White found Lambert on a cross before sophomore midfielder Ava Hancock assisted to junior teammate Isabella Perryman for a clean look and the go-ahead goal with 30 minutes, 59 seconds left in the first half.
Hancock said they look for quick passes to push the ball forward.
“I saw her running through that and I was like, ‘All right, I got it,’” Hancock said of the assist. “I slid it right through and boom, goal.”
White later assisted to Hancock on the counterattack for a 3-1 halftime lead.
“Lily’s great,” Lambert said. “She’s such an asset to our team. She’s got a good attitude and she’s like Speedy Gonzales. She’s faster than the ball at times.”
Sophomore Caroline Sheehan scored on a free kick for a three-goal lead early in the second half.
Freshman goalkeeper Gigi Gray totaled four saves, including a key block late in the second half which preserved a two-goal cushion.
“The defensive mistake in the first half, you can’t do that with Lia,” SHG coach Mike Lindsey said. “If you give her a shot like that, she’s dangerous as you saw. We kind of recovered from that and played our game.
“Once we settled down, I thought we controlled what was going on.”
Senior Sophie Gramke also scored for the Raiders (13-9-1), who had been hobbled by injuries this season. That included five knee surgeries in the past six or seven months, QND coach Mark Longo said.
Quintero was among them from last year’s state semifinals.
“It was a nice goal (by Quintero) but then we lose people on defense and they come back and get two quick ones,” Longo said. “And the third one, we had the ball over here and we didn’t get it to somebody and they take off and go the other way and score again.
“It’s tough, but the seniors had a great career.”
Carlinville bows to Alton Marquette
Top-seeded Alton Marquette throttled No. 4 Carlinville 8-0 in Friday’s home regional final.
The Explorers led 7-0 at halftime. Ella Anselm and Emma Dempsey each had two goals while Maya Stephan had a goal and two assists.
The Cavaliers finished 12-8 overall.
Williamsville, Athens, Hillsboro advance
Hillsboro, the No. 3 seed, dispatched No. 7 Litchfield 9-1 in the Greenville Regional final and faces No. 1 Pleasant Plains/New Berlin in the other Riverton Sectional semifinal game on Tuesday.
The Cardinals thrashed Beardstown 5-0 in the North Mac Regional final on Saturday.
Elsewhere, No. 2 Athens nipped No. 5 Champaign St. Thomas More 1-0 in the Warrensburg-Latham Regional final.
Kilyn Simmons assisted to Karsyn Jacoby for the program's first ever regional crown.
The Warriors (16-6-1) advance to the Williamsville Sectional semifinal on Tuesday at 5 p.m. against top-seeded Normal U-High, which hammered No. 4 Macomb 9-0 in its home regional final.
Also out of the Sangamo Conference, No. 1 Williamsville (18-5-1) upended No. 3 Monticello 4-0 for its second straight regional title at Paul Jenkins Field.
Kendyl Mirabile and Bethany Luce each scored for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Calynn Frye and McKenna Dasher each added a goal to advance to their home sectional semifinal on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against No. 2 Bloomington Central Catholic, which thumped No. 3 host Monmouth-Roseville 6-0.
Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA girls soccer: SHG, Athens, Hillsboro advance to 1A sectionals
