LOCKPORT – Lockport girls soccer coach Todd Elkay has a tenure when Brinley McNabb scores.
“He calls it an attitude goal,” McNabb said.
McNabb has two of those “attitude goals,” and fellow senior defender Megan Mack added one. All of the goals came from corner kicks by Emma Czech. The host Porters defeated Oswego East 3-0 in the Class 3A Lockport Regional title game Friday night at Lockport Stadium.
It is the second consecutive regional championship for the Porters and the third in school history (2012 was the second) (24-0). Oswego East (14-7-2) is undefeated in its last eight games (7-0-1). However, the Wolves were unable to produce any results against Lockport.
“The girls needed that,” Elkay said of their aggressive play and dominant time of possession. “I just told them to go out and play the game and enjoy it. Our defense was just dominant.”
Not only did the Porters have an advantage on defense, but their defense carried the offense. Lockport, which had possession for most of the first half, did not score for nearly 30 minutes. However, we had many opportunities for corner kicks, which we eventually converted.
It happened when the Czech, a senior defender who starts all set-pieces for Porters, fired in from the right. The ball was perfect and McNabb ran through and headed it into the back of the goal. That was with just 10 minutes left in the first half.
“We had to attack the ball with all our might,” McNabb said of his first goal. “I have no fear chasing the ball. I'll do whatever it takes to beat the defender.”
The Czech Republic had three corner kick chances before that and converted 11 of them.
“That's my specialty,” she said of corner kicks. “There were a lot of goals, but on that (first) goal, I thought, 'Oh, beautiful.' Very good.”
Porters continued to play relentlessly and almost extended their lead even further in the next few minutes. The Czech Republic took another corner kick, and senior midfielder Natalie Zodrow hit a zonked shot against the left post with 8:14 left in the first half. Just 42 seconds later, junior defender Alyssa Flood took a shot from 30 yards that hit the left post and the top corner of the crossbar.
Meanwhile, the Wolves had some charges but no shots until the final moments of the first half. It was a shot by his senior forward Anya Gulbransen that missed to the right. It was 1-0 at halftime.
Lockport won three more corners to start the second half. The third goal was the charm, as McNabb broke free in a scrum right in front of him and scored his seventh goal of the season with something other than his head.
“I just threw myself at the ball,” McNabb said. “It came out of my stomach and barely crossed the line, but it did. I've scored three goals from my stomach this season.”
With yet another free kick, Mack scored the final Czech goal with 13 minutes, 26 seconds left in the game.
“The ball came in, so I felt like we could go,” Mack said of his sixth goal of the season. “I ran through it, turned around and hit it in the side.
“We like to attack a lot on defense and that helps us. The energy was unreal. It was a great win and we played hard.”
Wolves had several chances in the second half. Senior defender Morgan Dick's free kick from 40 yards was saved by junior keeper Liz Locke, who also saved a shot from freshman midfielder Chiara Taghap.
“Lockport is intense,” Oswego East coach Juan Real said. “They pass very intentionally and never let up. It’s impressive.
“But our girls persevered there, and I'm proud of them. The good thing is that we made it this far (as a No. 9 seed) and what we take from it. There are a lot of them.”
Gulbrandsen would continue his career at the University of Wisconsin, but left his mark at Oswego East. She is the all-time leader in school history with 89 goals and assists on 35 goals. She also played to the end, taking her final shot literally seconds before the final horn went up, but it ended up being too high and perched at the top of the net.
“If I couldn't play until the final whistle, I wouldn't be happy with myself,” Gulbrandsen said. “Lockport is a very disciplined, well-coached team. They are an aggressive, disciplined group of girls.
“It wasn't a good day for us, but I'm proud of this year and how much we've grown. I'm happy to be the leader of this team here and I've played with some of these girls for 12 years. High School Soccer That's wonderful.”
That certainly has been the case for the Porters, who have been ranked No. 1 in the state for much of the season.
“We started connecting last year,” McNabb said of this team and what made the season so special. “This season, we’ve built that chemistry and we’re bringing it every day.”