Lemont Girls Soccer Aims High: Berth in State Finals

The Lemont girls soccer squad is as focused on its path to excellence in the postseason as its opening-round playoff match against Morgan Park was lopsided.

The Indians began their regional semifinal win over the Mustangs by scoring three times in less than three minutes in storming to Friday's Class 2A Lemont regional final with a 7-0 whitewash of the Mustangs.

Wendy Mazur and Kim Jerantowski spearheaded the Indians’ slaughter-rule match with two goals apiece, and the former also added a pair of assists--both to Jerantowski.

The Indians (18-4) will face league rival Oak Forest, which dispatched fellow conference foe Bremen in the second semifinal 2-0, for a berth in the Lincoln-Way West sectional. If history is an accurate barometer the Indians have tradition on their side, not to mention complete dominance of their conference rivals.

“We have lost only one game since the inception of the [South Suburban] Conference,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said.

 In accumulating 17 regular-season match wins, league champion Lemont ran the table with an 11-0 record in the South Suburban. But for the current players, the regular-season accolades have given way to making a statement in the state tournament.

“Nobody knows about us,” Jerantowski said. “We’re hoping to make it to state. We really want to win a state championship. We have never really won a [team] state champion at Lemont, except for cheerleading.”

Kelly Fritz belies her age, and the Indians' freshman goalkeeper is approaching double-digit shutouts for the season after her defense did not allow Morgan Park a single shot on goal Tuesday.

“Wanting it is one thing, showing it is another,” Fritz said of a possible extended postseason run.

Prangen is optimistic that consistent play, coupled with a bitter defeat to Joliet Catholic at in last year's sectional semifinals, can fuel the Indians’ collective drive.

“A lot of the girls were on that team last year,” Prangen said. “They don’t want to go out like that again.”

Prangen said the recipe for postseason advancement is fundamentally simple:
“You have to give maximum effort every game.”