Lady Railer Soccer begins the season with a 6-2-0 record

 

[March 26, 2024] 

The LCHS Lady Railers girls soccer team has opened their 2023-2024 season by immediately blazing to a 6-2-0 record. In their first two tournaments they have finished with 1st place and 2nd place berths.

Going into the season it was known that the defensive line had the experience and skill to be a strong keystone for the team. On offense the team had graduated two titans of scoring in the forms of Hattie Mourning and Grace Curry, so it was anyone's game for who wanted to be the new leading scorers.

The first game was a struggle right off the bat between the strength of the opponent and first game jitters. Sacred Heart Griffin handed the Ladies a decisive first loss, but after that the gals went on a five game long winning streak. This winning streak was how they entered and exited the East Peoria Varsity tournament as champions.

The first game against Limestone was a hard fought battle against a team that spent a lot of time smashing up against the LCHS defensive line and failing every time to break through. Railer returning starting defenders include seniors Jenna Bowman and Arianna Morris and juniors Piper Grader and Makinley Knapp. Sophomore Myah Bowman has found her feet at defensive mid and Senior Ella Hartman also plays in the defense when she is not playing in goal. Limestone found itself unequal to the might of the Lady Railer defensive wall and was held scoreless netting Ella Hartman the first of many shutouts to come.

On offense Sophomore Brooklyn Curry made it clear starting with her first goal against Limestone that she was throwing her name in the hat as next lead scorer by slamming in the goal needed to win the game. Brooklyn would clean up the next game against Galesburg with the game winning goal and would go on to score the opening goal in the Championship game against Macomb. Junior Jessa Werner netted the second goal sealing the Championship plaque for the Lady Railers.

All tournament team picks included Ella Hartman for her at the time three shutouts. Brooklyn Curry for her three goals, and Arianna Morris and Jenna Bowman for their defensive strength.

This year's returning offensive players are Arrington Mauhar, Gianna Massena and Blair Walker at midfield with Brooklyn Curry and Shay Neeley at forward. The game against Southeast would act as the first CS8 conference win with several of the offense throwing in first goals. Shay Neeley would open the first with freshman Kaeli Jones netting the second. Blair Walker would claim the third and McKinley Knapp locking in the fourth and final goal to seal the game to a 4-1 win.

The girls would then immediately head to the Carlinville Kick-off tournament to continue their five game winning streak by defeating North Mac on their home field. Brooklyn Curry would once again net the lone goal to put us into the next round.

The next day the Ladies played Staunton in extremely cold weather, 25mph wind, and eventually driving rain. The defense held the line, preventing Staunton from getting very many chances to shoot. The Lady Railers headed scoreless into the second half with their offense breaking through multiple times only to have Staunton’s talented goalkeeper prevent the finish. With 5 minutes left to go the Railers thought it might go to a penalty kick shootout that they did not want in the wind and rain. With 47 seconds left in the game LCHS earned a corner. Makinley Knapp who had been taking great corners all night went over to take the last single scoring opportunity of the game. At 44 seconds left on the clock she hit a beautifully lifted ball that dropped perfectly in the back corner of the goal. Lincoln heads to the championship game against Greenville.

In that game against Greenville the first half ended scoreless for both teams, but the game was definitely heating up. In the second half Greenville scored the first and ultimately last goal of the game on a lucky ball that just barely slipped through in the scrum. After that Greenville decided to “play not to lose” as Coach Tim Stuckey calls it. They pulled eight players back on defense and sat in their half clearing anything the Lady Railers attempted to build. It was an effective tactic as the team was unable to equalize. The girls took home a second place trophy with plans for next year’s 1st place.

"We are proud of the girls and look forward to watching them play the rest of their season," said Coach Beth Rayman. "This week we play Rochester today and Limestone at home on the 28th at 4:30pm. The junior varsity team will play their tournament at the FC Fields behind Walmart this Saturday, March 30th at 9am."

Come out anytime and watch to support your Lady Railers girls soccer teams.

[Coach Beth Rayman]