The Morton Potters (17-4-1) easily defeated the Washington Panthers (10-10-1) 8-0 and won the IHSA Class 2A soccer regional championship at McClallen Park. It was a bittersweet day for longtime Potters coach Brian Deters, who coached his last home game at Rotary Field produced victory No. 277 with the girls team. His teams have won 12 regional titles, including three straight, Morton will attempt to claim its first sectional title next week when it plays Geneseo at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Peoria Notre Dame Sectional. Senior Erin Tisdale scored two goals in the first half to lead the Potters in scoring.
-Bob
Notre Dame (12-7-1) looking to capture their 11th consecutive regional title easily defeated Manual Academy 8-0. The Lady Irish were led in scoring by Mackinsay Manning with three goals, two apiece from Keeghen O’Brien and Elizabeth Mills and one from Elizabeth Frampton. Jenna Ashley and Ruthie Bertram were flawless in goal. Notre Dame will face Richwoods (8-10-1) at 7 p.m. Friday in the IHSA regional championship.
-Bob
The host Limestone High School Lady Rockets scored a late goal to beat the East Peoria Red Raiders 3-2 in a hard fought non-conference matchup in Bartonville. Cassidy Jennings led the Rockets scoring two goals both on penalty kicks. The game winner for Limestone was scored by junior Madeline Coats in the 66th minute who took a pass from Katelyn Crank in the box. Junior forward Jordyn Boles scored both goals (unassisted) for the Red Raiders. The same two teams will meet again next Tuesday April 17th at Eastside Centre. Click here to view my photo’s.
-Bob
It was a warm and very windy Tuesday afternoon with nothing going on so I traveled over to Washington High School to shoot girls soccer. The lady Panthers played a hard fought game, eventually loosing on a late goal 2-1 to the visiting United Township High School. Washington travels to play Princeton High School on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
-Bob
Sophomore midfielder Keegan Balle cleaned up a loose ball in the box, netting the game-winner in the 86th minute, lifting #22 Bradley (15-5-2) to a 2-1 win against Loyola-Chicago (7-12-2) in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship. The Braves advance to a second-round match against 2010 national runner-up Louisville. The 12th-seeded Cardinals (12-6-2) will host the second-round match Sunday at 6 p.m. (CT) at Cardinal Park. Playing in its sixth NCAA Tournament, Bradley earned its first postseason win since 2007 and improved to 3-5-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. After the first half ended with six shots for each team, Bradley turned up the pressure in the second half, outshooting the Ramblers 14-5 in the half to finish with a 20-11 advantage.
-Bob
