By Dave Ricci
North Tonawanda, NY — Colleen Wiechec knows the feeling of playing in a sectional championship game. She wants to experience it again.
Wiechec netted the game-winner as the No.5 seed North Tonawanda Lady Jacks blanked No.12 Sweet Home 2-0 in a Section VI Class AA prequarterfinal girls soccer match Tuesday night at the Lumberjacks Sports Complex.
The Jacks advance to Friday’s quarterfinals at No.4 Orchard Park, the next step in their goal of a return trip to the AA finals.
“It’s definitely a big goal for everybody to get back to the finals, especially the seniors because we were all on the team when we were in the (2007) finals,” Wiechec said. “We want to go there, try our hardest and try to win it.”
Getting off to a somewhat sluggish start, the Lady Jacks used a more methodical approach to their gameplan and seemed a bit surprised by the team speed and overall athleticism that Sweet Home showed.
Using four solid bursts of energy in the first half, NT slowly but surely regained control of the game and carried the momentum over to the second half, where they were able to apply consistent pressure and dictate the pace of the game.
The Panthers (2-14) knew they had a tough opponent on their hands and hoped that the combination of hard work and a little bit of luck would help them steal a win, but it wasn’t to be. Saying that his team executed their game plan perfectly, Panthers coach Josh Hicks said they just ran into a very good NT team.
“We knew they were going to play physical and they did,” said Hicks. “They’re a tough team, they’ve got some good speed.”
Amanda Smyth had a tremendous game for the Jacks as she set up both goals. The first came when she dished the ball to Wiechec, who buried her chance past Panthers keeper Rebecca White with 6:59 left in the first half. Meghan Lipinoga extended the lead to 2-0 when she headed home a Smyth corner kick 10 minutes into the second half.
Jacks keeper Christina Sarokon turned away all four shots that she faced.
Prior to the game, NT coach Steve Sabo played Al Pacino’s “Game of inches” sound byte from the movie “Any Given Sunday” to inspire his girls. It was the exact same byte that Clarence played prior to beating NT in the 2006 AA Finals.
“It’s all hit or miss in girls soccer. You’re either going to be on or you’re going to be off,” Sabo said. “You just hope most people are on and we’ve been on right now. So let’s knock on wood and hope as we go into Friday, we’ll definitely be on.”
