Rochelle junior Lisa Knauer picked a perfect time to score her first goal of the season when the Lady Hubs varsity soccer team took on the LaSalle-Peru Lady Cavs in Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference competition.
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ROCHELLE — Rochelle junior Lisa Knauer picked a perfect time to score her first goal of the season when the Lady Hubs varsity soccer team took on the LaSalle-Peru Lady Cavs in Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference competition.
In fact, it was the midfielder’s first goal ever, and it turned out to be the deciding factor in a 1-0 victory Thursday afternoon at Rochelle Township High School.
“It felt really good,” Knauer said. “It was very nice because we tied our last two games so it felt very good to win one and the whole team was very excited. We practice on our defense a lot and our defense did a good job.”
After opening up the conference schedule with a 1-1 draw to Ottawa on Tuesday, the Lady Hubs looked to pick up their second win of the year against a LaSalle-Peru squad that entered the day with an 0-7 overall record. Both teams went without a goal in the first half of play on Thursday, with the Lady Cavs controlling the ball in the Rochelle zone for most of the 40-minute period.
But the Lady Hubs took advantage of the windy conditions in the second half, putting several shots on the LaSalle-Peru goal and staying near the edge of the Lady Cavs’ penalty box to battle for short kicks from the LPHS net. One of those kicks rolled straight to Knauer, who bent a right-footed kick over the LaSalle-Peru goalkeeper (54’) for the game’s only score.
“Our warm-ups weren’t quite where we wanted them to be, but once we got on the field the girls stepped up,” head coach Chris Blevins said. “They started moving around over the last few minutes of the first half and then we were able to get some things going up front in the second half… Lisa’s very aggressive and she has good field awareness and a good touch on the ball. It was awesome to see her finally get her first goal.”
The Lady Cavs pushed a few balls down the field in the second half, but the Rochelle defense and sophomore goalkeeper Holli Drew kept LaSalle-Peru at bay en route to the team’s second shutout of the season. The victory boosts the Lady Hubs up to 2-3-2 on the season, and the girls will play Geneseo on the road this coming Tuesday.
