Scoreless tie for Carmel, Libertyville

What was expected to be a close, hard-fought match turned out to be exactly that.

Carmel met Libertyville in a nonconference girls soccer game on Monday afternoon at the Libertyville Township Soccer Complex. Neither team let up for the entire 80 minutes and played to a scoreless tie.

How close was it? The teams entered the match — and left it — with identical 6-4-2 records.

“The tie was a fair result, and Libertyville was a good team,” Carmel coach John Halloran said. “They do close down space very quickly and made it tough to get any type of possession going.

“We were a little unlucky not to convert any of the last two chances we had. On the other hand (Libertyville) could’ve done better on what they had. That game could have been 2-2, 1-0 or 2-0. You can’t be disappointed. Our work rate was fantastic.”

Carmel had its share of chances, including a couple a sequences of back-to-back shots from Meegan Johnston and Brianne Carlson.

But Libertyville keeper Natalie LaPlant made the stops, deflecting them out of harm’s way in the final few minutes.

“It was adrenaline and how bad you want the ball,” said LaPlant, who made 8 saves, including 5 in the second half. “But it’s our defense that hustles all over the field. I can’t do it without them, and they never ever give up.”

The Wildcats’ defense includes Val VanRoeyen, Katie Swift and Lauren DiPrato.

“Our little sophomore (LaPlant) kept us in the game in the net,” Libertyville coach Scott Schinto said. “She’s a little fireball, and getting better every day.

“It was a great game. Carmel had chances and we had chances, but we didn’t finish our chances. We tried to come with everything, but we just have to find a way to score.”

Carmel keeper Katie Larson made 7 saves. The Corsairs defense also helped her out, keeping Libertyville’s forwards from getting many quality opportunities.

The Carmel defenders consisted of Helen Wagner, Caitlin Jung, Shannon Kouba, Maggie Karich and Sarah McHugh.

“Libertyville was a tough team up top,” said McHugh, sweeper. “They do have some fast players and I’m glad they didn’t get a goal on us. We worked really hard to keep them at zero. We played well enough to not get scored upon.”