Grayslake North learns, and wins
Grayslake North boys soccer coach Adam DeCaluwe says his team has shown the ability to adjust and learn from its mistakes early on this season.
Saturday was no different.
Carson Klarck scored in the second half, and senior goalkeeper Stevie Streeter earned his first clean sheet, as the Knights shut out Grayslake Central at Vernon Hills.
Grayslake North concluded the tournament with a 2-1 record, settling for second place behind Zion-Benton (also 2-1). Zion-Benton defeated Grayslake North in the teams’ head-to-head meeting.
“The first half was primarily controlled by Grayslake Central,” DeCaluwe said. “We seemed to sit back more than we would have liked to and allowed the Rams to get comfortable and get into an attacking groove.”
A scrappy effort led to Klarck netting the game’s only goal. Senior Marco Rodriguez played a ball to Klarck, whose initial shot was saved. But Klarck was quick with his feet, DeCaluwe said, and knocked in his rebound.
“Second half was much better from our perspective,” DeCaluwe said. “We found the energy we were lacking in the first half, applied high pressure to Central and then managed to control a majority of the possession for the entire second half.”
Streeter (9 saves) got a lot of help from a defense that DeCaluwe says seems to be quickly coming of age. Sophomores Andreas Thedorf, Nick Price and Jacob Hensley and junior John Derango all played well. DeCaluwe also credited juniors Baruk Perez-Vera, Arnaud Laroche-Bataille and senior Mark Lewis.
Vernon Hills 6, Zion-Benton 3: Evan Borden, David White, James Lee and Ricky Ceja scored in the second half for the host Cougars, who were tied 2-2 at halftime of their own tournament game.
Lee and Jeremy Cohen (penalty kick) scored in the first half for Vernon Hills (1-2), which notched its first win.
Lee, Cohen, Borden, Paul Woo and Matt Tabrizi had assists.
“I was extremely pleased with how we played throughout this tournament, and I’m happy the boys were able to earn their first win of the season,” Cougars coach Shannon Etnyre said. “Against Grayslake Central, we struggled to finish and against Grayslake North we had a hard time defending the lead. Today we were able to use all of the lessons learned from the week and put a solid 80-minute game together.
“It’s always a good day when you’re able to put 6 goals in the back of the net, and I think it’s a tribute to our depth that we had five different players score today. I’m hoping this is a trend that will continue the rest of the season. We have some things that we definitely need to work on in terms of defending, but I’m excited to get back to training on Monday to get ready for our game Wednesday against Grayslake North with this momentum behind us.”
Warren wins twice: At Glenbrook South, the Blue Devils shut out Mundelein 4-0, as Daniel Szczepanek had 3 goals and an assist, and then defeated the host Titans 4-1 to finish third.
Tony Severini had 2 goals and an assist against Glenbrook South, while Ryan Foster tallied a goal and 2 assists. Nick Wegrzynowicz also scored.
Against Mundelein, Warren (4-0-1, 3-0-1) also got a goal and an assist from Auner Solis. Keeper Brady Walsh made 2 saves in earning the shutout.
The Blue Devils went unbeaten in the tournament but missed an opportunity to play for the championship because Mather won the tiebreaker of having more goals than Warren in pool play.
Warren had tied Mather 2-2 Thursday.
“It’s just one of those things,” Warren coach Jason Ahonen said. “Still, this tournament was a great warm-up and had some big teams. It gave us a chance to see where players can play as we get into the long term.”
Johnsburg 2, Grant 1: Andres Velarde scored the only goal for the Bulldogs (1-2).