Fast-starting Lake Forest stays ahead of Lakes

For a second straight year, Lakes' girls soccer team had gone unbeaten in the Prairie Division (5-0-1) to earn a shot at the overall North Suburban Conference championship.

But the Eagles ended up on the wrong side of the score in this one as Lake Forest earned a 3-0 decision against Lakes on Thursday night in Lake Forest.

"I thought we did better than the previous game," said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby of a 4-0 loss to Lake Forest last week. "We ended up not making good on the limited chances that we had. Certainly, they buried their chances when they had them. The girls have to believe that they can play ... You just have to look forward to the next game."

Lakes (11-4-2) quickly found it would need to mount a comeback in order to win, as Lake Forest (11-4-2) scored two quick goals in the first six minutes and added another early in the second half.

Eagles senior defender Nicole Denman knew it was going to be a tough task to slow down the Scouts' attack up top.

"We were really excited coming into the game," Denman said. "We knew it would be tough after playing them already and losing to them. We had to work harder, and they definitely exploited our weaknesses. I knew that we had some confidence with the way we played in the second half of the last game. We knew that we could do a lot better. (Lake Forest) definitely put the ball between us and used their speed against us."

Lake Forest won its first NSC title since 2011. Lake Zurich had a three-year reign before the Scouts ended the run by winning the Lake Division.

"It's tough with the division we have," Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. "Seeing Lake Zurich winning three years in a row is pretty impressive. In any given year, any given team is good enough to win."

Getting out to an early lead turned out to be very beneficial.

"It was a dream start," Stuckslager said. "We were able to make a couple of key plays to make it happen for us."

Adrian Walker scored the opening goal in the third minute after taking a service from Brooke Green. Walker got the ball at the top of the box, then made a move before finding a crease in the Lakes defense for a 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, Adrian Walker hit a cross angling towards the goal - but it was deflected back to Green, who finished the chance.

Lake Forest got its final goal in the 45th minute. Paige Bourne sent a cross toward the back post, and Carly Hoke got up in the air to convert the opportunity.

Lakes managed to get some better chances in the second half, but Cassidy Shaul finished with 2 saves to earn the shutout.

The Scouts won their fourth NSC championship overall.

"I think this is something that we've taken for granted in a while," Green said. "This is strong team and we've always fallen short here. It's exciting for all 10 seniors, being our last year, to go out strong like this."

Lakes will have another opportunity to play the Scouts in a couple of weeks in the Class 2A regional, scheduled to played at Lake Forest.