Boys soccer: Lake Forest speaks up, clips Carmel

There's a lot to be said for effective communication on the soccer field, as Carmel Catholic's Chris Galla can attest.

He's among the returning players for the Corsairs who experienced the team's recent run to the Class 2A state tournament along with finishing third last year.

All that winning background is translating to a team with high expectations this fall.

Galla works mainly in the back, defending with seniors Travis Curley, Luke Johnson and and junior Brett Cloe.

"I think we're communicating very well," Galla said. "Our voices are helping us out a lot, and our voices are helping in the attack

Carmel Catholic started its season with a victory over Lake Zurich on Monday and got by Lakes in penalty kicks on Tuesday.

But in the North Shore Shootout semifinals Thursday afternoon, the Corsairs were beaten by host Lake Forest 1-0 in a match decided on penalty kicks 4-1.

"We played pretty well," Galla said. "(Lake Forest) compacted it a bit near the end, but we had our chances - we just didn't finish. It's good to get the loss now. It's something to learn from."

Carmel Catholic had some of the better chances to put the ball in the back of the net, but each time the Corsairs were stopped by Lake Forest keeper Riley Perkofski, who made 10 stops, including one in the shootout.

Corsairs keeper Kyle Knauer responded with 6 stops of his own in the losing effort.

"We learned a lesson that we have to put the ball away when you get the chances," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "You can't fall apart. We lacked a little discipline in the midfield in the second half. We were really pleased with our midfield play in the first half.

"(Lake Forest) had good chances, too. I was kind of wondering if it was a 0-0 game. Both teams seemed like they were struggling to pull away. If we put the first one away, then the second would've come. Finishing was the thing."

The Scouts (2-0) will take on Lake Forest Academy (2-0) in the final at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Caxys got past Dundee-Crown 4-3 on PK's for a 3-2 decision in the other semifinal.

Lake Forest has put together a couple of strong defensive efforts in its first two games.

"We've got some inexperienced guys," Lake Forest coach Rob Parry said. "So we're playing cautious to protect some of our holes. That was our plan coming in. We played the same way against Highland Park - Carmel plays a diagonal ball. We kind of used to it, and we've got height in the back. We wanted to eliminate chances before they had good shots."

• Round Lake (1-1) earned its first win of the season with a 4-goal outburst in the second half in a 5-1 victory over Deerfield. Alejandro Sotelo led the way with 2 goals and an assist, while Ricky Orozco, Henry Arteaga and Bryan Gomez had the other strikes.

• Lakes picked up its first win of the year with a 3-2 triumph over Highland Park. Cam Beezley netted a pair of goals and Nick Dydo scored one and assisted on another.

Games start at 10 a.m. Saturday. Lake Forest plays Lake Forest Academy in the championship game; Dundee-Crown faces Carmel Catholic in the third-place match; Round Lake meets Lakes in the consolation final and Deerfield meets Highland Park for seventh place.