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Boys soccer: Glenbard North drops Lake Park

Glenbard North was smart enough to know that Lake Park wouldn't go away easily in Carol Stream.

The Lancers had sliced Tuesday's 2-0 deficit in half early in the second half, but Livre Emena responded with a pair of goals to help the Panthers complete a 4-1 boys soccer victory in DuPage Valley Conference play.

"The 2-1 is a turning point where you have to show where the character is," Panthers coach Gregg Koeller said. "We got the third one back and then the fourth one, and I think that was a big step for us. DVC games are always close and every team is good, and when you have somebody breathing down your neck and you can finish a game, it's nice."

Glenbard North (8-5-1, 3-4-0) took a lead at the 13th minute after the Lancers were unable to clear the ball. Erik Lopez's shot was somewhat slowed by goalkeeper Christian Lekki, but he just had enough muscle on his shot that it still found the net.

The Panthers extended their lead with just under 10 minutes left in the first half. They received back-to-back corner kicks, and after failing on their first try, they converted their second as Danny Koeller connected on Jacob Scheufler's feed in midair.

"I tried to stay back post and to stay under because no one really saw me back there," Danny Koeller said. "It keeps them on their toes. They obviously weren't ready for it, so we capitalized."

Lake Park (5-8-2, 2-2-2) got on the scoreboard with almost 30 minutes remaining but couldn't do anything else offensively.

"You've got to give credit to North," Lancers coach Sean Crosby said. "They came out and were moving the ball, they were pressing on every 50/50 and they were connecting passes. They just had a lot of energy to start and we just didn't seem to be there to match it."

The loss snapped Lake Park's three-game winning streak.

The Panthers added insurance goals to finish off the Lancers. Eduardo Guereca assisted the first with 23:36 left in the game and the second came with 9:39 left.

Lopez said the halftime discussion centered on not allowing the Lancers back into the game but rather to finish them off.

"We talked about not letting them come back," he said. "They got that one goal, which gave them a little momentum, but we came right back and finished them off real strong, which was what we needed to do."

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