Girls soccer: Evanston comes back, clips Carmel

Despite playing without six of its starters due to injuries and illness, Carmel Catholic played one of its better girls soccer matches this season Wednesday.

The Corsairs' opponent was Evanston relatively, and the match was relatively even for 70-plus minutes, with Carmel holding a 1-goal advantage.

The ending, however, left the Corsairs with a bit of indigestion.

The Wildkits scored 3 goals in a three-minute span and got past host Carmel 3-1 in pool play of the Deep Dish Classic in Mundelein on Wednesday night.

"Obviously disappointed in the turn of events," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "I think it's us mentally being set for the challenge when things don't go our way. We have a moment that we don't believe in ourselves. The longer that game went 0-0, we started believing in ourselves. That was the story because they doubted themselves coming in."

The Corsairs (3-3, 0-3 in the tournament) played the first half scoreless, then broke through with the first goal in the 63rd minute of play. Skyler Thomas eluded three Wildkits defenders with the ball before finishing her breakaway.

"I was able to take the ball off a defender," Thomas said. "I was feeling one of them on my back. I can look over my shoulder and see if there's any more around me. I usually have a pretty good idea where the gaps are between people and where everyone is."

Carmel was held that 1-goal edge for another 10 minutes before the Wildkits tied it in the 73rd minute off a corner kick as Ruby Siegel scored on a header from Callista O'Connor.

Just a minute later, Hadley Bushala scored after taking a ball from of the Corsairs' defenders. Bushala added another goal in the 75th minute, this time taking a pass from Avery Ackman.

"We just found that spark," Evanston coach Stacy Salgado said. "We made an adjustment and it was needed. We were creating chances but not finishing."

Carmel will play two more matches in the tournament, on Friday and Saturday either at Loyola Academy or at New Trier.