Girls soccer: Libertyville's win makes Mundelein NSC champ

Lake Zurich's girls soccer team needed a tie or victory in its final North Suburban Conference match to take the title.

Libertyville had other ideas, however.

The visiting Wildcats won 1-0 on Wednesday night, as Morgan Verbeten's goal in the fourth minute of play held up.

With Lake Zurich (9-2-3) finishing 5-2 in the conference, Mundelein (10-5-3) captured the NSC championship with a 5-1-1 record. It's the first outright title for the Mustangs, who rallied to beat the Bears 3-2 on Monday evening. Mundelein shared the NSC Lake Division championship in 2005.

"Two close games against two really good teams," Lake Zurich coach Michael Castronova said. "We're all top 5 (seeds) in the sectional for a reason. Hats off to Libertyville. It was a good win for them and a great game.

"We've got to work on a few things," Castronova added. "It's something everyone goes through, the ups and downs of the season. Everyone hits adversity and we're hitting ours at the end. We'll bounce back with a game against Grayslake North (Thursday). Our focus will now be on the playoffs. Unfortunately, we missed conference and we don't get anything for winning 5 out of 7 games. It's unfortunate and disappointing."

Libertyville (10-5, 4-3) has won two straight games after losing four in a row.

"The girls should be playing their best soccer in the middle of May," Libertyville coach Shannon Etnyre said. "This was a great win for us. We're a quality side that struggles to put the ball into the back of the net. I thought we were creating a lot of great chances in the first half and would have liked better possession in the second half."

Verbeten notched her 13th goal this season off a pass from Jada Higgens. She got past a Bears defender and the goalkeeper.

"The ball went perfectly over the centerback," Verbeten said. "I was able to cut in the middle and touched it past the goalie.

"I think it's more of a change since we moved to a new formation (for scoring). It's helped us quite a bit. It's always our last touch or the last pass that we're trying to force through that lets us down. It's something that we're continually working on."

Libertyville keeper Kendall Edwards made 5 saves and earned the clean sheet.