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Girls soccer: New Trier cuts short Carmel Catholic's playoff run

Going the distance was exactly what Carmel Catholic intended to do with its girls soccer season.

The Corsairs made some great strides this season, which included a run at the East Suburban Catholic Conference title followed by successfully tracking down both Class 3A regional and sectional championships.

But that last step, the one that would have gotten them into the final four, eluded the Corsairs.

Carmel came up short 5-1 against highly regarded New Trier in the Class 3A supersectional at Evanston Township High School on Tuesday night.

Carmel (16-5-1) had been scheduled to play New Trier (23-0-2) as part of the North Shore Invitational early this season, but because of cold weather, that game was canceled.

"I didn't want to play New Trier early in the season," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "I wanted to play New Trier in the supersectional. Because it was awesome and it was a great time getting here."

New Trier next plays Andrew (21-4) in a Class 3A state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville. Andrew got past Downers Grove North 2-1 in their supersectional on Tuesday night.

The Trevians had some concerns coming into the game and expected the game to be a close one.

"I'm always worried, I knew how good they are and how athletic they are," New Trier coach Jim Burnside said of Carmel. "A well-coached team. I give them all the credit in the world for the season they had. Tonight happened to be our night. Scoring that first goal was key. Carmel had scored early in a lot of their recent games in the first 10 minutes. We wanted to make sure that we wanted to match their energy. We came out and battled the way we needed to battle."

Emma Weaver led the way for New Trier with a pair of goals and 2 assists. That gives her 18 goals and 18 assists, to match the jersey number she wears.

Weaver opened the scoring with a strike from 30 yards out with an assist from Whitney Hoban.

The Trevians added two goals early in the second half. Weaver assisted with a pass to Victoria Flannagan out in front for a 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute. Grace Walker made it 3-0 five minutes later, scoring off a pass from Hoban.

Carmel got a goal back in the 53rd minute off a New Trier mistake in the back as Olivia Salvi was credited with a goal.

A few minuts later, the Corsairs had a shot to cut the lead to 1 with a dangerous free kick, but it went wide of the post.

"I'm proud at 3-0 that we didn't give up," Krawzak said. "When we got that one, we really got fired up. I really think there were 10 minutes in the second half where we were better than (New Trier). We had the momentum until the fourth goal.

New Trier added two insurance goals. Weaver had one, unassisted in the 63rd minute, and Weaver assisted again, feeding Nicole Kaspi in the 69th minute.

The Corsairs came a long way this year, with players fighting through injuries and illness to become a solid unit.

"It was emotional until the end, but I don't have any regrets for the season," said Lily Sykes, one of the team's senior defenders. "I'm so happy with how we played and that we made it this far. It hurts, and it was going to hurt any way it ended. I'm so proud of everyone on the team. Over the past couple of years, we've got a lot of talent, but the chemistry of the team hasn't been there. But this year it was there, and I'm so happy to be a part of it."

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