St. Viator earns shot at tournament title
The Stevenson boys soccer team had an excellent shot of reaching the finals of the Glenbrook South Titans tournament.
But when the Patriots settled for a 1-1 tie with Leyden, that coupled with St. Viator's 1-1 draw earlier against Loyola Academy gave the Lions the berth.
St. Viator (2-0-3, 1-0-2) will meet host Glenbrook South for the title at 3 p.m. Saturday because the Lions finished 2 points better than the Patriots in the overall tournament standings.
The Titans (4-0, 3-0) won their pool with a 2-0 victory over Mather on Thursday.
The Patriots (2-1-1, 1-1-1) will play Mather for third place Saturday at 1 p.m.
"We didn't have a good one today," said Lions coach Mike Taylor. "We're still working on our positioning. But we don't have senior leadership, nor did we take control. We're lucky to come out with a tie."
The Lions' Alec Simpson scored the tying goal in the 60th minute.
Stevenson scored first against Leyden when senior Colin Pekovitch converted a touch from Michael Goldberg in the 14th minute.
Leyden (1-2-2, 0-1-2) tied the game at 1-1 early in the second half.
The Eagles' Tomas Uriostegui scored in front after taking an end-line pass from Chris Morales.
Waubonsie V. 1, Fremd 0:ΠFor Waubonsie Valley coach Angelo DiBernardo and Fremd coach Steve Keller, teamwide improvement meant everything Thursday night.
Sure, DiBernardo would like to earn a tournament victory at the Best in the West Tournament in 2007, but capturing the crown is not his team's main objective.
Instead, he would rather see game-to-game improvement, much like he saw Thursday night in the Warriors' 1-0 victory over Fremd.
Waubonsie Valley (2-1-1) freshman Ryan Dotson provided the game's only goal 11:45 into the first half, drilling a shot to the lower right corner to give his team an early edge.
Halftime adjustments made the Vikings (0-2) more competitive, but they weren't quite enough to propel Fremd to a tie game.
"Second half we switched some things around tactically for our team," Keller said. "We were able to push the ball up more and get a little more offense, (but) we've got to find someone to put the ball in the back of the net.
"I was pleased. It was a better performance for us (tonight) than it was Tuesday against Naperville Central."
-- Matthew McClarey
Palatine 6, Plainfield S. 0: A John Castellano goal and assist plus 2 assists by Haris Haskovic was too much for Plainfield South against tournament host Palatine. Keepers Ben Calvopina and Dustin Merhrtens combined for the shutout for the Pirates.
Schaumburg 5, Lake Forest 0: Josh Beard and Tim Piotrowski scored 2 goals apiece for Schaumburg at the Wheeling Wildcat invite. Jordan Sandberg had 9 saves to earn the shutout for the Saxons.
Glenbard West 2, Wheeling 0: Tournament host Wheeling dropped to 1-1-0 with its 2-0 loss to Glenbard West.
Buffalo Grove 1, Glenbard East 0: Ryan Franz scored in the sixth minute of the second half for the Bison. Mike McEvoy got the shutout and turned away 6 shots.
Girls tennis
Conant coach Jennifer Mogge had no problem with her No. 3 doubles team's tennis game -- it was Liz Chamberland's and Michelle Sommer's listening skills she questioned.
"I don't know if they didn't hear me, but I told them their match counted," Mogge said.
Despite being the only varsity players left on Conant's courts and having their entire team along with Prospect's sitting behind the fence and cheering every point, Chamberland and Sommer remained oblivious to the importance of their match.
It wasn't until the match was over, the pair walked out of the courts' gate and through their teammates' tunnel of arms that they discovered their three-set win made the difference in the Cougars' 4-3 dual-meet victory over Prospect in the Mid-Suburban League crossover in Hoffman Estates.
"Luckily, we didn't know it was our match that determined whether we would win," Chamberland said.
"It was surprising," Sommer said.
Referred to as twins by their teammates because they both have blonde hair and are hard to tell apart when they wear their matching bug-eye glasses, Chamberland and Sommer provided the Cougars some early season drama. After taking the first set 6-2, they fell by the same score in the second set to Prospect's Maggie Stake and Megan Kosirog.
In the third, Conant went ahead 4-3; Prospect tied it; Conant went ahead; Prospect tied it; Conant went ahead.
Finally, the Cougars closed the match out and won 7-5.
"They just stay the same," said Mogge of her doubles team. "They don't get too high or too low. They don't get upset or excited."
The Cougars' win over Prospect did excite Mogge. After losing six seniors to graduation, all doubles players, Mogge thought this year's team might take some early lumps. But after Tuesday's win over Elk Grove and Thursday's victory, she possessed a different feeling about her team.
"We had a lot of girls who had graduated," Mogge said. "I wasn't sure how good we would be. I think we have a pretty young team, but I'm optimistic that this could be a good season."
The Knights also lost a bulk of their team from last season. With only five returnees, Prospect coach Karie McClure realizes her team has some work ahead of it.
"It's somewhat of a rebuilding year," she said. "It's a progression year. Hopefully we'll get better as division play starts and we can get some singles and doubles players through sectionals."
Prospect's No. 1 singles player Annie Duggan, the No. 1 doubles team of Amy Varner and Becky Santiago and No. 2 team of Julie Provenzo and Eileen Deignan won on Thursday. Conant's Shiori Nishida (No. 2 singles), Stephanie Fang (No. 3 singles) and the No. 4 doubles team of Emerly Soong and Carly Villano won their matches.
-- Scott J. Powers
Girls golf
It's not the 3 pars and a birdie that Conant's Kris Yoo is looking at.
It was the other five holes -- the bogeys -- that troubled the sophomore during her medalist round of 39 on Thursday at Fox Run Links.
"It wasn't my day," Yoo said. "I could've made more putts and had better drives. My irons are good."
Yoo and her fellow Cougars rose above the Mid-Suburban triangular with a 186 for wins against Fremd (194) and Wheeling (240).
"I'm very happy," said Conant coach Diana Johannesen. "Our goals are all coming together and that's what we want. They were more in control today and more consistent."
Heather Nyc carded a 46 for Conant (3-1) while Stacy Pollack (50) and Pam Wawrzyniak (51) also scored.
Claudia Schwan shot a 41 to lead the Vikings with Kelly Voigt contributing a 46.
"We're still new -- this is only our second match," said Fremd coach Rob Higgins. "It's tough to judge how we're doing right now. Claudia's been pretty solid. We're having a good time."
Emma Haduch (52), Lauren Critchfield (55) and Courtney Boeckelman (55) all kept pace for Fremd.
In Wheeling's first outing of the season, Ashley Lepcin set the bar at 49.
"It was a little rough but they seemed all right," said Wheeling coach Peggy Ellsworth. "It was our first time out. We've been on mats a lot. We've got something to work with -- let's bring it down."
Also scoring for the Wildcats were Christine Barrera (59), Kim Star (64) and Laura McInally (68).
-- Bill Swick
American Legion baseball
Columbia, Tenn., is the 2007 champion of American Legion baseball.
Columbia earned an 11-4 victory over Eden Prairie, Minn., on Tuesday night to capture the American Legion World Series championship in Bartlesville, Okla.
Both teams had 1 loss going into the game in the double-elimination tourney.
Rockport, Ind., the Great Lakes regional champion, bowed out in two straight games, including a loss to Columbia.
Danny Miller of Eden Prairie was the tournament's most valuable player, and Blaine Drozd of Nebraska was named the George W. Rulon American Legion Player of the Year.