Lake Zurich, Bergstrom blank Libertyville

Reid Bergstrom, a defender, had a goal and an assist in the second half Tuesday night.

Contributing on a pair of goals?

That's more than any Lake Zurich soccer opponent can say the last eight games.

Few teams have been hotter than the Bears lately, and they continued their winning ways against visiting Libertyville, doing all their scoring in the second half to post a 3-0 victory.

Lake Zurich improved to 11-2-3 overall and 4-0 in the North Suburban Lake Division. The Bears have outscored their opponents 27-1 in their last eight games -- all wins.

Libertyville dropped to 6-4 and 2-2.

Tim Kreutz and Eric Pothast also scored. Bears goalkeeper Taao Scarnato earned his seventh shutout by making 3 saves. Defenders Bergstrom, Matt Hussey, Zach Khoshbin and Justin Pennino again played strong in front of Scarnato.

"In the second half, we put things together finally, as we created some chances," Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz said. "In the first 10 minutes, we had so many chances. Libertyville's keeper (Jim Palac) was making good saves, or the ball would go wide. I felt if we could get one then more would start coming. Once they start going into the net, we don't look back."

Bergstrom set up the game-winning goal, feeding a ball to Kreutz, who touched it past Palac in the 57th minute.

"I actually misplayed it and wanted to go far post," Bergstrom said. "Tim made a good run and put it away."

Four minutes later, Pothast took a pass from Matt Steffen and knocked in a 30-yard shot.

Bergstrom finished the scoring by dribbling through the Libertyville defense before depositing a shot in the 77th minute. Pothast assisted.

"Give Libertyville a lot of credit," Schmitz said. "They're a hard-working team. During the first half, we were fighting ourselves. I was impressed with the way Libertyville came out."

The Wildcats thought they scored in the ninth minute on a header, but it was waved off for off-sides.

"We played great early on," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "We didn't maintain our marks in the midfield. Lake Zurich out-hustled us in the second half. We just didn't have too many opportunities to score in the second half. We just didn't play up to their intensity. They just came out and took it to us."