Lagunas lifts Carmel

Talk about a heart-stopping victory.

"I'll tell you when my heart starts again," Carmel Catholic coach John Halloran said after his team held off stubborn McHenry 2-0 in the teams' Class AA sectional semifinal at Libertyville High School on Tuesday night.

"It was an exciting end and both teams played a good game.

Edwin Lagunas scored a pair of goals and keeper Joey Ferrari made a leaping save for the top-seeded Corsairs (17-5-2), who will play No. 2 Libertyville (13-5), a 2-1 winner over Lake Forest, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday back at Libertyville for the sectional title.

"We knew McHenry was a big and athletic," Halloran said. "We knew it would be a challenge to win the 50/50 game. We did what we had to do in getting the win."

Carmel didn't seal the game until the final couple of minutes. Lagunas knocked in his 21st goal to the back post, after receiving a pass from Bobby Gas. Kurt Houghton started the play by sending a long service down the middle.

"I was just fortunate to get there and put it in," Lagunas said. "We just wanted to finish the game in the last couple of minutes."

Just a minute earlier, Ferrari leaped and used his hand to flick Matt Robinson's 25-yard blast over the crossbar.

"My defense was keeping them outside the box all game," said Ferrari, who earned his 12th shutout. "We knew we had to press up on them when they got close."

Ferrari got defensive support from Scott Bierman, Drew Wycoff, Austin Heinrichs, Mike Levasseur and Joe Gibson

"In the playoffs, you'll see a lot of the 1-0 (scores) hold up," Halloran said. "There's been a lot of games going to overtime this season. I just trust my defense. We've had a lot of shutouts this year. It would have been nice to get the second goal earlier."

Lagunas opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, taking a pass from Gas and firing a shot off McHenry keeper Barrett Painter. The ball caromed off the crossbar and into the goal.

No. 5 McHenry (18-4-2) was playing in its first sectional game in six years.

"We hung in the best that we could," McHenry coach Tony Caruso said. "We didn't have the speed or skill that Carmel had but we were in it to the very end.

"Carmel was strong and fast in the back. We didn't get a good look until the final minutes when their keeper made the great save."

Libertyville 2, Lake Forest 1: For the first time in four years, Libertyville's boys soccer team has reached the sectional final.

Alvaro Castro scored the game-winning goal Tuesday night to lead the host and No. 2 Wildcats past No. 6 Lake Forest 2-1 in the teams' sectional semifinal.

Libertyville (13-5) will play top-seeded Carmel for the sectional title at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Libertyville High School.

"What more can you ask for? First year back and in a sectional championship," said Andy Bitta, who returned as head coach this season after stepping down several years ago.

Libertyville (13-5) had a tough time with No. 6 Lake Forest (11-8-5), which controlled the play for most of the game."

"I'm glad to get a victory out of this," Bitta said. "We didn't play our style and played more like kick and run down the middle. We didn't use the wings all that much. We got some work to do in practice. If we play like this against Carmel, it will be a long game."

Castro netted the winner in the 58th minute after taking a pass from Brad Novak at the top of the box. While in the process of winning the ball before Lake Forest keeper Chris Weber could get to it, Castro made contact with Weber, then fired and scored.

"I made the run that we've been practicing," Castro said. "I managed to get the ball before I hit (Weber). There was no intention to hit him."

Libertyville's Kyle Schory made the score 1-0 in the 11th minute, taking a pass from Novak and firing a shot to the back post through traffic.

Lake Forest pulled even in the 44th minute, as sophomore Harry Shipp rifled in a free kick from 20 yards out. The ball hit off the hands of Wildcats keeper Jim Palac (4 saves) and ricocheted off the post and into the goal.

"We had a great goal from Harry," Lake Forest coach Rob Parry said. "I thought we were the better team in the second half. We just couldn't get anyone to finish on our crosses. Jim Palac had a great game and cleaned up everything with no bobbles. He was so commanding in the box."