Sweet forecast for Carmel

Osterhout … ousted.

That's because she graduated.

Other than star keeper Megan Osterhout, however, Carmel Catholic's girls soccer team returns its entire starting lineup.

That's oh so good for the Corsairs, considering they won 19 games last season.

"Our expectations are very high," coach John Halloran said. "We've got a lot of quality girls back and it's a strong group."

Carmel will try again to achieve its goal of a state berth. State runner-up Fremd stopped the Corsairs last year in the supersectional.

"We certainly have a solid team back," Halloran said. "We've had talent before but never this much quality before."

Carmel boasts 12 seniors, including several who will be playing their fourth year on varsity. In total, 18 girls return.

The Corsairs are led by senior forward Sara Petermann, who had 22 goals and 9 assists last year. She entered this season with 48 career goals. Sophomore Kassidy Brown posted 12 goals and 16 assists last season, while senior Stephanie Swanson added 10 goals. Alex Hauser, Laura Lehman and Maddie Ogrinc can also finish. Ogrinc, in fact, netted a hat trick on Thursday, as Carmel defeated Antioch 5-2 to improve to 2-0.

"We're a close group and it's really cool," Petermann said. "There's a lot of seniors and everybody knows their part on the team. We just know each other real well and every single player works real hard."

The Corsairs are strong in the back with seniors Nikki Boland, Deanna LaPenta and Kiersten Trillhaase, and juniors Liz Perrenot and Kelly Schoen

"We've got a lot of good team chemistry and a couple of us have played club ball together," Boland said. "When somebody has the ball, you don't have to look around. Someone will be there to make that run."

Carmel will also be a front-runner in the East Suburban Catholic Conference, but will be challenged by Benet Academy, St. Viator, Fenwick and Marist.

New tournaments: It's worked well for the boys and now perhaps it will do the same for the girls.

A 32-team tournament will have the finals take place at Toyota Park (home of the Chicago Fire) on Sunday, April 20. For information visit the Web site at www.pepsishowdown.us.

Lake County will have three schools in the tournament: Libertyville, Vernon Hills and Warren.

"It's good to be in a tournament like that and be a representative from the northern suburbs," Vernon Hills coach Vince DeLuca said. "There's a lot of parity and some solid teams in the tournament. I think we should do all right."

Also, Grayslake Central will be having its inaugural round-robin tournament during spring break. The field includes Hampshire, Conant and Waukegan.

Meanwhile, Lake Forest has changed the name of its tournament to the Snowbowl Shootout -- and for good reason.

Last year's snowy weather canceled two days of play and forced schools to play games on turf in two different locations. There was no winner for the first time since the tournament started. Carmel, Lakes and Stevenson are part of the eight-team field.