Lake Forest 1, Stevenson 0
What was supposed to be at least a four- or five-team race for the North Suburban Lake crown has now dropped down to a two-team race.
Lake Forest and Lake Zurich are the only teams without a loss in division play, and they meet to decide the champion next Wednesday in Lake Zurich.
On Tuesday, the Scouts held serve with a 1-0 victory over Stevenson in a hard-fought match in Lake Forest.
"It helps for the conference with two games left and we haven't lost," said Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager, whose team is 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the NSC Lake. "It's been a long time since we've had that situation.
"Any time you beat Stevenson, it's something to give credit to the girls for because they worked their tails off."
Lake Forest's Holly Wark scored the goal in the 22nd minute, knocking in a header set up by a Megan Bourne corner kick.
Wark has scored 3 goals this season, two off headers. All three have come against NSC Lake teams: Libertyville, Mundelein and now Stevenson.
"We all run at the top of the 18," Wark said. "Then we decide who runs far, near and middle. I just decided to go middle and that's where the ball came down. I was all by myself."
Lake Forest keeper Finley Amato earned her fifth shutout and made 7 saves.
Stevenson keeper Courtney Levy made 9 saves, which included a diving penalty kick save and a couple of point -blank stops.
"There were a few shots I didn't think I was going to get to," Levy said. "It's all reaction. You watch their legs and play on that when they kick the ball.
"I just keep gaining confidence back there."
Stevenson (4-4, 1-2) was right there with Lake Forest and didn't back down at all for a full 80 minutes.
"I'm proud of the girls -- they didn't leave anything on field," said assistant coach Kevin Hefferman, filling in for coach Mark Schartner, who was out for a family obligation.
"They worked as hard as they could and were tired by the end of the game. In fact, both teams were tired by the end.
"We made one mistake that cost us. We had our chances to score. But Courtney Levy kept us in the game. She made some phenomenal saves and was 'on' today."