Lakes: Fit to be tied

The ties keep adding up for Lakes' boys soccer team, and their sum is frustration.

The Eagles ended up with three straight ties in the Warrior Soccer Classic in McHenry, including a 3-3 tie with Harlem on Saturday morning followed by a scoreless draw with the host Warriors in the afternoon. The Eagles also tied Johnsburg 1-1 on Friday afternoon.

Host McHenry (6-9-3, 1-0-2) won the tournament title over Johnsburg (1-0-2) on goal differential; Lakes (6-5-6) settled for third place.

"Every game, we've done well on both sides of the ball," said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby, whose team has 4 ties over its last five games, including a win over North Chicago. "We're creating chances, giving us the opportunity to win.

"In the previous two games in the tournament, we had leads. But we didn't close out the games. In the game against (McHenry), it's always a tough game and we came up short. I thought the score (0-0) was a fair result. I wish we had our luck turn on us. If you look at our record, we could be 12-3."

The Eagles had their best chance to score against the Warriors in the 24th minute when Steve Korosis served a cross to Erik Lennartson near the back post - but what appeared to be a goal was waved off for off-sides. Still, the Eagles had several chances and came up empty.

"We seem to be doing everything good, until we get into the final third," Korosis said. "We can't get the final pass, and we're not clicking. We're getting so many opportunities and not finishing. We just have to keep working on things in practice."

Lakes also played some great defense to keep McHenry off the scoreboard. Eagles keeper Ben Goforth made 4 stops in recording his seventh shutout.

"Our defense is pretty good this year," said William Lebavitz, who leads the defense along with Nathan McMahon, Shane Peter and Ben Pierce. "It's tough when (McHenry) keeps coming at us. We just keep trying to get the ball out of the back and create an attack."

McHenry had its chances to score at times, but had to deal with the Eagles strong ball possession and numerous shot attempts at the Warriors' goal..

"We always have ties, or 1-goal games with Lakes," McHenry coach Tony Caruso said. "I thought (Lakes) had the better chances to finish, but we were able holding them off in the back."

Against Harlem, Lakes got goals from Joel DeGrave, McMahon and Lennartson; Mitchell Post and Korosis each picked up assists.