Stevenson, Mundelein battle to tie

Ending in a draw definitely wasn't the intent of the coaches and players in Lincolnshire on Wednesday evening.

But that was the result as Mundelein played host Stevenson through 80 minutes of soccer for a 1-1 tie in a North Suburban Lake match.

And as a result, the NSC Lake race is still very much up in the air with Stevenson (6-2-1) and Mundelein (9-1-2) both having a divisional record of 1-0-1.

"I really don't think anyone is going to be undefeated," Stevenson coach Mark Schartner said. "That was one of our better efforts. I thought we had way too many scoring chances to come away with a draw.

"We played well enough to win. We came out hard with our win (Tuesday) over Carmel. They played an awesome contest (Wednesday)."

The Patriots kept the pressure going forward and worked hard in trying to set up their goal. Stevenson controlled most of the play, especially in the second half.

"We got the third person involved with our touch," Schartner said. "One of the goals we have is not just to find a target player, but to find the next player quickly. We got the third person involved in the second half a lot. It kept up the pressure and we had the majority of the play."

Stevenson finally broke through in the 68th minute. Nicole Sodomire won a ball beyond midfield and made a speedy run to the top of the box and fired a shot into the upper corner for a 1-0 lead.

"I just dribbled the ball and challenged (the Mustangs' defender)," Sodomire said. "I was able to take a shot outside of the 18 (box). I was open for the shot and I saw the space open. I knew it would go over the goalie (Melanie Swager, who made 8 saves)."

Mundelein fought back and tied the game five minutes later. From near the end line, Ashley Begrowicz sent a ball for the near post where Abby Ekstrom ran onto it and beat Stevenson keeper Lizzy Sanscrainte to the ball.

"We move around really well and Ashley (Begrowicz) got going," Ekstrom said. "I was able to get my foot on it. I think we both collided and I was able to get my toe on it."

Meanwhile, getting a tie wasn't exactly what Mundelein coach Dave Ekstrom wanted to see.

"No, I'm not happy with a tie, but I'm happy we got it tied at the end," Mundelein coach Dave Ekstrom said. "We didn't play well and (Stevenson) played hard. I thought they got us out of our game a little bit. We came here to win. It is what it is - they played us tough and we didn't play our game.

"I thought we played well in the second half for five to 10 minutes, but then they took it to us for the next 15 minutes and we couldn't get possession of the ball. I thought our defense hung tough for a time."

Mundelein had a couple of outstanding chances in the the first 15 minutes with head balls from Stephanie Emery and Abby Ekstrom. In both cases, Sanscrainte (7 saves) came up with some outstanding saves.