Grayslake North delivers title

Grayslake North's boys soccer team turned up the defense and turned in a championship effort Saturday.

The Knights captured the title of Grant's round-robin invitational in Fox Lake for the first time in three years. A tiebreaker (goals allowed) gave Grayslake North the nod over St. Charles East and Grant. Each team ended up with a 2-1 record.

Grayslake North (3-3 overall) gave up just 2 goals in the tournament, while St. Charles East allowed three and Grant yielded five.

"We know we can play pretty good defense," Grayslake North coach Adam DeCaluwe said. "Now we've got to work on getting better shots on the frame."

The Knights edged St. Charles East 2-1 last Tuesday night in a game decided on penalty kicks. On Saturday morning against Grant, Grayslake North had a goal waved off due to offsides and lost 1-0.

The Knights responded by shutting out Harvard 1-0 on a goal by junior Claudio Guerrero, assisted by Baruk Perez-Vera. Harvard hit a post in the final seconds.

Grayslake North keeper Richard Klarck made 3 saves in earning the shutout.

St. Charles East (3-3) won a pair a games Saturday, as it sought to win the title for the third straight year.

The Saints blanked Harvard 4-0 and recovered from a one-goal deficit against Grant to win 4-1.

"We gave up a goal (against Grant) that cost us the tournament," St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. "We lost in PKs to Grayslake North (last Tuesday), even though we outshot them. It was nice to get two convincing wins, but it was unfortunate with the other loss."

Grant scored the opening goal against St. Charles East in the 28th minute, as Daniel Villa finished a feed from Andrew Noda.

But it took St. Charles East just 30 seconds to pull even, as Kyle Ortman fired in a shot.

"The guys know how to get open on the back side," Jennison said. "When these guys play like they're supposed to, we can be as good as anyone."

Dylan Tucker scored two minutes later off a cross from Robert Stackhouse to put the Saints on top. Tucker added two more goals in the second half for his first hat trick.

"I had so much energy, like everyone else on the team," Tucker said. "I was just there and was able to knock them in."

Grant had won its first four games this season. The Bulldogs started Saturday by clipping Grayslake North 1-0 on Noda's penalty kick in the 45th minute.

But Grant couldn't get past St. Charles East.

"I'm disappointed," Grant coach Shane Rivette said. "We set ourselves up and we couldn't close it out. Our team is more experienced and we've got some goal scorers up top. If we can go up early in games, we have enough veterans to defend."