Lakes, Wauconda advance
For the third straight year, Lakes' girls soccer team has soared into a sectional final.
The Eagles shut out Grayslake Central 1-0 in a Class 2A Lakes sectional semifinal in Lake Villa on Tuesday night.
“The girls realize they have something going here,” said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby, whose team improved to 10-13. “They just want to keep it going with the way they are playing. The girls don't want to let up for a moment.
“They are finding their legs, finding themselves and realizing they can play some tough soccer. Hopefully it can carry on to Friday.”
Lakes will meet Wauconda (16-3-3) for the sectional championship at 6 p.m. Friday at Lakes. The Bullodgs rolled past Amundsen 5-0 in the other sectional semifinal Tuesday.
The Eagles reached the sectional final last year, and the supersectional two years ago.
On Tuesday, Lakes made 1 goal stand up for the entire match over Grayslake Central (15-7).
“I really never thought 1 goal would hold up,” Kullby said. “These are tough games to make a goal stand. We were able to make it stand and held (Grayslake Central) off in the closing minutes.”
Leah Baker got the Eagles' goal in the 24th minute. She took a pass from Ashley Neubeck, made a move to beat a Rams defender and scored.
“Ashley (Neubeck) made a beautiful pass to the inside,” Baker said. “We were working on things in practice to run on the inside of defenders. The ball came to me and I was able to hit with my left foot into the corner.
“We weren't expected to make it this far. We've been pumped up and staying focused, trying to get as far as we can.”
Eagles goalkeeper Sarah Fitzpatrick made 5 saves and earned the shutout.
Grayslake Central made a great run itself after one of its best seasons in school history.
The Rams earned their first Fox Valley Fox Division title, a regional championship, and delivered school records for wins in a season and shutouts (13).
“The effort was good but we struggled offensively,” Grayslake Central coach Mike McCaulou said. “We just didn't create enough chances— not doing enough with the ball. We didn't play enough with possession. We did try to make something happen in the last 10 minutes.
“You've got to give credit to Lakes, but we did have a great year.”
Ÿ Tammy Ellis put together 3 goals for her first-ever hat trick and Melanie Prudhomme notched a pair of goals as Wauconda (16-5-5) easily got past Amundsen in the other sectional semifinal in Lake Villa on Tuesday afternoon.
“It really doesn't matter how many goals I score,” sad Ellis, who also picked up an assist. “As long as we get the goals. I'd rather get more assists. It's all good if we can win.”
Ellis scored 2 of her 3 goals in the first half. Prudhomme had the other goal on a breakaway.
Ellis provided an assist for Prudhomme's second goal in the second half.
The Bulldogs were co-champs with Vernon Hills in the North Suburban Prairie Division. Wauconda also won the Johnsburg tournament and took third place at Prospect's tournament.
“I'm really excited for these kids,” Wauconda coach Terry Stevig said. “We have an interesting group of kids, and all year long we've been talking about what we can do if we work hard.”
Wauconda played without starting goalkeeper Cara Leoni, who suffered a concussion in the regional final against Vernon Hills last Friday. Laura Bower replaced Leoni in goal, making 3 saves and earning the shutout against Amundsen (9-9-2).
“We know our next game will be a tougher game than this one aganst (Amundsen).” Stevig said. “We've worked so hard to get this far and we're happy to be here.”