Vernon Hills ousts N. Chicago at Deerfield
Although North Chicago scored first, Vernon Hills used the wind at its backs in the second half to take charge and beat the Warhawks 2-1 in the teams’ Class 2A regional semifinal at Deerfield on Wednesday.
On a blustery day, Cougars coach Shannon Etnyre said it was no surprise the Warhawks would try to play direct and took shots from a distance, scoring the first goal from 25 yards. She said Nathan Lightman came up huge for Vernon Hills on a corner, clearing the ball off the line and keeping North Chicago’s lead at 1-0 at half.
“During halftime, we talked about how we needed to match their aggressive play and try to find a rhythm with our possession,” Etnyre said.
In the second half, Evan Borden scored the first goal off a header from Jeremy Cohen’s service to tie the game. David White scored the second goal, assisted by Brad Burrows with five minutes left.
Etnyre said the defense, led by goalkeeper Matt Tabrizi, did a good job minimizing North Chicago’s looks on goal.
“We definitely have some things to work on before Friday’s game, but I’m happy we were still able to find a way to win the game even though we didn’t have our best game,” she said.
Grayslake Central 2, Woodstock 0: The Rams move on to the regional finals thanks to goals by Johnny Madrid and Alex Stickler. Steven Anderson recorded the shutout.
“The boys played composed tonight and deserved the result,” Grayslake Central coach Mike McCaulou said. “It is now time to clean some things up in the next few days and play for a regional championship.”
Stevenson 3, St. Viator 1: Joe Hugener, Ross Comitor and Zack Erny scored goals for the Patriots in the Class 3A regional semifinal on their home field.
Constantine Kuhlman, Ricky Lekakh and Toshiki Niimi made the assists. Jacob Azriel and Quinten Low protected the goal for Stevenson.
Libertyville 3, Hersey 0: The Wildcats led the game 1-0 at half after a goal by Tomide Owalobi, assisted by Joey Ruppert. Libertyville added two more goals by Marshall Hollingsworth and Nick Vogel to defeat the Huskies. Austin Bitta made the assist on the remaining two goals. Zach Labrum worked in the net to keep the shutout.