Lake Forest ends Grayslake North’s run

Grayslake North’s girls soccer team stood out all season.

The pink cleats worn by several players, including Lyz Steinhoff, were just a part of that.

“I figured it was my senior year and a little bit of creativity in color would be fun,” Steinhoff said.

The fun ended for Steinoff, her sister Sara and 10 Grayslake North seniors, in total, Saturday, as the host Knights fell to Lake Forest 2-0 in a Class 2A regional final.

Grayslake North completed a special season, which included winning a share of the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division, with a mark of 14-7-1.

Lake Forest (15-4-2) will play the host school in the Lakes sectional semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Lake Forest goalie Liz Clark had 5 saves, while Brooke Sauer stopped 5 shots for Grayslake North in her final high school game.

“I felt like I really needed to step up after those (two goals),” said Sauer, who will attend Purdue next fall. “We played as a team, we worked so well, and I’m going to miss this team so much.

“It’s very emotional for all of us, especially for the 10 seniors,” Sauer added. “We’ve been through this for four years and it’s kind of depressing to end like this. But we went out hard. Lake Forest is a good team, and we went out strong.”

Lake Forest allowed only 7 Grayslake North shots on goal. The Scouts kept Sauer busy.

“Brooke has been our rock for four years and a captain for three,” Grayslake North coach Adam DeCaluwe said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of shots on goal. We were hoping a few of them would finish at the back of the net, but today they didn’t.”

“The defense played very well,” Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. “We limited them their opportunities up top.”

Abby Shipp gave Lake Forest the only goal it needed on a free kick in the first four minutes of the game. Scouts freshman Carly Hoke scored the second goal on an assist by Dani Loeger with 30 minutes left in the second half.

Hoke took the ball down the left side. Her kick was blocked, but she got the rebound and finished a shot to the right post.

“We were disappointed that we couldn’t win the (North Suburban Lake Division) championship, so we wanted a good showing in the playoffs,” said Hoke, whose goal was her eighth of the season.

“We definitely had our chances, but they were few and far between,” DeCaluwe said. “Lake Forest is a very strong team and they were on the front foot and were aggressive to the ball. That kind of put us back on our heals. They took care of the few chances that were created.”