Milestone night for Ahonen, Lake champ Warren

Warren boys soccer coach Jason Ahonen has added another memorable achievement to a growing list.

A state champion with the Blue Devils two seasons ago, Ahonen watched his team pick up its fourth North Suburban Lake title under his guidance - and this on the night he also earned his 100th career victory.

Warren got past Libertyville 3-1 on Tuesday in Gurnee, completing an unbeaten 6-0 spurt through the Lake Division for the Blue Devils (12-2-4). They will host Round Lake in the NSC championship game Oct. 9.

Adding to the win-win feeling for Warren was the progress made as Ahonen's father, Steve, battles Scleroderma, an autoimmune disease.

"You want to control your own destiny in a division race, and we did that," Ahonen said. "Overall, it was a great team win. Getting my 100th win is something special, along with the Scleroderma fundraiser for my dad, and it's something I'll never forget.

"Winning the division was important, hands down. My 100 wins come from my kids, they don't come from me. I'm blessed with a tremendous soccer community, tremendous kids and an athletic department that supports soccer fully."

Warren got off to a quick start with a couple of goals in the first half against a very talented Libertyville (9-3, 3-2) team and never let up the lead the rest of the way. The Wildcats recently lost to Mundelein 1-0 and had a tough time finding the back of the net in that one.

"Tough one, we played really well," Libertyville coach Andy Bitta said. "We controlled the game but had a hard time scoring. We're just not executing in the offensive third, we're playing with it too much. We're too pretty with the ball. We've got to work on getting the ball in the box - be more of a dirty team, hustle team, aggressive team in there, than a pretty team."

The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the 19th minute, when Kevin Penarrita scored on a rebound.

Warren got a second goal off a corner kick from Alex Fratila in the 19th minute. Defender Chris Travis moved up and scored on a header for his third goal of the season.

"When you know, you know," said Travis, scoring on his first header. "That was perfect and we were working on it in practice (Monday). It's big and brings more momentum in a game like this."

Libertyville cut the lead to 2-1 in the 63rd minute, when Cam Fragassi found a rebound in front of the goal.

Blue Devils keeper RJ Hill was a force in the back, making 10 stops including several point-blank saves to keep Warren ahead in the final stages.

Warren's Nick Haas scored on a breakaway from midfield in the 73rd minute for an insurance goal.