Warren, Mundelein battle to a draw

After a grueling 80 minutes between the Mundelein and Warren girls soccer teams, both sides settled for a scoreless draw on Thursday in Gurnee.

Mustangs goalkeeper Lexi Pawlowski made it a challenge with some of the saves she made by getting her third clean sheet in five games.

The sophomore stepped up and collected 8 of her 12 stops in the second half.

"First, you have to come out and cut down the angle and then you've got to anticipate where the ball is going to go," said Pawlowski, who made a few outstanding saves to keep the ball out of the back of the net. "It was a bit difficult because they were tough shots. But I was up for the challenge."

Credit also goes to the Mustangs' defense that consisted of Jessica Schultz, Megan Carroll, Hadlee Linane and Raena Bennett.

Mundelein (2-1-2) opened its division play with the tie but played the match without two of its starters Kelly Grove and Alexis Malka, who were sidelined by illness.

"I thought we still had a good performance," Mundelein coach Ernie Billittier said. "In the second half, Warren did a great job owning the middle of the park. (Warren's) midfield play was better than ours.

"I still thought we had a gutsy effort. We had a couple of good opportunities and they had some good opportunities. Both teams battled and it wasn't the result we wanted. But we'll take it."

The Blue Devils (1-1-1) are off to a good start in the Lake Division (1-0-1) with a win over Zion-Benton and now a draw with Mundelein. They also lost 2-1 at Carmel Catholic.

"We do have a lot of new faces out there," said Warren coach Ryan McCabe. "We're still trying to establish our identity and we're making some big steps. In flashes, we made some combination flashes and it's exactly what we've been working on.

It's starting to piece its way together. It's a good problem to have getting the combination play to work. Now we have to take it another step further and take those opportunities to finish with goals."

Warren had a strong effort building forward with numbers.

The Blue Devils had several chances off scoring especially in the second half. They had shots on goal but saw the Pawlowski make save after save.

"We were passing really well together," said Warren midfielder Natalie McNally. "Everyone was working well on the ball. That helped create a number of opportunities. We're trying to be more offensive, but we just have to finish our chances."

Keeper Liz Carrano made 4 saves and recorded her second clean sheet in three games for the Blue Devils.

She had great efforts in front of her, led by Wayne State-bound Alexis Strothers, Lindsay Ditmars, Corin Hill, Jamie Kwon and Hannah Sislow.