Girls soccer: Carmel Catholic wins hometown matchup with Mundelein

It's clearly a hometown rivalry when Carmel Catholic and Mundelein meet up in girls soccer, as both schools call Mundelein home and are situated just a couple of miles from one another.

So when they get together, you can expect the level of intensity to be picked up on both sides. And that was the case through the entire 80 minutes of soccer on Thursday afternoon.

Marquette-bound Erin Johnston led the way for the Corsairs with a goal and an assist and Vermont commit Angie Salvi had the other goal in Carmel's 2-0 victory over visiting Mundelein in a nonconference matchup.

"We knew that this was going to be a good rivalry game coming into the game," Johnston said. "It turned out to be a huge win for us."

"As of now, we knew this would be the biggest game of the season," Carmel Catholic coach Ray Krawzak said. "This really was a good test. We were able to shut (Mundelein) out, and we scored on them twice.

"The girls all know each other, and they were talking before the game. It's all for pride, and bragging rights."

The Corsairs (4-1-1) won their second straight after losing to Warren 3-2 a week ago. The Mustangs (6-1-1) lost for the first time this season after starting with a seven-game unbeaten streak.

Mundelein had played on Wednesday night, defeating Lakes 1-0 before playing Thursday on short rest. Carmel Catholic had a few days off after defeating McHenry 8-0 on Monday.

"I'm very pleased with the way played," Mundelein coach Ernie Billittier said. "We generated a lot of chances but we weren't able to find the back of the net.

"I thought it was a fun rivalry. To get our first loss against a team that rivals you, you just have to move on from it all."

Johnston scored the first goal for Carmel in the 25th minute after taking a cross from Emma Heinrich. She was able to take control and put the ball into the corner for a 1-0 lead.

"Emma made a good cross over to me," Johnston said. "I was able to volley it down, chip it over the keeper and it went into the far post. I did have a pretty good target to shoot at."

Johnston took on the assist role for the Corsairs' other goal in the 50th minute, slotting the ball over to Salvi for the final touch and a 2-goal advantage.

Corsairs keeper Tina O'Block made 4 stops and earned her second straight clean sheet. She has four shutouts in six games and has allowed only 4 goals.