Girls soccer: Padilla, Primack do it all for Lakes in win over Grayslake Central

In the minds of many soccer players these days there's this thought - is an assist more important than a goal?

Noelia Padilla had the opportunity to get both a goal and an assist in leading Lakes past host Grayslake Central 2-1 in a Northern Lake County Conference matchup on Thursday night, while Taylor Primack, the Eagles' sophomore keeper, made 17 stops in the victory.

Padilla, a junior midfielder, really couldn't make up her mind on the goal vs. assist question as long as it helps the team.

"Honestly, I love assisting and getting everyone so hyped up, but it's an awesome feeling when you score," Padilla said, "because everyone is so happy and excited. It's a great feeling."

Lakes (3-6-2, 2-0-1) and Grayslake Central (3-6, 0-2) were scoreless in the first half until Padilla set up the first goal for the Eagles in the 42nd minute. She sent a corner kick into the middle of the box, where Abbey Findlay finished it with a headball into the back of the net.

"I love doing corners and I like to get it in there with a high ball," Padilla said. "It was great, because (Findlay) was able to get a header off of it."

Padilla contributed a goal in the 70th minute, her second of the season, off a feed from Simone Lippmann making it a 2-0 lead for Lakes.

Grayslake Central managed to get a goal back two minutes later when Grace Hermann scored under the crossbar off a pass from Maura Fitzgerald that cut the lead to 2-1. The Rams had many chances but that's the only score they could manage.

"Some of those were hopeful shots," said GC assistant coach Tom Hamilton filling in for head coach Jamie Martin who had a prior obligation. "We just haven't put our shots in quite frankly. We started to switch the ball more than we have in the past, that's how we're creating more chances. But too often we send one or two players through, that one player hopes that the other can do it for them. We have to have a little more consistency sending more numbers forward together. We ran out of ideas sometimes and got a little impatient. We know that we can do better and we know it's frustrating to concede a couple of goals that way."

Primack had a strong effort in back with the number of saves and kept the Eagles in the game along with the defense in front of her that included Madison Baker, Kailey Kao, Elise Moran and Sydney Schmidt.

"I usually have a busy game, even if we're playing well," Primack said. "We have played a lot of tough teams and my job is to keep the ball out of the goal. My defense played an amazing game to help me out."

For Lakes, it was a good victory and it can be a steppingstone in the right direction for a team that has played a competitive schedule.

"This was a great win for us," Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said. "Hats off to Grayslake Central, they played very good soccer and they had their opportunities. Our goalkeeper was just outstanding and our back four keeps us in games. The goals we got, they finally went in for us. In some games, we haven't had the finishing touch. We made good on a corner and found another to give us a cushion."