Boys soccer: Larsen, Lakes fly high in regional final

Evan Larsen led a downpour of goals with a pair of his own.

His efforts during a rainstorm helped lift top-seeded Lakes to a 5-0 shutout of No. 4 Wauconda for the Class 2A Grayslake North boys soccer regional championship on Saturday.

Lakes (12-6-1) won its eighth regional title in 15 years and advanced to play reigning Class 2A champion Crystal Lake South (16-4-4) in the Belvidere sectional semifinals at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The Eagles scored all of their goals in the second half during a downpour. Wauconda (8-7-5) had beaten Lakes in Northern Lake County Conference play.

"I felt like we played well against them the first time and things didn't go our way," Eagles coach Kevin Kullby said. "This time to Wauconda's credit, they played really tough in the first half and played good soccer. We had struggled a little bit. The second half, there was some great individual play. It was a really good team game. We stuck to our game plan and played some really good defense."

Timothy Pollak scored Lakes' first goal in the 43rd minute by taking control of a loose ball and scoring from close range. Larsen then scored twice in three minutes, giving him 19 goals on the season. He made it 2-0 in the 58th minute with a chip shot and followed up with a header off a cross from Kurtis Smith in the 61st minute.

The 6-foot-4 Larsen has scored 11 goals in the air.

"We played the ball around a lot more (in the second half), and we were able to break through their tough defense," Larsen said. "We found ways to execute. I enjoy the headers. They make me feel like I can fly. I can get up higher than everybody."

Lakes added goals from Bartoz Jakubiak in the 70th minute and Dejan Djenadic in the 77th minute.

The Eagles were stopped by Vernon Hills in the postseason last year.

"We played this one like it was our last game," Larsen said. "We played it with our hearts, picked everybody up, and we finished the (chances) we had."

Wauconda generated scoring chances in the first half but couldn't solve Egles keeper Camden Steinert (6 saves).

"First half, we controlled play and possession," Wauconda coach Tim Miller said. "We knew Lakes was going to be so organized in the final third. We got to the final third and those dynamic runs were not there. We couldn't find the last pass, last touch, last creative movement to get ourselves into a scoring position. We had a lot of chances in the first half. Lakes really didn't have much against us."

Wauconda was on the young side with only a couple of seniors.

"It was a youth movement for us," Miller said. "A lot teaching and a lot of coaching every day and every game. I think this is a team that's going to be back, ready to roll and work real hard. We will remember this result."