Girls soccer: Lake Zurich denies Stevenson outright NSC title; Fremd, Barrington advance to MSL Cup

Entering the final day of the regular season for Stevenson, the Patriots controlled their own destiny, needing a win to clinch the North Suburban Conference title outright for the first time since 2022.

However, standing in their way was Lake Zurich, an opponent that dashed the hopes of the Patriots a year ago, and, in fact has had its way with its long-time league rival.

The Bears, on the strength of a brilliant first goal from Reilly Novak, some terrific team defense, and sharp work in goal by Kelly Nelson made Novak's 17th goal of the season stand up to earn a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

"They (Lake Zurich) has given us so much trouble during the last four years. They are a good team, they defended really well tonight, and we just could not finish the chances we created," said Patriots coach Jay Bulev.

The loss ends the Patriots’ league record at 5-1-1, and they will now need help from Warren (5-1-1) who hosts Libertyville (4-0-2) Wednesday in Gurnee.

"Stevenson is a great rival that has some great players and can attack really well, but we came out strong, defended really well in our own end and in the midfield, and got ourselves a big win tonight," said Novak.

Novak collected a marvelous ball up the right side from Morgan Kroeger and raced freely with control of the ball before unloading a guided missile that ended in the far inside netting from 30 yards.

The Patriots (9-4-2) started on their front foot after the break, creating a pair of glorious chances. But as Bulev admitted, they were unable to drive home the equalizer.

"We left it all out there tonight, but we just could not get one into the back of the net. (Jay) Bulev told us at the half if we get one right away, it could lead to one or two more," said junior Abby Samson, whose work rate, distribution and box-to-box 80-minute effort inspired the home side all night long.

"I am very proud of the effort the girls gave tonight. The NSC is such a tough soccer conference, and the final stretch of games is so demanding, but tonight this was a great win for this team," said Bears coach Mike Castronova.

Next up for the Bears is a nonconference game at Wauconda this Friday, while the Patriots host Downers Grove North on the same night.

MSL semifinals: The stage is set for the 36th MSL Soccer Cup final Thursday evening.

It will be Fremd hosting Barrington at Hildebrandt Field in Palatine at 7 p.m. after the Vikings’ 4-0 defeat of Buffalo Grove on Tuesday while the Fillies came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Palatine, 4-2, at Chic Anderson Field.

This will be the third meeting of the spring season between these two soccer powers, with the Vikings (13-4-1) recording a 1-0 victory last week to secure their first division title since 2009.

Sammy Serpico's double, plus goals from Lily Mayer and Chloe Gordon helped the home side win its semifinal over Buffalo Grove (7-4-0) who finished second in the MSL East behind Palatine.

The Fillies will look to lift the championship trophy for an unprecedented 14th consecutive season on Thursday following their win over Palatine (14-3-1) who would enjoy the best overall record (9-0-1) in the league this season.

Allie Whitcomb and Keira Seifert stunned the reigning MSL champions with two first-half goals off Jolee Waddington assists, but the visitors pulled one back when Bella Pastore scored late in the first half.

"We played a terrific first half and maybe put a scare into Barrington, but they had a little too much for us in the second half," said Pirates coach Aaron Morris.

"(That) was a big goal Bella scored just before the break, and it gave us a lot of energy heading into the second half, (attacking) energy we haven't seen in a few games," said Fillies coach Ryan Stengren.

Aj Sanchez, Whitney Stacey and Maddie Martin-Johnston would put the finishing touches for the Fillies (14-3-1).