Lake Zurich proves to be just too tough for Antioch

For the second time in less than a week, Antioch's boys soccer team got the chance to see how it stacks up against a North Suburban Conference power.

While the Sequoits were competitive again, Lake Zurich showed again Tuesday night why it's one of the top teams in the state.

The Bears won 3-0 in North Suburban crossover in Lake Zurich.

Michigan State-bound Tim Kreutz scored twice and Brett Harper had the other goal, as Lake Zurich improved to 9-3. Harper, Wisconsin-recruit Nick Janus and John Pothast had assists.

Antioch, which lost to Round Lake in NSC Prairie showdown last Thursday, fell to 7-3.

Antioch keeper Alex Grimm played great, making 13 stops.

"It was a good game," Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz said.

"Give credit to Antioch. They played tough and they're a good team. We created a lot of chances and finished things off in the second half."

The Bears got on the board just 97 seconds into the match. Harper finished a loose ball after Pothast curled a shot off the hands of Grimm.

"Their goalie just deflected the ball," Harper said of his third goal.

"I was just making a run through and finished it."

Grimm kept Antioch down only a goal until Kreutz tallied twice late in the second half. The pair of goals gave him 10 on the season.

On the first, Harper delivered a through ball to Kreutz, who beat Grimm one on one.

Kreutz's scored again with a curling shot into the corner of the net.

Grimm made 10 stops in the first half.

"We gave up a bad goal in the first minute or two, but we played hard," Antioch coach Marni Polakow said. "We played well up to 22 minutes of the second half. It may look like we got blown out, but that's not fair for the way the boys played.

"I give Grimm all the credit in the world."

Antioch had a great chance to tie the game in the 48th minute, when Oscar Segura fired a point-blank shot that was stopped by Bears keeper Tyler Raineri (3 saves).

"We needed to play our game (in the second half)," Schmitz said.

"We just tried to keep our focus. We've run into five or six 6 keepers that have played a world game. We just get used to it."