Janus, Bears net title

Nick Janus and Tim Kreutz both scored milestone goals.

Their Lake Zurich soccer team notched one too.

Led by Janus' first hat trick of the season, the Bears blanked visiting Round Lake 5-0 on Wednesday night to achieve their goal of winning the North Suburban Conference crown.

"It's special because we got the conference championship," Janus said. "It's always exciting when you get a hat trick."

Winning a third straight NSC title was also exciting for Lake Zurich (17-1-3). So was both Janus and Kreutz hitting the 20-goal mark for the season.

It was the Bears' third impressive win since last Friday, when they knocked off Stevenson to clinch the NSC Lake Division title. The following day, Lake Zurich handed state-power New Trier its first loss.

Round Lake (14-3-1) won the NSC Prairie championship with an unblemished record.

"We've worked very hard and wanted this since the start of the season.," junior midfielder Eric Pothast said. "All this work really paid off."

The Bears didn't waste any time asserting themselves, scoring 26 seconds into the match when Janus poked the ball into the goal. Pothast assisted.

"We wanted to set the tempo and set the tone of the game," Janus said. "It felt good to get the first goal, get the lead and be comfortable."

Janus scored again at the nine-minute mark, heading in a Pothast cross.

Lake Zurich coach Mike Schmitz was impressed with his team's quick start, especially in light of its recent wins over Stevenson and New Trier.

"It says you're in the right frame of mind and you're focused," Schmitz said. "They were determined. We're not always lucky to finish those (scoring chances), but tonight we were able to do it."

Janus completed his hat trick in the 42nd minute. Kreutz intercepted a clearing kick and fed Janus, who buried the chance.

A couple of minutes later, Andy Lynch headed in John Jordon's touch pass. Lynch set up Kreutz's goal.

Bears goalkeeper Taao Scarnato made 6 saves in earning his sixth shutout.

"Lake Zurich is real good," Round Lake coach Mike Hruska said. "They're well-coached, disciplined, tough and physical. They just outplayed us. I hope we can see them in the playoffs (in the Rockford Boylan sectional final).

"(Lake Zurich) got the two goals quick and it put us back a bit. We started to play better after that. They just came out quick at us and played us hard for 80 minutes. I was hoping for a better game."

Round Lake's Carlos Salgado, who normally plays in the midfield, had to help out defensively.

"They're big and strong," Salgado said. "Our team is small and quick, but they beat us in the air and they pushed us around a bit. We just couldn't fight hard enough."