Lakes wins sectional title

Lakes goalkeeper Roberto Tre Re had a certain sense of dread building up to Saturday's matchup against Deerfield in the Class 2A sectional final hosted by Eagles.

It turned out to be a harmless case of false foreshadowing.

Tre Re, with some help from an Eagles defense that cleared four balls off the end line, was left thinking only positive thoughts Saturday after standing his ground and collecting 9 saves on his way to a shutout.

Scott Brugioni scored the lone goal as Lakes eliminated Deerfield 1-0 on Saturday in Lake Villa for the sectional title.

The Eagles (15-9-1) meet Marmion Military Academy (18-6-3) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the DeKalb supersectional.

“This means the world to me, because I had four straight nights of nightmares for this game,” Tre Re said. “It meant so much to me — I just didn't want to lose this game. Winning is such a dream.”

The Eagles defense that soared to the rescue included Mark Beadle, Kevin Nadelhoffer, Kyle Neeve and Zach Reimer.

“Words don't describe how much credit I can give to them,” Tre Re said. “Throughout the season, they've helped the team and me. Today it was a team effort.”

Brugioni — known more for assists (he has 18) that scoring — scored his second goal of season on a free kick from 40-yards that skimmed under the crossbar in the 38th minute.

“Honestly, I wanted to play it in the middle so the goalie didn't have time for the ball,” said Brugioni, whose other goal this season was a deflection off the opponent from a corner kick. “Halfway through, when the ball was coming down, I started thinking that ball had a chance. It was unreal to see it.”

Lakes had plenty of work containing Deerfield (18-6-1) and 37-goal scorer Joey Calistri.

The Eagles concentrated on defense in the second half and the effort paid off.

“In games like this one, it's better to be lucky than good,” Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said. “That's the old adage. We just made a free kick count.

“We just had to play some incredible defense. We cleared 4 shots off the line. In games like this you have to defend well to prevail. We were fortunate, and it could've been 3 or 4 goals the other way. It just fell into place for us. You defend like this, you can go far.”

Deerfield won the previous meeting during the season over Lakes 3-1; that game was at Deerfield, and on turf.

“There's not much more we could have done,” Deerfield coach Elliott Hurtig said. “The breaks didn't go our way, and one went (Lakes') way. Lakes ... give them credit, they did good job shutting (Calistri) down. Lakes got the ball and played it long.”