Klaber, Stevenson contain Carmel Catholic

Facing a quality front line from Carmel Catholic, there couldn't have been a better time for Stevenson's defense to step up.

Patriots keeper Jeremy Klaber led the effort by making 8 of his 11 stops in the first half, which included a penalty kick save, as Stevenson's boys soccer team held off Carmel 4-2 in a nonconference match in Mundelein on Monday afternoon.

The Patriots (8-4-3) scored four times in the first hour before the Corsairs (11-6) found the back of the net late in the game.

Klaber and the defenders in front of him, including Joel Fleming, Matt Randall, Thomas Ricchio and Matt Treiber, decided nothing was going to find it way through against Stevenson.

"I just tried to position my defense the best that I could to stop it," Klaber said. "I was doing whatever I could to keep the ball out of the goal. It got better as the game went on. Especially, on deadballs we've got to get marked up."

Klaber followed his penalty kick save with another impressive stop about a half-hour later.

"I always read their hips," Klaber said. If they open their hips they're going to the other side. If the hips are in, then they go inside. I just make a guess that way. That time I was right and made a pretty good save."

Randall also contributed by blocking a couple Corsairs shots in the first half.

"I had to drop in behind our other guys with the crosses from the side," Randall said. "You try to see where the ball is going to go, then see where the players are going, and then watch the entire backside. We do have communication - that's a big factor. Working together is what we need to do."

With the kind of pressure Carmel was able to generate, Stevenson could've found itself trailing by a few goals after the first half. Instead, the Pats were ahead by a couple of goals by the end of the first 40 minutes.

"Our defense played really well and they had to do it," Stevenson coach Mark Schartner said. "(Carmel) sends numbers, and they're really fast. We knew they had one guy like that, but they had four guys like that.

"They came at us fast and hard. It took us a while to adjust to them."

The Patriots scored on a penalty kick in the fourth minute from Jin Min.

Avery Delgado scored on a header off the service from Kevin O'Reilly in the 24th minute for Stevenson's second goal.

It was 3-0 in the 46th minute, when Dean Lim scored off a through ball from Min.

Min added his second goal off an assist from Ben Brant in the 53rd minute to put the Patriots ahead 4-0.

Carmel scored a couple of late goals, both from Austin Ehren, in the 63rd and 78th minutes. Robert Rao served the first one on a corner kick, and Braco Lasso set up the second one.

"I wish we put something in at the beginning of the game," Carmel Catholic coach Ray Krawzak said. "If we got one in, then that game would've gone differently. I'm happy with the performance. I'm glad it was a game that didn't mean too much. It's just some crosstown pride."