Girls soccer: Grayslake North gains confidence despite loss at Deerfield

For the first two weeks of the girls soccer season, Grayslake North has been trying to find its footing - and its confidence.

Consider Thursday's result a step in the right direction for the Knights, who were dealing with a highly regarded Deerfield club.

Working against Grayslake North was a roster affected by several starters unavailable for the game due to a school trip to Europe.

The Knights came up with a strong effort yet fell 3-2 to the host Warriors in a nonconference matchup.

"Right now, they're working through it and building their confidence," said Grayslake North coach Adam DeCaluwe, whose team dropped to 2-2-1. "We showed that we've got the capability. We've got young players, and we were missing some very key pieces. But that's no excuse - even the players here have the ability to be doing what we were doing at the end.

"We're still needing to be convinced that we're good enough, capable of playing at this level. A lot of our young ones are still working on that confidence and understanding with the speed of play at this level. Overall, they're a good group, working hard for each other. But they're still finding that confidence and belief to go all-out, not think and react and play the game they know how to play."

Deerfield (4-1) jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the 30th minute. Julie Neal scored on a combination play off an assist from Devyn Compisi.

The Warriors added 2 goals in the second half. Sydney Burn finished a shot from Samantha Linn's cross in the 45th minute.

Then Linn placed a corner kick into the penalty area, and Compisi finished with a header in the 63rd minute for a 3-0 advantage.

Grayslake North rallied with a couple of late goals. First, in the 74th minute, McKenna Brooks scored from Rachel McBride's assist. Then Lauren Davis tallied her seventh goal of the season with a volley-kick in the air off a pass from Katelyn Dameron in the 78th minute.

"It really was a good ball coming in," said Davis, who will be playing at Bethel University (Minn.) in the fall. "It wasn't all that hard to put it in the back of the net."

Knights keeper Haley Leanna made 10 stops against a strong Warriors attack.

"(Grayslake North's) keeper was really aggressive off her line," Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. "She commands her box well. We had a hard time, and it took three really nice goals to beat her. For just having 14 players, and six starters out, they played a heck of a game."