Boys soccer: Highland Park edges Round Lake for North Shore title
Winning a championship to open the season has eluded Round Lake's boys soccer team in recent years.
The Panthers played in the title match of the North Shore Shootout on Saturday and were close to winning the invite for the first time. Highland Park edged Round Lake 1-0 at Lake Forest.
The Giants (3-1, 3-0) won the tournament for the second straight year.
The Panthers (2-1) outplayed their opponent for most of the match, hitting the framework multiple times. Highland Park keeper Ethan Fineman earned the clean sheet with 12 stops, including one a penalty kick.
"This is what happens when you dominate and you give up a shot," Round Lake coach Hugo Tellez said. "Credit to Highland Park. They held up. We had missed opportunities and should have had the goals that we missed."
Round Lake freshman keeper Gerrado Perez allowed only one goal in the three games.
"I'm happy with my group," Tellez said. "I know they are upset (with the result). We should have won. I have a great group of kids."
Joe Dart scored the winning goal for the Giants in the 56th minute off a deflection in front of the Panthers goal.
"It's great to win it for another year," Highland Park coach Blake Novotny said. "I think it was our maturity on the field. I had high expectations that we could win it again.
"Round Lake did outplay us," Novotny added. "That's the game of soccer. First half, they clearly outplayed us. Second half, we solved a couple of things and our keeper Ethan (Fineman) played out of his mind."
Dundee-Crown 3, Lakes 2: At Lake Forest, a young Chargers squad won its second game in a row, prevailing in penalty kicks, 4-3.
Dundee-Crown (2-1) won the consolation championship, while Lakes dropped to 1-2.
"It means that we had some improvements from our first game," Dundee-Crown coach Rey Vargas said. "We just look forward and hopefully we can gain some momentum. The biggest thing for me was to gain some experience. I know both (wins) went to PK shootouts but, regardless, it shows that we didn't give up. Both games we came from behind to tie it up and force the PK shootout."
Dundee-Crown got a pair of goals from Roland Dearborn and the other from Julian Saidana.
Evan Larsen scored twice for Lakes, which had the lead a couple of times in the match.
"Evan Larsen is effective on set pieces because of his height and physicality," Eagles coach Kevin Kullby said. "Once you get to PK's, you never know what can happen."
Zion-Benton 3, Carmel 1: At Lake Forest, the Zee-Bees took third place in the North Shore Shootout.
Tyler Kelly scored for the Corsairs (1-2).
Zion-Benton (2-1) had goals from Osmar Barajas, Miguel Solis and Grant Maki.
Lake Forest 3, Deerfield 1: The host Scouts won to take seventh place.