Boys soccer: Libertyville downs Warren to stay unbeaten

Libertyville's boys soccer team has a knack for finding ways to win this season.

The Wildcats found another way to win in the final couple of minutes Tuesday night and remained unbeaten.

Luke Underwood scored the dramatic game-winning goal as Libertyville got past Warren 1-0 in a North Suburban Conference match in Libertyville.

Setting up the winning goal was Patrick Graham on a throw-in. But the indication of it to happen was when he was waiting to enter the match as a substitute and watched the ball go out on the near sideline, which he entered the field and threw out the line, "this is good." Then he followed up with a long throw-in toward the goal.

"I've been able to throw like that since last season," Graham said. "I'm a little stronger now and I can put it far in there."

Graham's strength to play the ball in front of the goal led to Jacopo Franciosi heading the ball back to Underwood. That's where Underwood hit the ball into the back of the net for his fourth goal this season. His goal happened with 89 seconds left on the clock.

"I always hit the top (of the box) on the crosses," Underwood said. "This time it popped out and my guy was to the left of me. I ran hard to the right and hit it into the ground past the keeper."

With the win, the Wildcats improved to 8-0 and 1-0 in the NSC. It was also its coach Kevin Thunholm's 50th victory in his third season (50-2-3).

"Our boys just never quit, so that's what impresses me about these guys," Thunholm said, "We knew it was going to be a fight and every conference game is and it's a battle."

Warren suffered its first loss of the season and is now 8-1 and 1-1, but this team played toe-to-toe with Libertyville and had a number of chances to score.

"It's the second week in conference and we're trying to get better every day," Warren coach Jason Ahonen said. "We're playing a certain brand of soccer and I think it's appealing - keep the ball and play to the lines. We did that and we played a top-notch opponent that had our number in recent years. I think we gave them everything that they could handle. We took the 'L' but it wasn't without a fight. That's all I can ask for out of our boys."

Blue Devils keeper Nicolas Diana made 10 stops and Wildcats goalie Hunter Lynch had 5 saves for another clean sheet.