Lake Forest outquicks Lakes
for North Suburban championship
2 goals in 1st 6 minutes put Scouts on winning path
By Rusty Silber
LAKE FOREST -- It's taken four years for Lake Forest to return to the North Suburban Conference championship game. On Thursday, the defending Class 2A state champions wasted little time to claim their fourth league title.
The Scouts scored two early goals en route to their title, and Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Adrian Walker set the table in the 3-0 win over Lakes on Thursday.
The road to the title was filled with potholes for Lake Forest.
"It's tough with the division we have and if you disregard school size," Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. "It's tough to win out there. Seeing Lake Zurich winning three years in a row is pretty impressive. In any given year any given team is good enough to win."
The Scouts won the state championship last year, but its group of 10 seniors haven't been able to win the league title until Thursday night.
"I think this is something that we've taken for granted," said Scouts' forward Brooke Green. "This is a strong team, and we've always fallen short here. It's exciting for all the seniors being our last year to go out strong like this."
Two quick goals in a matter of six minutes started the match and made a big difference for Lake Forest (12-4-1).
"It was a dream start," Stuckslager said. "We were able to make a couple of key plays happen for us."
Adrian Walker scored the opening goal in the third minute after taking a service from Brooke Green. Walker got the ball at the top of the box, then made a move beating the Eagles' defense and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Adrian Walker hit a cross angling towards the goal, but it was deflected right back for Green. She was able to hit a volley past the Lakes goalkeeper Kara Jones.
Walker, who's been a defender, moved forward as an attacking midfielder over the last couple of games and has changed the Scouts attack.
"It's definitely a lot more running and a lot more tiring," said Adrian Walker, who scored her third goal of the season. "You get a different perspective of the field. But it's nice to join the offense and be a big part of that. It's pretty good to be part of the action."
The thought to reposition Walker goes back to last year, and it appears to bode well for Lake Forest's stretch run this season.
"I did play a bit up last year," Adrian Walker said. "It's actually my coaches decision to move me up. Because we've got a strong defender Allison Banta that can step in on defense to help us out. Being part of the attack is a lot of fun."
Lake Forest got its final goal in the 45th minute of play. Paige Bourne sent a cross towards the back post. Carly Hoke got up in the air and finished the scoring.
Scouts keeper Cassidy Shaul made two stops for the clean sheet.
Lakes (11-4-2) found out how difficult it was to come back in this one.
"I thought we did better then the previous game," said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby of the 4-0 loss to Lake Forest in a rescheduled game last Friday (May 1). "We ended up not making good on the limited chances that we had. Certainly, (Lake Forest) buried their chances when they had them."
Lakes managed to get a few more-organized shots on goal in the second half, but weren't able to find a goal.
The Eagles' senior defender Nicole Denman knew that it was going to be a tough task to slow down the Scouts attack up top.
"We were really excited coming into the game," Denman said. "We knew it would be tough after playing them already and losing to them. We had to work harder, and they definitely exploited our weaknesses.
"I knew that we had some confidence with the way we played in the second half of the last game. We knew that we could do a lot better. (Lake Forest) definitely put the ball between us and used their speed against us."
Lakes figures to get another shot at the Scouts in Lake Forest's Class 2A regional.
That meeting is scheduled to occur May 22 if fourth-seed Lake Forest beats no. 13 Resurrection and fifth-seeded Lakes tops no. 12 Von Stueben on May 19.
Starting lineups
Lakes
GK-Kara Jones
D-Jenna Binkley
D-Nicole Denman
D-Nicole Nitti
D-Alyssa Brey
MF-Maya Schmitt
MF-Bella Pighini
MF-Briana Rosales
MF-Allison Vancrey
F-Isabella Quaranta
F-Nicole D'Ambrose
Lake Forest
GK-Cassidy Shaul
D-Kendall Hoke
D-Allison Banta
D-Bailey Ehrens
D-Gwen Walker
MF-Paige Bourne
MF-Sheridan Bufe
MF-Carly Hoke
MF-Adrian Walker
F-Brooke Green
F-Jenny McKendry
MVP of the Match: Adrian Walker, MF, Lake Forest
Officials: Rafal Zielinski, Rich Goldberg and Albert Khouri
for North Suburban championship
2 goals in 1st 6 minutes put Scouts on winning path
By Rusty Silber
LAKE FOREST -- It's taken four years for Lake Forest to return to the North Suburban Conference championship game. On Thursday, the defending Class 2A state champions wasted little time to claim their fourth league title.
The Scouts scored two early goals en route to their title, and Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match Adrian Walker set the table in the 3-0 win over Lakes on Thursday.
The road to the title was filled with potholes for Lake Forest.
"It's tough with the division we have and if you disregard school size," Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. "It's tough to win out there. Seeing Lake Zurich winning three years in a row is pretty impressive. In any given year any given team is good enough to win."
The Scouts won the state championship last year, but its group of 10 seniors haven't been able to win the league title until Thursday night.
"I think this is something that we've taken for granted," said Scouts' forward Brooke Green. "This is a strong team, and we've always fallen short here. It's exciting for all the seniors being our last year to go out strong like this."
Two quick goals in a matter of six minutes started the match and made a big difference for Lake Forest (12-4-1).
"It was a dream start," Stuckslager said. "We were able to make a couple of key plays happen for us."
Adrian Walker scored the opening goal in the third minute after taking a service from Brooke Green. Walker got the ball at the top of the box, then made a move beating the Eagles' defense and found the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Adrian Walker hit a cross angling towards the goal, but it was deflected right back for Green. She was able to hit a volley past the Lakes goalkeeper Kara Jones.
Walker, who's been a defender, moved forward as an attacking midfielder over the last couple of games and has changed the Scouts attack.
"It's definitely a lot more running and a lot more tiring," said Adrian Walker, who scored her third goal of the season. "You get a different perspective of the field. But it's nice to join the offense and be a big part of that. It's pretty good to be part of the action."
The thought to reposition Walker goes back to last year, and it appears to bode well for Lake Forest's stretch run this season.
"I did play a bit up last year," Adrian Walker said. "It's actually my coaches decision to move me up. Because we've got a strong defender Allison Banta that can step in on defense to help us out. Being part of the attack is a lot of fun."
Lake Forest got its final goal in the 45th minute of play. Paige Bourne sent a cross towards the back post. Carly Hoke got up in the air and finished the scoring.
Scouts keeper Cassidy Shaul made two stops for the clean sheet.
Lakes (11-4-2) found out how difficult it was to come back in this one.
"I thought we did better then the previous game," said Lakes coach Kevin Kullby of the 4-0 loss to Lake Forest in a rescheduled game last Friday (May 1). "We ended up not making good on the limited chances that we had. Certainly, (Lake Forest) buried their chances when they had them."
Lakes managed to get a few more-organized shots on goal in the second half, but weren't able to find a goal.
The Eagles' senior defender Nicole Denman knew that it was going to be a tough task to slow down the Scouts attack up top.
"We were really excited coming into the game," Denman said. "We knew it would be tough after playing them already and losing to them. We had to work harder, and they definitely exploited our weaknesses.
"I knew that we had some confidence with the way we played in the second half of the last game. We knew that we could do a lot better. (Lake Forest) definitely put the ball between us and used their speed against us."
Lakes figures to get another shot at the Scouts in Lake Forest's Class 2A regional.
That meeting is scheduled to occur May 22 if fourth-seed Lake Forest beats no. 13 Resurrection and fifth-seeded Lakes tops no. 12 Von Stueben on May 19.
Starting lineups
Lakes
GK-Kara Jones
D-Jenna Binkley
D-Nicole Denman
D-Nicole Nitti
D-Alyssa Brey
MF-Maya Schmitt
MF-Bella Pighini
MF-Briana Rosales
MF-Allison Vancrey
F-Isabella Quaranta
F-Nicole D'Ambrose
Lake Forest
GK-Cassidy Shaul
D-Kendall Hoke
D-Allison Banta
D-Bailey Ehrens
D-Gwen Walker
MF-Paige Bourne
MF-Sheridan Bufe
MF-Carly Hoke
MF-Adrian Walker
F-Brooke Green
F-Jenny McKendry
MVP of the Match: Adrian Walker, MF, Lake Forest
Officials: Rafal Zielinski, Rich Goldberg and Albert Khouri