Murray helps Lane find
scoring touch against Deerfield
Junior scores twice, Indians take 1st win of season
By Patrick Z. McGavin
DEERFIELD — Scout Murray probably never endured such excruciatingly long waits in her young life.
The Lane junior midfielder experienced the holding time in two very distinct forms. The first, naturally, was the 22-month separation from the last game Murray played in.
That game was a narrow 1-0 defeat in a Class 3A regional final at Evanston, in the second week of May, 2019.
Murray had come of age that year, flashing speed, quickness and a superb touch. She scored eight goals and had seven assists.
With forward Eily Quinn, Murray was groomed to be the Indians’ next generation star. Unfortunately Quinn suffered a torn ACL playing at the end of the 2021 basketball season.
The pair made Chicagoland Soccer's All-State Watch List twice.
Quinn scored a team-best 13 goals on that 19-4-1 juggernaut in 2019. Her absence marked a palpable loss.
Already reeling from the loss of Quinn, Murray and her teammates were forced to process another dleay, the concept of more than 180 minutes of game action that saw typically high-scoring Lane shut off from scoreboards at the start of this unprecedented season.
Lane is the five-time defending city champion and the standard bearer of excellence in the Chicago Public League. The Indians could not overcome or dent buzzsaws in consecutive 3-0 shutout losses against Glenbrook North, then ranked 38th in the First 50 poll, on April 15 and no. 14 Loyola on April 20.
“Those first two games got us down,” Murray said. “I think we wanted to at least score, because we hadn’t done that yet.”
Murray demonstrated why she is one of the top prospects in the city by scoring two brilliant goals in the 22-fanked Indians’ 3-0 victory at Deerfield on Saturday afternoon.
She earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for her standout play.
“It felt really good,” Murray said. “I think we played two really good teams early on. We usually start off slower and build up to good suburban games.
“We knew the first couple of games were going to be rough, but we kept on going.”
Deerfield (3-3-1) was coming off a 3-0 victory over Grayslake Central on Friday night. The Warriors showed spark and imagination at the start.
They appeared on the verge of putting the Indians (1-2-0) behind early. Deerfield generated multiple corner kicks in the first five minutes of play.
Forward Holly Deutsch had a ball just go wide of frame on the first corner attempt. Midfielder Emily Fox put a nice ball on frame that Lane keeper Siena Belko stopped.
The failure to seize the early advantage would haunt the Warriors.
“I told the girls that we have to finish our chances,” Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. “Honestly we struggled with that against Grayslake Central.
“We created a high volume of chances, the same as we did today. Teams are going to punish you when you don’t finish those chances.”
Murray finally broke through in the 21st minute. Midfielder Gabriela Pop worked the middle of the attack and delivered a beautiful through-ball that Murray caught in stride.
She took one dribble and drilled a ball from about 18 yards into the far left corner.
“I think that got us motivated, and after the first goal we knew we could start playing better,” Murray said.
The goal marked a long time coming for Lane coach Michelle Vale.
“We have been working to come together,” Vale said. “Some new players came in this year who we haven’t played with before.
“We were starting over in terms of building a team, building chemistry and figuring out what position we can fit into and how we can better support each other.”
Deerfield junior Riley Schimanski is the equivalent of Murray. She arrived as a gifted young player who saw invaluable time playing on a loaded Deerfield team.
After three-time all-state player Malori Killoren missed time with mononucleosis in the 2019 season, Schimanski took on an expanded offensive role. She flourished in that capacity.
Schimanski created some of the best chances for the Warriors on Saturday. She was also instrumental in Deerfield producing a bevy of corner kicks.
Grady is seeking more efficiency and positive actions on set pieces.
“I wasn’t happy with our execution on the corner kicks,” he said. “We had nine corner kicks, and you have to get something out of it.”
Schimanski had two decent opportunities in the first half. She got deep on the Indians right wing, only to see her shots either get deflected or push just wide of the mark.
The Warriors have shown the ability to score. Deerfield scored five goals each in victories over Antioch and Marist in addition to the three goals Friday night.
Lane’s defense proved just disruptive enough to take away that clean final look. Jocelyn Ramirez, a superb two-way talent who moves from the middle to the back, shored up the Indians’ back third.
“I was very pleased with our defense,” Vale said. “I felt they were really communicating better and moving together very well.”
Murray helped shut the door against any Warriors’ hope of a second half comeback.
In the 51st minute, midfielder Laura Butler played her wide on the outside right wing. With her back to the goal, Murray turned and fired a beautiful high-angle ball that was perfectly positioned for the second goal.
“At halftime we made the decision that we were going to come out stronger,” Murray said. “We knew they were going to come out hard, because they were down.
“We played as if it were 0-0.”
The second goal clearly energized the Lane attack. The city power continued to press forward. Pop hit a ball off the crossbar.
It played out to the right wing as midfielder Gabriella Mann slotted it to the middle for midfielder Lisa Rios.
The senior is a savvy veteran who brings the right combination of calm, stability and grace. She created the game-winning assist in the city title game over Young her freshman year.
Rios stepped up and laced into a ball that just cleared the grasp of Deerfield keeper Gabi Sipe in the 66th minute for the final goal.
“We haven’t played in the past two years, and most of us haven’t scored in a while,” Rios said. “Even though we were already up 2-0, we were very motivated to score on our own.
“I just really wanted to score.”
Deerfield now welcomes unbeaten and third-ranked Warren on Monday night. As the team continues to learn about itself, the new reality is sometimes lessons can be harsh and education very unsentimental.
The Warriors have shown plenty of toughness and resilience so far.
“Definitely it’s been fun being back, with a sense of regret that we didn’t have last year’s group together,” Grady said. “The result for us is that we have a very inexperienced group.
“We have a roster of 25, but realistically eight of them have varsity experience prior to this year. It’s a learning process. As long as we learn from it and get better as we go along, that is important.”
Starting lineups
Lane
GK: Siena Belko
D: Jocelyn Ramirez
D: Maya Warkentin
D: Alexis Dempsey
D: Maria Katsogridakis
MF: Scout Murray
MF: Dale Sink
MF: Gabriela Pop
MF: Lisa Rios
MF: Laura Butler
F: Maya Martinez-Bates
Deerfield
GK: Gabi Sipe
D: Ally Linn
D: Avery Kingsepp
D: Katie Morgan
D: Madeline Stevens
MF: Emma Gassman
MF: Erin Emory
MF: Emily Fox
F: Holly Deutsch
F: Riley Schimanski
F: Simone Criz
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Scout Murray, jr., MF, Lane
Scoring
First half
Lane—Scout Murray (Gabriela Pop), 21st minute
Second half
Lane—Murray (Laura Butler), 51st minute
Lane—Lisa Rios (Gabriella Mann), 66th minute
scoring touch against Deerfield
Junior scores twice, Indians take 1st win of season
By Patrick Z. McGavin
DEERFIELD — Scout Murray probably never endured such excruciatingly long waits in her young life.
The Lane junior midfielder experienced the holding time in two very distinct forms. The first, naturally, was the 22-month separation from the last game Murray played in.
That game was a narrow 1-0 defeat in a Class 3A regional final at Evanston, in the second week of May, 2019.
Murray had come of age that year, flashing speed, quickness and a superb touch. She scored eight goals and had seven assists.
With forward Eily Quinn, Murray was groomed to be the Indians’ next generation star. Unfortunately Quinn suffered a torn ACL playing at the end of the 2021 basketball season.
The pair made Chicagoland Soccer's All-State Watch List twice.
Quinn scored a team-best 13 goals on that 19-4-1 juggernaut in 2019. Her absence marked a palpable loss.
Already reeling from the loss of Quinn, Murray and her teammates were forced to process another dleay, the concept of more than 180 minutes of game action that saw typically high-scoring Lane shut off from scoreboards at the start of this unprecedented season.
Lane is the five-time defending city champion and the standard bearer of excellence in the Chicago Public League. The Indians could not overcome or dent buzzsaws in consecutive 3-0 shutout losses against Glenbrook North, then ranked 38th in the First 50 poll, on April 15 and no. 14 Loyola on April 20.
“Those first two games got us down,” Murray said. “I think we wanted to at least score, because we hadn’t done that yet.”
Murray demonstrated why she is one of the top prospects in the city by scoring two brilliant goals in the 22-fanked Indians’ 3-0 victory at Deerfield on Saturday afternoon.
She earned the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match distinction for her standout play.
“It felt really good,” Murray said. “I think we played two really good teams early on. We usually start off slower and build up to good suburban games.
“We knew the first couple of games were going to be rough, but we kept on going.”
Deerfield (3-3-1) was coming off a 3-0 victory over Grayslake Central on Friday night. The Warriors showed spark and imagination at the start.
They appeared on the verge of putting the Indians (1-2-0) behind early. Deerfield generated multiple corner kicks in the first five minutes of play.
Forward Holly Deutsch had a ball just go wide of frame on the first corner attempt. Midfielder Emily Fox put a nice ball on frame that Lane keeper Siena Belko stopped.
The failure to seize the early advantage would haunt the Warriors.
“I told the girls that we have to finish our chances,” Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. “Honestly we struggled with that against Grayslake Central.
“We created a high volume of chances, the same as we did today. Teams are going to punish you when you don’t finish those chances.”
Murray finally broke through in the 21st minute. Midfielder Gabriela Pop worked the middle of the attack and delivered a beautiful through-ball that Murray caught in stride.
She took one dribble and drilled a ball from about 18 yards into the far left corner.
“I think that got us motivated, and after the first goal we knew we could start playing better,” Murray said.
The goal marked a long time coming for Lane coach Michelle Vale.
“We have been working to come together,” Vale said. “Some new players came in this year who we haven’t played with before.
“We were starting over in terms of building a team, building chemistry and figuring out what position we can fit into and how we can better support each other.”
Deerfield junior Riley Schimanski is the equivalent of Murray. She arrived as a gifted young player who saw invaluable time playing on a loaded Deerfield team.
After three-time all-state player Malori Killoren missed time with mononucleosis in the 2019 season, Schimanski took on an expanded offensive role. She flourished in that capacity.
Schimanski created some of the best chances for the Warriors on Saturday. She was also instrumental in Deerfield producing a bevy of corner kicks.
Grady is seeking more efficiency and positive actions on set pieces.
“I wasn’t happy with our execution on the corner kicks,” he said. “We had nine corner kicks, and you have to get something out of it.”
Schimanski had two decent opportunities in the first half. She got deep on the Indians right wing, only to see her shots either get deflected or push just wide of the mark.
The Warriors have shown the ability to score. Deerfield scored five goals each in victories over Antioch and Marist in addition to the three goals Friday night.
Lane’s defense proved just disruptive enough to take away that clean final look. Jocelyn Ramirez, a superb two-way talent who moves from the middle to the back, shored up the Indians’ back third.
“I was very pleased with our defense,” Vale said. “I felt they were really communicating better and moving together very well.”
Murray helped shut the door against any Warriors’ hope of a second half comeback.
In the 51st minute, midfielder Laura Butler played her wide on the outside right wing. With her back to the goal, Murray turned and fired a beautiful high-angle ball that was perfectly positioned for the second goal.
“At halftime we made the decision that we were going to come out stronger,” Murray said. “We knew they were going to come out hard, because they were down.
“We played as if it were 0-0.”
The second goal clearly energized the Lane attack. The city power continued to press forward. Pop hit a ball off the crossbar.
It played out to the right wing as midfielder Gabriella Mann slotted it to the middle for midfielder Lisa Rios.
The senior is a savvy veteran who brings the right combination of calm, stability and grace. She created the game-winning assist in the city title game over Young her freshman year.
Rios stepped up and laced into a ball that just cleared the grasp of Deerfield keeper Gabi Sipe in the 66th minute for the final goal.
“We haven’t played in the past two years, and most of us haven’t scored in a while,” Rios said. “Even though we were already up 2-0, we were very motivated to score on our own.
“I just really wanted to score.”
Deerfield now welcomes unbeaten and third-ranked Warren on Monday night. As the team continues to learn about itself, the new reality is sometimes lessons can be harsh and education very unsentimental.
The Warriors have shown plenty of toughness and resilience so far.
“Definitely it’s been fun being back, with a sense of regret that we didn’t have last year’s group together,” Grady said. “The result for us is that we have a very inexperienced group.
“We have a roster of 25, but realistically eight of them have varsity experience prior to this year. It’s a learning process. As long as we learn from it and get better as we go along, that is important.”
Starting lineups
Lane
GK: Siena Belko
D: Jocelyn Ramirez
D: Maya Warkentin
D: Alexis Dempsey
D: Maria Katsogridakis
MF: Scout Murray
MF: Dale Sink
MF: Gabriela Pop
MF: Lisa Rios
MF: Laura Butler
F: Maya Martinez-Bates
Deerfield
GK: Gabi Sipe
D: Ally Linn
D: Avery Kingsepp
D: Katie Morgan
D: Madeline Stevens
MF: Emma Gassman
MF: Erin Emory
MF: Emily Fox
F: Holly Deutsch
F: Riley Schimanski
F: Simone Criz
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Scout Murray, jr., MF, Lane
Scoring
First half
Lane—Scout Murray (Gabriela Pop), 21st minute
Second half
Lane—Murray (Laura Butler), 51st minute
Lane—Lisa Rios (Gabriella Mann), 66th minute