North Shore Country Day takes time,
stops Latin with late goal
Raiders win season-opener on Lillig tally after extended layoff
By Michael Wojtychiw
WINNETKA - For most teams in this girls soccer season, the pitch has been a place they've competed against other schools for more than three weeks now. That was not the case for North Shore Country Day.
The new-look Raiders debuted their season with a match against conference rival Latin more than 700 days since they last played in the state championship game at North Central College on May 25, 2019.
The wait was worth it, as the Raiders earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Romans, their second-consecutive and second-overall win over Latin in program history.
"It's been a really long time," North Shore Country Day's Eun Hae Lillig said. "It feels really good to be back on the field, adjusting to what's going on on the field, especially with a lot of new faces."
"This is awesome to be out here, so much fun," Raiders manager Lizzy Giffen said. "I think it reminds you of why you play in the first place. It gets you back to focusing on the simple things, having a good time, and I think the girls are so happy being out here and playing."
The Raiders got on the board early when they converted off of a free kick in the sixth minute. Lillig put a shot on frame that Latin keeper Megan Lorenz saved. But the senior wasn't able to corral the ball, and sophomore midfielder Suraiyya Omar was there to pick up the loose ball and slot it into the back of the net.
Fortunately for the Raiders they had a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for the Raiders, that was really the only attack they were able to muster on Latin, which controlled a lot of the play and made junior keeper Peyton Hudson work to keep the visitors off the board. Hudson make six saves in the first half alone.
"Latin was really aggressive on the board and marking our midfielders really well," Lillig said. "They were fast too, so it was hard to penetrate with through-balls, but getting the 50/50 balls was really important."
"They did a nice job of containing us on the outside" Giffen said. "Where you saw us capitalize was in the middle, so we'll keep working on that."
"It seemed like we had a bit of a lack of intensity early in the game," Latin manager Tim Cronister said. "In the first five minutes, we had a breakaway and missed a goal. We talked about following the keeper, because we thought the keeper might be dropping the ball. But we missed a lot of opportunities in front of the net."
Latin, which is still looking for its first win on the year, continued to put pressure on the North Shore Country Day goal in the second half when senior midfielder Alessandra Kaestner looped a shot past Hudson to tie the game eight minutes in.
"We haven't won anything yet, and this was one we thought we could have had, but we let some opportunities go by," Cronister said.
The game remained deadlocked until Lillig stole the ball from a Latin player and drove to goal. She knocked it past Lorenz for the final tally, four minutes before time.
Lillig returns as one of the more experienced players on this year's Raiders squad, after the class of Edith Edwards-Mizel, Julia Fortier, Caroline Segal and Allie Charnas, a major core of the Raiders' back-to-back state runner-up teams in 2018 and 2019, graduated last school year.
Lillig, a Kenyon College recruit, is the squad's leading returning scorer with 11 goals and five assists. Classmate and forward Zinzi Steele also put up nice stats in 2019 -- nine goals and three assists.
"There were a lot of talented seniors that graduated last year, so it's kind of been up to me to step into that leadership role," Lillig said. "Obviously I can't fill their shoes, but I'm trying to be uplifting to my teammates and encouraging them, telling them that not everything is going to go our way on the field, so always being positive on the field.
"I've also been trying to be a player who can not only distribute the ball, but know when to dribble and take the shot myself."
Hudson, Natalie Duquette, Jane Scullion and Ellie Stevenson also played on the varsity squad in 2019, so there's still good experience returning for the 2021 season.
"We're going back to some basics, teaching the foundations of the right way," Giffen said. "We're still upper-class heavy, but every day you just have to come out and learn something new."
Another big change for the Raiders will be the switch to playing on campus instead of at the Skokie Playfelds because of scheduling conflicts. The field on campus is grass, while the Playfields are turf, so adjusting from one to the other might take a little bit, especially since the Raiders only have had a handful of practices thus far.
"It's actually really great, because it truly brings you back to why we're here," Giffen said. "We're on our campus, this field hasn't been played on in over a year, but we're definitely learning how to play on grass again.
"It's definitely an adjustment, and it'll be an adjustment again when we play on turf on some away games, but we'll work through that."
While Latin (0-3-1, 0-1-0) came out on the losing end of Tuesday's match, Cronister and his squad know that there is still plenty of time to turn things around before the state playoffs next month.
With a senior-heavy team and the majority of conference play ahead of them, the Romans can still pull out a successful season and maybe even a run at a conference crown.
"I told the girls they fought hard all the way to the end, and that's all I can ask for," Cronister said. "They were learning things on the fly, so I was really happy with them, proud of how hard they worked and trying to have some fun.
"Right now, it's a bit of a bummer but we'll learn from it."
Starting lineups
Latin
GK: Megan Lorenz
D: Alena Brandt
D: Ella Reese-Clauson
D: Ava Falk
MF: Jane Baer
MF: Malia Brandt
MF: Eden Raviv
MF: Alessandra Kaestner
MF: Frances Hutchison
F: Zoe Weiss
F: Lucy Norris
North Shore Country Day
GK: Peyton Hudson
D: Hannah Gallin
D: Natalie Duquette
D: Anna Ristic
D: Jane Scullion
D: Lexi Jackson
MF: Lindsey Glew
MF: Ellie Stevenson
MF: Eun Hae Lillig
MF: Suraiyya Omar
F: Zinzi Steele
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Eun Hae Lillig, sr., MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring Summary
First half
North Shore Country Day - Suraiyya Omar (unassisted), sixth minute
Second half
Latin - Alessandra Kaestner (unassisted), 48th minute
North Shore Country Day - Eun Hae Lillig (unassisted), 76th minute
stops Latin with late goal
Raiders win season-opener on Lillig tally after extended layoff
By Michael Wojtychiw
WINNETKA - For most teams in this girls soccer season, the pitch has been a place they've competed against other schools for more than three weeks now. That was not the case for North Shore Country Day.
The new-look Raiders debuted their season with a match against conference rival Latin more than 700 days since they last played in the state championship game at North Central College on May 25, 2019.
The wait was worth it, as the Raiders earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Romans, their second-consecutive and second-overall win over Latin in program history.
"It's been a really long time," North Shore Country Day's Eun Hae Lillig said. "It feels really good to be back on the field, adjusting to what's going on on the field, especially with a lot of new faces."
"This is awesome to be out here, so much fun," Raiders manager Lizzy Giffen said. "I think it reminds you of why you play in the first place. It gets you back to focusing on the simple things, having a good time, and I think the girls are so happy being out here and playing."
The Raiders got on the board early when they converted off of a free kick in the sixth minute. Lillig put a shot on frame that Latin keeper Megan Lorenz saved. But the senior wasn't able to corral the ball, and sophomore midfielder Suraiyya Omar was there to pick up the loose ball and slot it into the back of the net.
Fortunately for the Raiders they had a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for the Raiders, that was really the only attack they were able to muster on Latin, which controlled a lot of the play and made junior keeper Peyton Hudson work to keep the visitors off the board. Hudson make six saves in the first half alone.
"Latin was really aggressive on the board and marking our midfielders really well," Lillig said. "They were fast too, so it was hard to penetrate with through-balls, but getting the 50/50 balls was really important."
"They did a nice job of containing us on the outside" Giffen said. "Where you saw us capitalize was in the middle, so we'll keep working on that."
"It seemed like we had a bit of a lack of intensity early in the game," Latin manager Tim Cronister said. "In the first five minutes, we had a breakaway and missed a goal. We talked about following the keeper, because we thought the keeper might be dropping the ball. But we missed a lot of opportunities in front of the net."
Latin, which is still looking for its first win on the year, continued to put pressure on the North Shore Country Day goal in the second half when senior midfielder Alessandra Kaestner looped a shot past Hudson to tie the game eight minutes in.
"We haven't won anything yet, and this was one we thought we could have had, but we let some opportunities go by," Cronister said.
The game remained deadlocked until Lillig stole the ball from a Latin player and drove to goal. She knocked it past Lorenz for the final tally, four minutes before time.
Lillig returns as one of the more experienced players on this year's Raiders squad, after the class of Edith Edwards-Mizel, Julia Fortier, Caroline Segal and Allie Charnas, a major core of the Raiders' back-to-back state runner-up teams in 2018 and 2019, graduated last school year.
Lillig, a Kenyon College recruit, is the squad's leading returning scorer with 11 goals and five assists. Classmate and forward Zinzi Steele also put up nice stats in 2019 -- nine goals and three assists.
"There were a lot of talented seniors that graduated last year, so it's kind of been up to me to step into that leadership role," Lillig said. "Obviously I can't fill their shoes, but I'm trying to be uplifting to my teammates and encouraging them, telling them that not everything is going to go our way on the field, so always being positive on the field.
"I've also been trying to be a player who can not only distribute the ball, but know when to dribble and take the shot myself."
Hudson, Natalie Duquette, Jane Scullion and Ellie Stevenson also played on the varsity squad in 2019, so there's still good experience returning for the 2021 season.
"We're going back to some basics, teaching the foundations of the right way," Giffen said. "We're still upper-class heavy, but every day you just have to come out and learn something new."
Another big change for the Raiders will be the switch to playing on campus instead of at the Skokie Playfelds because of scheduling conflicts. The field on campus is grass, while the Playfields are turf, so adjusting from one to the other might take a little bit, especially since the Raiders only have had a handful of practices thus far.
"It's actually really great, because it truly brings you back to why we're here," Giffen said. "We're on our campus, this field hasn't been played on in over a year, but we're definitely learning how to play on grass again.
"It's definitely an adjustment, and it'll be an adjustment again when we play on turf on some away games, but we'll work through that."
While Latin (0-3-1, 0-1-0) came out on the losing end of Tuesday's match, Cronister and his squad know that there is still plenty of time to turn things around before the state playoffs next month.
With a senior-heavy team and the majority of conference play ahead of them, the Romans can still pull out a successful season and maybe even a run at a conference crown.
"I told the girls they fought hard all the way to the end, and that's all I can ask for," Cronister said. "They were learning things on the fly, so I was really happy with them, proud of how hard they worked and trying to have some fun.
"Right now, it's a bit of a bummer but we'll learn from it."
Starting lineups
Latin
GK: Megan Lorenz
D: Alena Brandt
D: Ella Reese-Clauson
D: Ava Falk
MF: Jane Baer
MF: Malia Brandt
MF: Eden Raviv
MF: Alessandra Kaestner
MF: Frances Hutchison
F: Zoe Weiss
F: Lucy Norris
North Shore Country Day
GK: Peyton Hudson
D: Hannah Gallin
D: Natalie Duquette
D: Anna Ristic
D: Jane Scullion
D: Lexi Jackson
MF: Lindsey Glew
MF: Ellie Stevenson
MF: Eun Hae Lillig
MF: Suraiyya Omar
F: Zinzi Steele
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Eun Hae Lillig, sr., MF, North Shore Country Day
Scoring Summary
First half
North Shore Country Day - Suraiyya Omar (unassisted), sixth minute
Second half
Latin - Alessandra Kaestner (unassisted), 48th minute
North Shore Country Day - Eun Hae Lillig (unassisted), 76th minute