Grens suffer first defeat after falling in overtime to Scouts

By Curt Herron

 

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After losing several players from last year's squad, Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager didn't know if his team could get back to the Pepsi Showdown semifinals.

Then after getting past Fenwick and Wheaton Warrenville South earlier this week to start the tournament, his Scouts faced a tall task against Elk Grove on Saturday.

The third-seeded Grenadiers were off to an 8-0-1 start and had allowed just three goals all season while not yielding more than one goal in any particular match.

But sixth-seeded Lake Forest managed to overcome the odds and scored not once, but twice, against Elk Grove in the quarterfinals at Schaumburg's Olympic Park.

The Scouts' final score came in the 88th minute when Abby Shipp fired in a liner from about 20 yards out to earn her team a 2-1 victory over the Grenadiers.

Lake Forest (8-2-1) will meet second-seed Plainfield North in the semifinals. The Tigers (10-1-1) defeated Lockport 2-0 in another quarterfinal on Saturday.

A year ago, the Scouts fell 1-0 in the semifinals to eventual champ Loyola Academy. The Ramblers beat New Trier 2-0 on Saturday to advance against Metea Valley.

Things were looking good for the Scouts after they grabbed the lead in the 43rd minute when Catherine Traut put in a short try off a cross from Carly Hoke.

But Lake Forest didn't lead for long because Nikki Zaino got the equalizer for Elk Grove about a minute later and the squads remained tied through regulation.

"It was a good game between two good teams who are both working hard in order to get to the next level," Stuckslager said. "But part of it, I think, was that we were a little deeper than them and Elk Grove got a little tired.

"I thought we did great things to get our first goal but one of a team's weaker times is always right after a goal. I was still talking to the girls on the bench about our goal when they scored. But we responded well and had some more good chances.

"We made the semifinals last year but since then 15 players left our team. So for us to make the semis again in such a quality tournament is a big deal. I'm very pleased with our performance and I also think that the girls are happy."

After both sides had their share of good chances in the first half, each connected on their initial opportunities of the final 40 minutes to keep things tied.

A bit later, Katie Naughton was denied on a free kick by Scout keeper Liz Clark and Sydney Johnston had an attempt deflected away by Gren Melissa Solorio.

About midway through the half, Elk Grove's Kelli Hubly had a shot stopped and Lindsey Vaccarino suffered a similar result on the subsequent rebound effort.

Johnston, Ali Danneker, Mackenzie Adams and Marina Katz also had attempts halted as the Scouts came up empty in their quest to get the win in regulation.

Not long before the initial overtime period was about to conclude, Shipp ended things with her line drive that assured Lake Forest of its semifinal berth.

"This win means a lot to us since they were undefeated," Shipp said. "We have a lot of momentum going into the semifinals. I felt like we handled their goal very well since we didn't let it get to us and just kept playing our game.

"We were aggressive to the ball and played quickly. We like to play one-two touch and get our defenders and outside mids involved, which we did. It feels good to score twice against them since they're a good team with a very aggressive defense."

In the opening half, Hubly had an early opportunity that was deflected away while Traut's initial chance for the Scouts was thwarted by the Grens' keeper.

A while after Clark halted a line drive from Sarah Stram, Kendall Hoke was denied on a pair of shot attempts by Solorio about half an hour into the match.

There was a flurry of activity shortly before the break, beginning with a header from Rachel Pruim to the Scout keeper while Shipp had a short try stopped.

Lake Forest threatened just before the halftime whistle as Bailey Ehrens was denied and Brooke Green saw her free kick beyond the top of the box hauled in.

While the Grenadiers were understandably disappointed to suffer their first loss and miss out on the semifinals, coach Dan Klaus looked at the big picture.

And that was the benefits that Elk Grove gained from matches like this and how it will better prepare them for big dates that they have upcoming in the MSL.

Two of those matchups take place this week, when the Grenadiers travel to Barrington on Wednesday and then play host to Buffalo Grove two days after that.

"We use this to get us ready and we have two big conference games this week in Buffalo Grove and Barrington," Klaus said. "Losing Kelly Naughton and Jocelyn Potratz in the second half hurt us and hopefully they'll be ready to go on Wednesday.

"In the first half we were in their end probably 75 percent of the time but we weren't terribly dangerous. And I thought that we responded well after being down 1-0 to them. It was a good battle and it was also a good hit that won the game.

"We've had a nice start so far. Our schedule hasn't been terribly hard but we had only given up three goals in our first nine games. Our girls will bounce back and I'm sure that we'll be ready to go and in a good frame of mind for Barrington."