Tigers can't finish in 1-0 loss to Lake Forest
By Dave Miller

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Lake Forest freshman Carly Hoke was at the right place at the right time – and senior captain Catherine Traut got her the ball.

Hoke scored on a header off Traut’s pass from deep in the left corner late in the final minute of the first half. The sixth-seeded Scouts made the goal hold up for a 1-0 upset victory over No. 2 seed Plainfield North in the Pepsi Showdown semifinals Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

“Catherine Traut had a really nice crossover to me,” Hoke said. “I just happened to be at the right spot and headed it. Our coach always tells us to try to go to the back corner, so I was hoping to get it back there, and I did it.”

Traut’s pass came at a sharp angle toward the net.

“Abby Shipp in the middle got it to me out wide and then I had a girl on me and I just knew to get endline,” Traut said. “There wasn’t that much space between the endline and the girl and I just took that little slot and crossed it to Carly. She was in perfect position and just buried it.”

Hoke’s sixth goal of the season ended Plainfield North’s shutout streak at eight matches.

Lake Forest (9-2-1) will meet defending Pepsi Showdown champion Loyola (14-0-1) in the title match at noon Sunday at Toyota Park. The fourth-seeded Ramblers advanced by knocking off No. 1 seed Metea Valley 1-0 with a goal in the opening minute of their semifinal.

Lake Forest survived Plainfield North’s bid to tie the game late. The Tigers put three shots on goal in the final 15 minutes by Heather Handwork, Callie O’Donnell and Ashley Handwork, but Scouts goalkeeper Liz Clark capped a strong performance by stopping each one.

“The last 20 minutes we were in a bunker,” Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. “I think we were tired physically and mentally.”

“I thought the second half we played well, we just couldn’t finish,” Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe said. “If you can’t finish, you can’t win games against good teams. I wasn’t real happy, especially the first half. We did not come out ready to play. We’ve got some girls who are sick, some girls who are injured and we just didn’t step up around that.”

Lake Forest dominated possession time early, but had nothing to show for it. Plainfield North goalkeeper Paige Polonus stopped three shots in the first 15 minutes, including a one-handed deflection of the ball over the crossbar off a shot by Mackenzie Adams.

Then Plainfield North (11-2-1) cranked up its attack. But Lake Forest defender Marina Katz headed a would-be goal away from the net and Clark followed with four saves in a 10-minute stretch.

The Tigers continued to threaten, but a pair of prime opportunities just before Lake Forest scored saw shots travel wide of the net.

Crowe said her team has trouble finishing at times.

“We struggle with that sometimes,” Crowe said. “It’s almost like we finish one early and then we can finish. It seems like if we get stopped on a couple early then it just gets tougher and tougher and it kind of gets in their head. Their keeper made some great saves. I also think when there are opportunities you’ve got to finish some of those. A keeper can only do so much if you put the ball where you want to put it. We score goals a lot. We just couldn’t do it today.

Crowe was bothered by her club’s slow start.

“I don’t know how we can not get up for a game like this,” she said. “It’s frustrating that we didn’t really come out ready to play. Defensively we just didn’t play well. It took us awhile to kind of get things going in the midfield. I thought actually we were playing a really good stretch right before they scored. We really started to put some pressure on them.”

Clark recorded the shutout with help from a spirited defensive effort led by Katz, who consistently thwarted Plainfield North’s advances.

“Marina, one-on-one, was excellent,” Stuckslager said. “I think she only got beat on one of those at the end, but one-on-one she seemed to win everything and was able to shield it off.”

The Scouts coach also had high praise for Clark.

“Liz played her best game we’ve ever seen her play,” Stuckslager said.

It was clear from the start that Plainfield North’s higher seed did not intimidate Lake Forest.

“Our coach told us to have fun today and whatever happens, happens,” Hoke said. “We’ve been playing good throughout the tournament and the fact that they were seeded second was really impressive. I’m sure most of us were hoping for a big upset as we did last week (in a 2-1 overtime win over No. 3 seed Elk Grove). We just wanted to keep our momentum going so we could make the championship.”

The Scouts’ run to the title match has pleasantly surprised Stuckslager. He thought his team’s No. 6 seed was “a little too high” when the brackets were released.

“We lost 15 girls from last year’s team,” Stuckslager said. “For us to be there when it was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding year, hats off to the girls because they did a great job.”

Now it’s time for Lake Forest to concentrate on the Ramblers.

“They’re physical and a very strong, athletic team,” Traut said. “We know it’s going to be a hard game, as hard or harder than this one.”