Scouts move on to supersectional with win over Deerfield
By Gary Larsen

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With its 2-1 sectional-title win over Deerfield on Saturday, Lake Forest became one of only eight teams left standing in this year’s state playoffs.

And what it will take for any team to reach the final four and a trip to the state finals is simple.

"When you get to this point everyone is pretty sound technically, tactically, and speed-wise," Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. "So it comes down to what's in the heart and what's in the head."

The second-seeded Scouts showed both heart and intelligence in scoring two first-half goals against top-seeded Deerfield at this year’s Class 2A Lakes Sectional.

Lake Forest's attack through 40 minutes was dominant, with outside defenders and mids pushing forward and its midfielders winning balls and sending them with purpose and precision into the final third.

Center mids Lucy Edwards and Paige Bourne stayed busy in spearheading the Scouts' attack, and the Scouts struck first 11 minutes in when Bourne fed Carly Hoke on the left side into the Warriors' penalty area. Hoke took a touch towards the endline before crossing to Brooke Greene and with space around her, Greene calmly buried her chance from 8 yards out.

To that point, the game belonged to Lake Forest (11-2-6) but despite another 20 minutes of solid attacking pressure, a second goal was not forthcoming.

"We had good intensity and we kept pushing," Edwards said. "The only thing left was just scoring."

Despite chasing a goal against a Scouts team displaying a suffocating attack, Deerfield (16-7-2) wasn't about to panic. After all, four days earlier the Warriors trailed Saint Viator 3-1 in their sectional semifinal game before coming back to earn a 4-3 victory.

The Warriors showed resilience again on Saturday, knotting the game against the run of play at 30 minutes. Deerfield’s Samara Haas sent in a corner kick and Claire Mulert hammered a head shot inside the far post.

"I thought we had a great first half. We were all over them," Stuckslager said. "I'm a little disappointed that they got one chance in the first half and scored, but (Mulert) did a great job of finishing on that corner kick."

After Mulert's goal, Lake Forest quickly returned to its high-pressure attack.

Scouts outside defender Sydney Johnston reached the endline and served a low ball that Deerfield keeper Bailey Bradford snared at the near post at 33 minutes, and Johnston crossed another ball to the middle that Carly Hoke headed and Bradford saved.

Hoke sent a corner kick in at 34 minutes that was headed around inside the Warriors' penalty area before it was cleared, Bradford saved a point-blank shot by Carly Hoke at 35 minutes, and the Scouts' Adrian Walker sent a header towards the near post that Bradford saved at 36 minutes.

Deerfield was under fire against a Scouts team that attacked in fifth gear for the ten minutes preceding halftime.

"That's what we try to do, we try and get it up and around but our midfield is solid, too, so we'll go through the middle," Johnston said.

Lake Forest's Bailey Ehrens finally made her side's pressure pay off at 37 minutes with a shot from 18 yards out that snuck between Bradford and a defender at the post. Bradford tipped a Scouts' head shot off the crossbar one minute before halftime to keep her side within a goal of tying the game.

Bradford’s play in net was spectacular through 40 minutes, as Lake Forest players flooded Deerfield's defensive third.

"Their keeper kept them in the game. She was excellent and (Mulert) in the back did a solid job of fighting through things," Stuckslager said. "I think we missed some (shots), too. We had some great opportunities. But we got two, which is better than one."

For Deerfield coach Rich Grady, there was at least one halftime adjustment that had to be made.

"We took (Mulert) up and put her on Lucy," Grady said. "At the beginning of the game we wanted to see if we could go straight up and not get involved in the match-up stuff, but they had too much speed in the midfield."

While the second half was more evenly played, finding a quality shot against the Lake Forest backline of Kendall Hoke, Dani Loeger, Johnston, Ehrens and keeper Liz Clark proved a steep hill to climb for the Warriors.

"I was really proud of our defense today," Johnston said. "We stayed strong the entire game."

Stuckslager agreed.

"I thought Bailey (Ehrens) had a heck of a game. She was all over and played very well," Stuckslager said. "Liz (Clark) wasn't tested but she did what she needed to do and Kendall (Hoke), Dani (Loeger), and (Johnston) were solid defensively."

Edwards left the game at 55 minutes due to cramping but returned 12 minutes later to help secure Lake Forest’s second sectional title. The Scouts won a Class 2A sectional title and lost a supersectional game against Barrington in 2006, before the IHSA had added a third class in girls’ soccer.

The Scouts will return to Barrington on Tuesday, where Barrington will play St. Charles North in a 3A supersectional game, after Lake Forest plays Prairie Ridge in a 2A supersectional.

And after playing their regional and sectional games on grass, the Scouts will return to the artificial surface they prefer on Tuesday.

"The ball slows down on grass, there are little bumps, and it slows us down,” Edwards said. “We have a lot of speed on the outsides so it will be nice to play on (Barrington's) field."

Deerfield will bid farewell to 10 seniors from this year’s team, including Mulert, Haas, Sarah Hehemann, Patricia Schweinfurth, Jordyn Winston, Sydney Karon, Emily Montgomery, Rachel Magnus, Amanda Imyak, and Sarah Ginn.

"I'm just proud of the effort. We would have liked a different result but this is the best we've ever done as a school," Grady said. "We have ten seniors and when they started -- three of them have been with us all four years on the varsity -- and when they came in we hadn't ever won a regional title and it had been something like five years since we'd won conference. We've won two regionals and two conference titles in a row and those seniors are a big reason why.

"I'm a little disappointed with the way we started the game but I have no complaints about the effort today. Honestly, (Lake Forest) probably deserved it today. I think they outplayed us, but we fought."