Chicagoland Soccer

Warriors 16-day break ends with 2-0 loss to Lake Forest

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By Gary Larsen

Wheaton Academy set a new record at Lake Forest for the number of players requesting ice bags after a game, with eight.

Lake Forest has skill, to be sure, and it was the Scouts’ depth and size that took a physical toll on the Warriors in a Pepsi Showdown contest in Lake Forest.

“That’s how we always look after a game,” Warriors coach Scott Marksberry joked. “It’s the small-school mentality: get out there and just bust it for the entire game. We’ve got a lot of players in some pain, but they’ll recover.”

Lake Forest’s 2-0 win was constructed with a goal in each half, first off the foot of Haleigh McPeek and then on a ball hit by Kasey Quon. The Scouts (4-1-3) got assists from Sarah McLenahan and Abby Shipp, respectively.

Scouts coach Ty Stuckslager utilized a deep bench and saw his 10th-seeded team dominate second-half play against the Warriors.

“Our movement offensively was much better in the second half. We got behind them several times, where in the first half we struggled to do that against them,” Stuckslager said. “I liked our possession and our fitness.”

Lake Forest had a nine-day break before winning 7-0 over Niles West on Monday, and the Scouts tied 1-1 with 5th-seeded Lyons Township (5-1-1) on Tuesday. Wheaton Academy (1-1) opened the season with a win over Chicago Christian (5-2) but played in only its second game of the year against the Scouts, after a 16-day break in action due to multiple game cancellations.

McPeek hit a hard shot right at Wheaton Academy keeper Kristen Morency just two minutes into the contest, and the Scouts’ Morgan McConachie sent a good chance just wide three minutes later.

The two teams traded a pair of corner kicks soon thereafter, and Morency left her line to challenge the first of many Scouts’ corners to come. The Warriors’ junior goalkeeper raced out to the 18 to collect a Scouts’ ball sent over the top at 13 minutes, and played with fearless aggression throughout the contest.

Lake Forest forwards McPeek, McClenahan, and Morgan McConachie were infinitely dangerous early on, and Wheaton Academy’s new three-back system had its hands full.

“It’s our first time trying a three-back system, and we do it against three forwards, but we learned a lot with that,” Marksberry said. “I thought we did better in the second half despite the fact that they were attacking us so much. Our backs did much better.”

Academy defenders Kerrin Clancy, Brigitta Engebretsen, and Sarah Janus showed improvement from start to finish in fighting to hold off Lake Forest’s attack.

“Those girls work harder than anyone on the field,” Wheaton Academy forward Ally Witt said. “They’re just working on what works, and experimenting, and that’s what you’ve got to do at the beginning of the season."

Six minutes before halftime, McPeek got her side on the board, taking a feed from McClenahan and putting it where Morency couldn’t reach it. “Sarah McClenehan slid a great ball across to Haleigh McPeek at the back post,” Stuckslager said. “Haleigh ripped it back across to the far post with confidence and, more importantly, accuracy.”

The Warriors’ best attacking spurt came in the first half, spearheaded by Crystal Thomas, who put a good scare into Stuckslager and his girls through 40 minutes.

“They had me a little nervous, whether we didn’t play well or they played well in the first half,” Stuckslager said. “(Thomas) started to give us fits. She’s got that one move that every one of our girls bit on, but we were a lot smarter in the second half.”

While Thomas and company took a good handful of group excursions into the Scouts’ defensive third through 40 minutes, they quickly learned that Lake Forest central defenders Ginny McGovern and Marina Katz weren’t having any of it.

“We had a tough time pulling the trigger. Their center backs are really good,” Marksberry said. “We didn’t really threaten those two very much. We were at our best when we attacked from their wings but we had trouble just kind of filling the box and finding that final (shot). So there’s a lot to learn from this game."

Witt is a fast, aggressive forward that will score her share of goals this year, and she tipped her hat to McGowan and Katz. “Those are probably a couple of the best defenders we’ll play against,” Witt said. “We had to try to beat their outside defenders because we weren’t getting anything in the middle.”

Quon’s goal came from just outside the 18, on a shot that skittered under Morency and into the net. Lake Forest’s deep bench took its toll on Wheaton Academy in the second half. The Scouts kept pressure on in their final third to the tune of eight second-half corner kicks, but Morency and her back line didn’t buckle again.

“She’s incredible. She’s so quick,” Witt said of Morency. “And if there’s a ball out there she’s going to try to go get it. She’s not going to back down for her team. She gets so hard on herself but I just told her that this game would have been 10-0 if it wasn’t for her.”

Stuckslager agreed. “I thought we really moved the ball and created well, and their goalie was phenomenal. She won a bunch of corners and got her hands on a bunch of corners that most keepers won’t,” he said.

The Lake Forest back line of Katherine Cook Katherine McCauley, Katz, and McGowan kept their penalty area nearly immaculate in front of keeper Liz Clark in the second half.

“What we did well in the first half that didn’t continue was possess the ball,” Marksberry said. “In the second half we kind of started hoping that Crystal or Ally would just create a goal somehow. We got a little bit tired and started to rely on those two a little too much.

“We’ll work on connecting the dots from the defense all the way up, when we’ve got the ball. When we possessed well it was with the midfielders and a couple times with our forwards. We didn’t really connect all ten players when we were connecting.”

With Lake Forest playing its eighth game of the year and Wheaton Academy only playing in its second, the Warriors kept the proper perspective on the loss.

“That’s a quality team and to play them with one game of experience, with basically eight or nine new starters on the field – I feel pretty good about this game,” Marksberry said.

Witt echoed the sentiment.

“We don’t have the biggest team so we’ll have to stay conditioned,” she said. “It’s our second game of the season so to play a team like (Lake Forest) is really tough, but it’s a good test. It means nothing to our conference and I’m proud of our girls. We fought hard. It wasn’t our most skilled game but we fought hard. We just have so many adjustments to make. I’d love to play them again ten games from now. I think it would be a better game.”

Due to ACT testing on Saturday, Thomas, Morency, and Witt will miss the Warriors’ Pepsi game against Libertyville at Olympic Park in Schaumburg, while Lake Forest will take on 8th-seeded Oak Park and River Forest in Pepsi play on Saturday.