Corsairs tie Lake Forest, claim top honors in own quad

By Rusty Silber

Carmel opened its season this week with only one victory, but picked up a couple of ties along the way.

And that combination turned out to be good enough for it to capture its own quad on Friday.

The Corsairs settled for a 1-1 tie with visiting Lake Forest in Mundelein.

Carmel ended up with the best record among the four teams, going 1-0-2.

Prairie Ridge also beat Hersey 2-1 on Friday. Both of those teams each ended up with 1-1-1 records while Lake Forest went 0-1-2.

For Carmel, ties are not exactly what they want to see through the opening week.

However, some play on the field needs to get better, according to Carmel coach John Halloran.

"We were not good enough, especially in the midfield," Halloran said. "Also, up front we're playing kick ball right now. You just are not going to beat good teams (Lake Forest) like that."

Still, for the Corsairs are trying to build with some of their veteran players while inserting some of their younger ones.

"There's some chemistry things that have to be worked out," Halloran said. "I think everybody needs to trust each other and play five- to ten-yard passes to the feet. Once we get to the point of where we want to play, we should be very tough to beat."

On Friday, Illinois-bound Kassidy Brown had the game-tying goal in the 57th minute on a penalty kick. It was awarded when a Corsairs player was pushed down in the box off a corner kick. It was Brown's second PK opportunity in three games.

"We just don't practice them too much," said Brown, who led her team last year with 17 goals and 14 assists. "I was trying to keep it low to the ground. I was more scared to go wide than over the bar."

Camel had a few other opportunities to try try to get the game-winning goal. A couple of shots missed the goal and one hit off the far post at one point.

Also in the second minute, Carmel had a goal waived off for being offsides.

Lake Forest scored late in the first half off a corner kick. Carmel couldn't clear the ball out of the back and after a few touches, Lake Forest's Haleigh McPeek hit a low-line shot off a Corsairs defender for a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute.

"I thought our defense bent and didn't break," Lake Forest coach Ty Stucklager said. "Carmel was a good team and they showed their presence in the second half."

Through the first three games Carmel has allowed just one goal. Goalkeeper Maddie Allen, a senior, made six saves and gave up the one goal.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of experience helping out on a defense which includes Jessica Gilstrap, Shannon Kouba, Shannon Jung and Helen Wagner.

"Defense has done very well," Halloran said. "As a unit, they've been playing together since last summer. We're very effective and it's carried over with some good chemistry. All four of these kids have been committed to our program and you can see the results. Overall, our back four are playing exceptionally well."

Carmel has five key returning players back this year. Brown up front, Lauren Lehman center midfielder (13 goals, 7 assists), Leah Einarsen also in the midfield, Gilstrap on defense and keeper Allen (13 shutouts and a .55 goals against average).

The Corsairs enter the season having won the East Suburban Catholic Conference the last five years and also finishing with a 16-4 record a year ago.

"I think our team will be very strong this year once we incorporate our new players," Halloran said. "We expect to be a big contender for our conference championship this spring."

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