Lake Forest battles,
but can't stop no. 1 New Trier
Scouts plan to build off 1st loss of the season
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NORTHFIELD -— Lake Forest confronted the seemingly insurmountable.
The Scouts, ranked 10th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, faced the poll's top team in New Trier, the two-time defending Class 3A state champion. The Trevians are 65-2-1 since the start of the 2014 season. And the rest of the country is well aware of them too. At least two national polls rank New Trier as the no. 1 high school team in the country.
It is almost a trap to be awed at -- the precision, speed and grace of their game.
“They’re a great offensive team,” Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. “You can’t prepare for that kind of speed and quickness. Then they bring in somebody else, and they move well off the ball, and they create space.”
The Scouts are a highly skilled team.
“Lake Forest is our most challenging game yet,” New Trier star senior forward Kelly Maday said. “We play with probably half of those girls on our club team. We know how they play, and they know how we play. It’s always a struggle to try and get by them since we kind of become predictable at this point.”
Knowing New Trier’s tendencies is one thing. Stopping them is something else entirely.
Maday started the tone off with a blistering goal in the fifth minute and the top-ranked Trevians showcased their talent with verve and style in a 4-0 PepsiCo Showdown Aquafina Bracket quarterfinal victory here Monday night.
Lake Forest was not dejected. It is not counterintuitive to say the Scouts revealed something important and vital despite the apparent one-sided loss.
“To me, you hear a 4-0 game, and I don’t think you see just how competitive a game it was,” Stuckslager said.
Lake Forest (5-1-1) came closer to any other team to register a goal against the Trevians. Star New Trier keeper Dani Kaufman is unscored upon this year for the Trevians (8-0-0). Lake Forest generated considerable pressure and produced more shots on goal than the Trevians’ last four combined opponents.
Kaufman had nine saves. Lake Forest had four other shots.
“I was really happy with how we played,” Stuckslager said. “I don’t keep [statistics] on goalie saves. Dani probably had to make more saves than normal, not necessarily acrobatic.”
Lake Forest tested New Trier’s backline. Senior forward Jenny McKendry, a three-year starter, played her first game of the year after her return from a back injury. Her presence alone lifted the Scouts. Junior midfielder Delaney Williams, the brightest of the Scouts’ new players, impressed with her speed on the edge and the ability to shoot with accuracy on the move. Three of Kaufman’s saves came against Williams.
“I think we came out strong and tried to fight our hardest,” Williams said. “We know they’re a great team, and we wanted to upset them. I thought we put up a good fight. Their defense is really solid. We tried to get on the end of a couple of those balls and their defense kept collapsing.”
Maday, an Illinois-recruit, scored her ninth goal of the year. Her quickness is something to behold. She made New Trier’s first shot count.
“With each game we want to set the tone and prove that we belong in this game,” said Maday, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match. “The big thing with us is trying to play simply. It’s a matter of playing well togther and doing al the little things together that we do individually.”
Senior forward Molly Purcell scored her fourth goal in the 23rd minute as New Trier seized the 2-0 lead at the break.
“Last year they scored twice against us in the first 30 or 40 seconds against us, so we knew mentally we had to prepare for that possibility,” Lake Forest senior midfielder Paige Bourne said. “We knew if they scored early we just had to keep our heads up and keep playing hard.”
The Scouts never allowed New Trier to run away and hide. The Scouts played with sureness and confidence. New Trier maintained the upper hand. Lake Forest proved its mettle.
“I think coming into the game everybody was pretty nervous,” Bourne said. “But I thought we played really better than anyone could have imagined. Both teams had their chances. At the end the difference was that New Trier finished their opportunities.”
Bourne blasted a ball from about 19 yards out in the 26th minute that Kaufman made a strong block on. Kaufman also punched out two Lake Forest corner kicks. The Scouts generated their share of chances. They never panicked or appeared intimidated. As is their wont, New Trier was just too quick and too balanced.
Indicative of its depth and versatility New Trier put the game away at the start of the second half. Sophomore defender Sydney Parker scored her first goal of the year by converting a chip shot from just outside the box in the 45th minute.
Success begets confidence. New Trier projects an assurance and power.
“We know how to pay off of each other,” Maday said. “After my goal everybody else worked off of that and stepped it up too.”
Freshman midfielder Lily Conley recorded the game’s final goal in the 78th minute. It was also her first goal of the season.
Lake Forest mounted opportunities until the end -- including a sharp ball by Williams in the 76th minute that just skidded wide of the post. The teams play their normally scheduled rivalry game next month.
“There were a lot of positive things out there,” Stuckslager said. “They scored on their first shot, and we still came back Delaney created some nice opportunities.”
The Scouts will be without senior defender Adrian Walker, who is having some medical work done and is expected to miss the next three weeks. McKendry’s return is a significant boost, athletically and psychologically.
“I think we should take this game as the starting point to the rest of the season,” Bourne said. “Just upward from here. We played a great game, and we just have to go from there.”
Starting line-ups
Lake Forest
GK: Cassidy Shaul
D: Allison Banta
D: Adrian Walker
D: Leland Keller
D: Gwen Walker
D: Hannah Bell
MF: Sheridan Bufe
MF: Paige Bourne
MF: Delaney Williams
F: Kate Reinhardt
F: Kylie Murray
New Trier
GK: Dani Kaufman
D: Sam Urban
D: Megan Murdoch
D: Caroline Iserloth
D: Sydney Parker
MF: Avery Schuldt
MF: Celia Frei
MF: Bina Saipi
F: Haley Yamada
F: Natalie Laser
F: Kelly Maday
MVP of the match: Kelly Maday, F, New Trier
but can't stop no. 1 New Trier
Scouts plan to build off 1st loss of the season
By Patrick Z. McGavin
NORTHFIELD -— Lake Forest confronted the seemingly insurmountable.
The Scouts, ranked 10th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, faced the poll's top team in New Trier, the two-time defending Class 3A state champion. The Trevians are 65-2-1 since the start of the 2014 season. And the rest of the country is well aware of them too. At least two national polls rank New Trier as the no. 1 high school team in the country.
It is almost a trap to be awed at -- the precision, speed and grace of their game.
“They’re a great offensive team,” Lake Forest coach Ty Stuckslager said. “You can’t prepare for that kind of speed and quickness. Then they bring in somebody else, and they move well off the ball, and they create space.”
The Scouts are a highly skilled team.
“Lake Forest is our most challenging game yet,” New Trier star senior forward Kelly Maday said. “We play with probably half of those girls on our club team. We know how they play, and they know how we play. It’s always a struggle to try and get by them since we kind of become predictable at this point.”
Knowing New Trier’s tendencies is one thing. Stopping them is something else entirely.
Maday started the tone off with a blistering goal in the fifth minute and the top-ranked Trevians showcased their talent with verve and style in a 4-0 PepsiCo Showdown Aquafina Bracket quarterfinal victory here Monday night.
Lake Forest was not dejected. It is not counterintuitive to say the Scouts revealed something important and vital despite the apparent one-sided loss.
“To me, you hear a 4-0 game, and I don’t think you see just how competitive a game it was,” Stuckslager said.
Lake Forest (5-1-1) came closer to any other team to register a goal against the Trevians. Star New Trier keeper Dani Kaufman is unscored upon this year for the Trevians (8-0-0). Lake Forest generated considerable pressure and produced more shots on goal than the Trevians’ last four combined opponents.
Kaufman had nine saves. Lake Forest had four other shots.
“I was really happy with how we played,” Stuckslager said. “I don’t keep [statistics] on goalie saves. Dani probably had to make more saves than normal, not necessarily acrobatic.”
Lake Forest tested New Trier’s backline. Senior forward Jenny McKendry, a three-year starter, played her first game of the year after her return from a back injury. Her presence alone lifted the Scouts. Junior midfielder Delaney Williams, the brightest of the Scouts’ new players, impressed with her speed on the edge and the ability to shoot with accuracy on the move. Three of Kaufman’s saves came against Williams.
“I think we came out strong and tried to fight our hardest,” Williams said. “We know they’re a great team, and we wanted to upset them. I thought we put up a good fight. Their defense is really solid. We tried to get on the end of a couple of those balls and their defense kept collapsing.”
Maday, an Illinois-recruit, scored her ninth goal of the year. Her quickness is something to behold. She made New Trier’s first shot count.
“With each game we want to set the tone and prove that we belong in this game,” said Maday, the Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match. “The big thing with us is trying to play simply. It’s a matter of playing well togther and doing al the little things together that we do individually.”
Senior forward Molly Purcell scored her fourth goal in the 23rd minute as New Trier seized the 2-0 lead at the break.
“Last year they scored twice against us in the first 30 or 40 seconds against us, so we knew mentally we had to prepare for that possibility,” Lake Forest senior midfielder Paige Bourne said. “We knew if they scored early we just had to keep our heads up and keep playing hard.”
The Scouts never allowed New Trier to run away and hide. The Scouts played with sureness and confidence. New Trier maintained the upper hand. Lake Forest proved its mettle.
“I think coming into the game everybody was pretty nervous,” Bourne said. “But I thought we played really better than anyone could have imagined. Both teams had their chances. At the end the difference was that New Trier finished their opportunities.”
Bourne blasted a ball from about 19 yards out in the 26th minute that Kaufman made a strong block on. Kaufman also punched out two Lake Forest corner kicks. The Scouts generated their share of chances. They never panicked or appeared intimidated. As is their wont, New Trier was just too quick and too balanced.
Indicative of its depth and versatility New Trier put the game away at the start of the second half. Sophomore defender Sydney Parker scored her first goal of the year by converting a chip shot from just outside the box in the 45th minute.
Success begets confidence. New Trier projects an assurance and power.
“We know how to pay off of each other,” Maday said. “After my goal everybody else worked off of that and stepped it up too.”
Freshman midfielder Lily Conley recorded the game’s final goal in the 78th minute. It was also her first goal of the season.
Lake Forest mounted opportunities until the end -- including a sharp ball by Williams in the 76th minute that just skidded wide of the post. The teams play their normally scheduled rivalry game next month.
“There were a lot of positive things out there,” Stuckslager said. “They scored on their first shot, and we still came back Delaney created some nice opportunities.”
The Scouts will be without senior defender Adrian Walker, who is having some medical work done and is expected to miss the next three weeks. McKendry’s return is a significant boost, athletically and psychologically.
“I think we should take this game as the starting point to the rest of the season,” Bourne said. “Just upward from here. We played a great game, and we just have to go from there.”
Starting line-ups
Lake Forest
GK: Cassidy Shaul
D: Allison Banta
D: Adrian Walker
D: Leland Keller
D: Gwen Walker
D: Hannah Bell
MF: Sheridan Bufe
MF: Paige Bourne
MF: Delaney Williams
F: Kate Reinhardt
F: Kylie Murray
New Trier
GK: Dani Kaufman
D: Sam Urban
D: Megan Murdoch
D: Caroline Iserloth
D: Sydney Parker
MF: Avery Schuldt
MF: Celia Frei
MF: Bina Saipi
F: Haley Yamada
F: Natalie Laser
F: Kelly Maday
MVP of the match: Kelly Maday, F, New Trier
