Girls Soccer: Lake Forest hands Elk Grove first loss

Updated: April 14, 2012 8:52PM

In order to earn a repeat visit to the Pepsi Showdown semifinals, No. 19 Lake Forest had to overcome a very big hurdle on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Scouts needed to beat third-seeded Elk Grove, which was 8-0-1 and had only allowed three goals this season.

And Lake Forest needed extra time in order to get it done, earning a 2-1 overtime win over the No. 13 Grenadiers at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.

Abby Shipp fired in a 20-yard liner in the 88th minute to advance the Scouts (8-2-1) to next Saturday’s semifinals back at Olympic Park.

The Scouts will take on second-seed Plainfield North (10-1-1), which captured a 2-0 victory over Lockport in another quarterfinal match.

Lake Forest’s two-goal effort marks the first time all season that Elk Grove had allowed more than one score in a contest.

“This win means a lot to us since they were undefeated,” Shipp said. “We have a lot of momentum going into the semifinals. We were aggressive to the ball and played quickly.”

Following a scoreless opening half, the Scouts grabbed their first lead in the 43rd minute when Catherine Traut scored following an assist from Carly Hoke.

But before Lake Forest was able to enjoy its advantage, the Grenadiers responded about a minute later with a score from Nikki Zaino to tie things back up.

“It was a good game between two good teams who are both working hard in order to get to the next level,” Scouts coach Ty Stuckslager said.

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