Sizzling Bears hand Trevians first loss of year

Lake Zurich's Nick Janus (left) battles for control of the ball with a New Trier player. The Bears handed the Trevians their first loss of the season, 4-2.
(Eric Davis/for Pioneer Press)

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Tim Kreutz was looking forward to inhaling heat after a soccer match Saturday afternoon.

"Wings, spicy wings," Lake Zurich's junior forward said. "I'll have those tonight. I like ordering them 'hot.' The spiciest you can get them is 'blazing.' "

He and his Bears remained sizzling on Saturday, topping visiting New Trier 4-2. NT had entered the contest with a 14-0 record, and LZ (16-1-3) was coming off a 3-0 victory over visiting Stevenson the night before to earn a berth in this week's NSC title match.

"The guys were a little tired today, but they gutted it out on a hot day," Bears coach Mike Schmitz said Saturday. "New Trier's a great team, solid at every position. The effort of our team, everybody, that's what impressed me more than anything else."

Kreutz scored a pair of goals against the Trevians; Brett Harper and Nick Janus netted the others. Nick also had an assist, as did sweeper Brady Rein, forward Brad McCurley and goalkeeper Taao Scarnato (9 saves).

Rein, normally the team's stopper, slid back to sweeper to fill in for injured Matt Hussey.

"I went up to Brady and said, 'We need you at sweeper,' " Schmitz said. "He said, 'OK,' without hesitation. He did a great job today; our whole defense did."

The new duties were hardly foreign to Rein, a sweeper for his club team (Ela).

"You have to communicate more as a sweeper than when you're a stopper," Rein said. "You see the whole field when you're back there.

"Our team ... we can adjust, and we had a great team effort. We knew it would be a tough task."

Rein said NT is possession team which likes to play more to the players' feet. Stevenson had presented an entirely different challenge some 20 hours earlier.

"They tried to kick the ball over our heads, and that meant we had to be more aware of dropping back," Rein said.

Kreutz, Jeff Owens (unassisted) and Nelson Still beat Stevenson's keeper Friday night. Bears senior midfielder Andy Lynch provided two assists.

Scarnato (2 saves) and senior Mike Messmer (2) combined for the shutout.

"I have full confidence in both of our goalkeepers," Schmitz said. "I'm lucky, having the goalkeepers I have; not many teams are as fortunate."

LZ was scheduled to face visiting Round Lake Wednesday night for the NSC championship.