Trevians unable to cool off red-hot Bears

One of the hottest soccer teams in the state took advantage of steamy conditions Saturday night.

Lake Zurich's Bears beat highly regarded New Trier 3-0 on the Trevians' home pitch, stretching the Bears' winning streak to 12.

Goals allowed during the victorious span: a measly one.

New Trier entered Saturday's match with a 14-1-1 record.

"It was tough, intense," said LZ coach Mike Schmitz, whose club (15-3-2) claimed the NSC Lake title with a 6-0 mark earlier in the week. "The key for us was the way we continued to play hard, play together. Every single kid had to contribute because it was so hot.

"Every kid stepped up," he added.

Bears junior goalkeeper Taao Scarnato collected seven saves; he also protected the nets in a 2-0 defeat of Stevenson on Oct. 4, and a 3-0 win over Lake Forest two days earlier.

Classmate Andy Lynch, a midfielder, scored a goal and had an assist against New Trier. Nick Janus and Reid Bergstrom tallied the other goals, and Mike Morrison and Justin Pennino provided the other two assists.

LZ sophomore forward Tim Kreutz assisted on both goals in the match at Stevenson, with Bergstrom and sophomore midfielder Eric Pothast finding the net. Kreutz, Pothast and Janus beat LF's keeper on Oct. 2; Bergstrom, Matt Steffen and Mike Jehl authored the assists.

LZ was scheduled to face host Lakes in Wednesday's NSC championship match.

LZ, seeded No. 3 in its sectional, will battle No. 14 Fremd in a Class AA Palatine Regional semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Barrington (16-1) needed double OT to beat Fremd 2-1 on Saturday night.

TIME CHANGE: Schmitz used "astounding" to describe the number of hours he spends as a first-year head coach.

"But I'm having so much fun," he added. "I have a great coaching staff and I couldn't ask for a nicer team."

BULLDOGS: Wauconda (10-3-4), which beat Round Lake 3-0 behind senior goalkeeper Eugene Nagawiecki on Oct. 3, drew the No. 8 seed in the Class AA Libertyville Sectional and will face No. 9 Waukegan in a Carmel Regional semifinal at 4 p.m. Wednesday.