Carmel takes air out of upset hopes

Wauconda senior goalkeeper Eugene Nagawiecki kept company with a bag of ice on Saturday -- in the middle of a soccer match.

Nagawiecki had absorbed a shot to an eye in Saturday's 5-0 loss to the host school in the Class AA Carmel Regional final. Junior Austin Moskal filled in for the third-year starter before Nagawiecki returned to action, bag of ice in hand.

"Tough kid," Bulldogs coach Terry Stevig said. "He said his eye felt better when ice was on it, so when he didn't need to worry about stopping shots, that bag of ice was on his eye. He was tossing the bag, picking it up, tossing it again ...

"Back and forth it went," he added.

Carmel's Corsairs iced Saturday match with right-on crosses that resulted in converted headers, four to be exact.

"Textbook examples of how to score that way," said Stevig, whose squad beat Waukegan 4-0 in a regional semifinal on Oct. 17. "If you wanted to make a video on how to cross, on how to head crosses for goals, that was the game to do it.

"Carmel was charging and determined to get to the ball," he added. "We did play well for a number of minutes."

Wauconda finished with 11-6-4 record, and Stevig was pleased for the most part with Bulldogs' season.

"It was a strong season," he said. "But it just seemed, in big games that meant something, we did not play to our capabilities."

11TH WIN: Wauconda senior forward Greg Henk scored two goals in the playoff win over Waukegan last week. Senior midfielder Keith Wilson and junior forward Mike Mrohen also found the net, and junior Mike LeClaire had two assists. Senior sweeper Cesar Rodriguez provided an assist.

Nagawiecki got the shutout.

"Eugene got stronger and stronger as the season progressed," Stevig said.

BEARS: An own goal, four minutes in, snapped Lake Zurich's 14-match winning streak on Saturday.

Another casualty was the Bears' fine 17-4-2 soccer season.

Palatine beat LZ 1-0 in the Class AA Palatine Regional final.

"It happened so fast," Bears first-year coach Mike Schmitz said of the goal.

"It was a frustrating game; we didn't play our game. We like to knock the ball around, play possession ... wear teams down that way. But Palatine came out hard, disrupted things. Their players did a great job of slowing things down."

LZ had advanced to Saturday's final with a 1-0 defeat of Fremd on Oct. 17. Bears senior midfielder Reid Bergstrom scored the goal (PK) and junior keeper Taao Scarnato collected four saves.

"It was an awesome season, an impressive season," Schmitz said after Saturday's loss. "I'm proud of the kids, proud of how far we came since the beginning of the season."

LZ's defense didn't allow a goal in winning the NSC Lake, and yielded only 11 in 23 matches this fall.