WB_052319

wilmettebeacon.com SPORTS
the wilmette beacon | May 23, 2019 | 37
Girls soccer
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 4 days ago
NSCDS wins sectional via shutout
Neil Milbert
Freelance Reporter
North Shore Country
Day stepped up its game in
the second half of its IHSA
Class 1A Sectional championship
soccer match
with Willows Academy at
Waukegan’s Dougdale Park
and took a resolute step toward
a second straight trip
to the state finals.
Emily Weil, Edith Edwards-Mizel
and Paige
Forester scored the goals
and goalkeeper Abby Renaud
recorded the shutout in
the 3-0 victory on Saturday,
May 18, that enabled the
Raiders to take the Sectional
title for the second straight
season after capturing it for
the first time last year.
North Shore was a 4-1
winner at Willows during
the regular season and
dominated the first half.
The Raiders took 13 shots
and several were excellent
scoring chances. Meanwhile,
Renaud had to make
six saves and only one was
difficult.
Nevertheless, coach
Lizzy Gifften was concerned,
very aware that it
was anyone’s game. “They
have a good coach (Leah
Kartsimas) and they’re
much improved (since the
prior meeting),” she said.
Giffen told her team:
“You can’t turn the ball
over and you have to play
faster.”
Weil got the message.
Taking a pass from Allie
Charnas, she outmaneuvered
defenders as she
moved across the goal
mouth from the near left
side and then lifted a high
shot just inside the right
goal post to open the scoring
with 12 seconds elapsed
in the second half.
“We got the energy up at
North Shore Country Day poses after winning its Class 1A sectional title Saturday, May 18, in Waukegan. Photo submitted
halftime and coming out I
tried to feed on that,” she
said. “I was trying to go
for the corner and get the
goal.”
Weil had another good
chance a few minutes later
but this time her shot was
stopped by goalie Kathryn
Stanfel.
The Raiders stayed in
their attacking mode and
were rewarded 12 minutes
into the half when
Edwards-Mizel’s low shot
from the right side found
the left corner of the net.
“Patience is not one
of my strong points but I
moved through traffic and
waited to shoot when the
goalie was moving out,”
Edwards-Mizel said.
After getting the assist
on Edwards-Mizel’s goal,
Forester added another insurance
goal 13 minutes
later. Caroline Segal was
credited with the assist.
Forester said: “In the second
half we came out with
a different mind-set. We
went in thinking we had to
do whatever we could to
win it.”
The victory improved
the Raiders’ record to 14-3.
Giffen believes experience
and scoring capability
are their biggest assets
as they attempt to move
on to the state championship
match and succeed
where they failed last season
against Notre Dame of
Quincy.
She has nine starters back
from that team — which
went farther than any team
in school history — and
she pointed out “we have
multiple players who have
scored 9, 10, 11 goals.”
The players are of the
opinion that they have also
have camaraderie going for
them.
“A big thing last year
was team chemistry and
this year we’ve been even
closer as a team,” Weil said.
According to Edwards-
Mizel, “we genuinely enjoy
being with each other.”
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