WC_052319

36 | May 23, 2019 | The winnetka Current SPORTS
winnetkacurrent.com
Girls soccer
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 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.”
North Shore Country Day poses after winning its Class
1A sectional title Saturday, May 18, in Waukegan. Photo
submitted
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.”
Boys tennis
New Trier sweeps its own sectional, Loyola takes second
Todd marver
Freelance Reporter
In the first sectional at
New Trier’s new Northfield
campus tennis courts,
New Trier’s sectional
participants placed first
and second in singles and
doubles to lead the Trevians
to a sectional title with
a perfect score of 36 on
Saturday, May 18. Both of
New Trier’s singles players
and both doubles teams
advanced to state. The Trevians
have much higher aspirations
than just winning
the sectional though. New
Trier placed second in state
last year and hope to top
that.
“Every year we’re basically
trying to win state, so
I’d be pretty disappointed if
we didn’t win sectionals,”
sophomore Jay Wagh said.
“I think we’re all pretty set
to win state.”
New Trier senior Jake Zipoli
was the singles champion
of the sectional, while
the team of junior Dylan
Drier and Wagh was the
sectional’s doubles champion.
Sophomore Max
Bengtsson placed second in
singles, while senior Brent
Saltzman and sophomore
Colin Fox placed second
in doubles. Drier and Wagh
won the all-New Trier doubles
final over Saltzman
and Fox 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. Prior
to the championship match,
Drier and Wagh won their
first three matches of the
tournament rather easily
(6-0, 6-0), (6-0, 6-1) and
(6-0, 6-2).
“It was a breeze for the
first two matches,” Wagh
said. “I think we went hard
and played well. The last
match was tough because
it was against our own
team, but we still played
well throughout the whole
match.”
Saltzman and Fox didn’t
lose a set in its first three
matches of the tournament.
They won their second
match of sectionals by default
and won the other two
6-0, 6-0.
The singles championship
match was not played.
Zipoli won it over Bengtsson
by default. Like his
doubles counterparts, Zipoli
also won his first three
matches of the tournament
rather easily (6-0, 6-0), (6-
1, 6-0), (6-1, 6-1).
“I’ve improved a lot
thanks to this team,” Zipoli
said. “I started kind of hot
then went down, struggled
at the beginning of the year
and then the team helped
me get better and now I feel
that I could do the best that
I could ever do.”
Like Saltzman and Fox,
Bengtsson also didn’t lose a
set in his first three matches
of the tournament, winning
them all 6-0, 6-0.
Loyola placed second
in the sectional with 17
points and advanced both
of its doubles teams to
state. Seniors Michael and
Ryan Reardon placed third
in doubles at the sectional,
while seniors John Carpenter
and Patrick Lawler
placed fourth.
“We usually only have
one group qualify for state,
so having two doubles
teams is awesome,” Ryan
Reardon said. “We’d like
to have some singles, but
we’ll get them next year I
guess, but it’s super awesome
that we have two
teams qualifying.”
The two Loyola doubles
teams faced off in the thirdplace
match with the Reardons
emerging victorious
7-6, 6-0. The Reardons won
a hard-fought state qualifying
match on Friday over
Evanston’s Alec Avery and
Ben Ward 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
“We had a tough match
yesterday against Evanston
that went to three
sets. At some point it felt
like we weren’t even going
to make it through the
first day,” Michael Reardon
said. “But we made it
through and then ended up
with third. We didn’t even
expect to win today, so it
was a good feeling.”
The Reardons started
the tournament with a 6-2,
6-3 win prior to their statequalifying
match. They
lost 6-0, 6-0 to New Trier’s
second-place doubles team
in the semifinals prior to
winning third place.
“It just feels great,” Michael
Reardon said. “At
the beginning of the season
our one goal was to make
it to state and now we not
only accomplished it, but
we also came in third in the
seeding which is nice. It’s a
great feeling.”
Carpenter and Lawler
won their first match of the
tournament 6-0, 6-0 and
won their second match
6-2, 6-3. They then lost 6-0,
6-2 to New Trier’s firstplace
doubles team in the
semifinals prior to losing
the third-place match.