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28 | January 16, 2020 | The lake forest leader SPORTS LakeForestLeaderDaily.com Boys Ice Hockey Scouts pitch in for Fill a Heart 4 Kids STaff Report The Lake Forest boys ice hockey team stopped by the Gorton Community Center on Thursday, Jan. 9, to volunteer for Fill a Heart 4 Kids, a local organization that helps foster and homeless children in the area. The Scouts helped make food packages to be distributed throughout Lake County. RIGHT: Gino Farrell (left) and Frank Pinn organize the food packages. NORTH SHORE FIND THE VARSITY: NORTH SHORE ON SOUNDCLOUD, ITUNES OR LAKEFORESTLEADER.COM/SPORTS A 22ND CENTURY MEDIA PRODUCTION EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS AND INTERVIEWS about your favorite high school teams. Sports editors Michal Dwojak, Michael Wojtychiw, and Nick Frazier host the only North Shore sports podcast. Scouts help organize food packages for Fill a Heart 4 Kids on Thursday, Jan. 9, at the Gorton Community Center. Photos Submitted SCOUTS VARSITY ATHLETICS GIRLS BASKETBALL LF 43, Buffalo Grove 41 Halle Douglass scored 27 points and Finola Summerville added 10 rebounds in an overtime win. LF 45, St. Viator 32 Douglass had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Summerville chipped in 11 points on Thursday, Jan. 9. LF 51, Zion-Benton 41 Douglass totaled 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists on Saturday, Jan. 11. BOYS BASKETBALL LF 56, Grayslake North 43 Asa Thomas had 18 points, and Jack Malloy chipped in 11 for the high school highlights The rest of the week in high school sports Scouts on Jan. 7. GIRLS GYMNASTICS Straus Invitational The Scouts placed second with 141.55 points on Saturday, Jan. 11. Kristin Fisch finished fifth all-around, while Taylor Cekay and Lindsay Fontana finish in the top 10. GIRLS ICE HOCKEY LF 3, Dist. 211-214 3 Tess Clark had a goal and an assist, and Sarah Matthews made 46 saves on Sunday, Jan. 12. BOYS ICE HOCKEY New Trier Blue 2, LF 1 Conor Kuchman had the lone goal on Saturday, Jan. 11. CAXYS VARSITY ATHLETICS BOYS ICE HOCKEY MPHL Crossover Weekend The Caxys went 2-2 on the weekend at Gilmour Academy. Asher Goduco had a goal and assist in a 3-2 overtime win over Ridley on Friday, Jan. 10. Then Will Hambley made 33 saves in another 3-2 overtime win over Gilmour on Saturday, Jan. 11. BOYS BASKETBALL LFA 75, Urban Prep-West 21 The Caxys cruised to a win on Saturday, Jan. 11. WILDCATS VARSITY ATHLETICS GIRLS BASKETBALL Woodlands 44, Schaumburg Christian 24 The Wildcats won in a big way on Jan. 7.
LakeForestLeaderDaily.com SPORTS the lake forest leader | January 16, 2020 | 29 Youth Sports Posted to LakeForestLeaderDaily.com 2 days ago Windy City’s top 14U ranking a result of overall program success Nick Frazier, Sports Editor U14 Windy City roster Reese Anetsberger Hannah Balmelli Carter Barry Ella Beach Madison Beach Ella Capozzi Mackenzie Doerr Chloe Strauss Lucy Smith Windy City Field Hockey director Katie Beach didn’t know how her 14U Sparks team would fare in 2019 until one of the first showcases of the season. That unit, composed of 18 girls, traveled to Florida for the Disney Field Hockey Showcase in early February last year. That’s when Beach and assistant coach Mark Morgan began to understand the Sparks’ potential. Despite dealing with a relatively new roster, Windy City moved into the showcase’s championship bracket. “You have kids who aged out and kids who now aged up, so this is your first look at who you’re going to have,” Beach said. “That tournament, we were playing around with positions, seeing who’s got the best strengths for certain positions on the field and how we can put that into a solid team. The team just rose to the occasion, that gave us a glimpse of what this team would look like.” The Sparks continued to succeed throughout the calendar year, and as a result, the 14U squad wrapped up 2019 ranked first in USA Field Hockey’s national club rankings. Windy City won its regional and finished fifth at nationals to help secure the top ranking, thanks to an accumulation of points from previous USA Field hockey events. Beach, who played for the United States women’s national team in the 1996 Olympics, said the top ranking is the result of a strong Windy City organization. “It’s fantastic, it’s a testament to all the hard work by our athletes and our coaches and obviously the team behind the team,” Beach said. “We’ve done well over the course of all the events we go to that are sanctioned by USA Field Hockey. It’s wonderful from my perspective because even though some kids aged up, we’ve got some kids who were there from the past year and they go on to their second U14 year, we have them with that experience. They set the tempo for this new crew coming in saying ‘Hey, this is how we train, this is how we compete.’” A lot of the girls on the roster have been playing together at Windy City for about six years, and that connection showed in the team’s performances this past year. Beach credits the Sparks players’ commitment to the game for the memorable season. Some of the Sparks are multisport athletes with practices and games outside of club field hockey to get to. Windy City is a year-round club, but the Sparks made good on their commitment to get better every day. Not only that, but the Sparks are a group of driven athletes who are starting to become truly dedicated to the game of field hockey. “A lot of these girls Izzy Morgan Gemma Franco Annie Lake Annika Blom Riley Zenkewicz Katherine Malloy Honor Roberts Taylor Ross Maxine Hekster Coach: Katie Beach, Mark Morgan not only are playing with Windy City but they’re doing camps, clinics, other things to hone the skills they need to compete at a higher level,” Beach said. “I think because they’re multi-sport athletes, a lot of them are realizing this is a sport they want to play. So they’re putting in some extra time, they’re putting in the extra efforts outside of our team practices to get better at their skills.” Some credit, of course, has to go to Beach and Morgan’s coaching. The Sparks play what Beach calls “Slow Hockey,” where the Sparks focus on extra passes and less on dribbling. Instead of players making fancy moves 1-on-1, the ball does the work in order to help the team thrive. This play style works for the Sparks because of the team’s depth. There isn’t one standout player on the 14U squad, and by sharing the ball with teammates, the whole team wins. “We have a solid 18 players on our team where each of them have a different strength in their game,” Beach said. “I wouldn’t say there’s one strength in particular other than we work as a team. They know the only way we’re going to be good is if they pass to their teammate and they make The Windy City 14U Sparks team poses after a tournament in 2019. Photos submitted The Sparks put their hands in after a practice. it a good pass. I think that two-touch type of hockey, we get it, we give it, we move off ball, it shows really well in the field but it’s a team success. They rely on each other to make that happen.” The Sparks started 2019 with some competitive indoor play that improved the team’s speed and decisionmaking before Disney. The regional and national tournaments came in spring and summer, and Beach says qualifying for nationals was the highlight of the season. With the change of the calendar year, some of the girls from the 2019 14U Sparks team will move up to 16U, while others will stay in 14U and welcome new teammates. It’s a never-ending cycle that illustrates how the Sparks’ top ranking is a credit to the entire Windy City organization. “We’re more than just that U14 group that’s in the picture, that trickles into U16 and 19 as well,” Beach said. “It’s almost like a whole club ranking because so many kids were part of that U14 ranking over the past two years, they helped us gain the points to get to that spot.”
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