Lake Forest's State Soccer Journey Ends With Regional Title Loss to Fremd

boys' soccer season came to a close Friday night following a 2-1 loss to Fremd in the finals of the Fremd Regional in Palatine.

The host Vikings scored with 29:03 left in the first half when Nick Tambellini drilled a shot from about 25 yards out. Within a minute of Tambellini's score, Brian Hindle put a free kick into the back of the net, giving Fremd an early 2-0 lead.

Fremd would make the lead hold up with tough defensive play that prevented Lake Forest from mounting much of an attack.

"It was a good, hard fought game. We did what teams have to do this time of year," said Fremd coach Steve Keller. "We're not going to get, every night, the two shots we had. So you're going to need to scrap for goals or get some goals off of some set pieces."

Despite the early deficit, Lake Forest (14-5-1) fought back into the contest. With about 15 minutes left in the first half, Lake Forest nearly scored on a free kick. However, Fremd goalie Colton Caesius made a nice save by tipping it over the net. The ball went out of bounds, giving Lake Forest a corner kick, but they were unable to capitalize.

"We battled back, I thought in the second half we controlled the ball," Lake Forest coach Rob Parry said. "We had chances, we had restarts, set pieces. We had opportunities that we didn't take advantage of."

cut the lead in half at the 26:25 mark of the second half. Michael Shipp sent a corner kick that landed within six yards outside the net area. The ball dribbled into Fremd's goal after a clustered scrum in front of the net.

Earlier, James Ankenman threatened Vikings keeper Colton Caesius in the 23rd minute on a 50-50 ball. Caesius suffered an injury, giving way to Steve Soltykiewicz in the 59th minute.

Fremd (13-5-2) advances to the Palatine sectional and will face the winner of Saturday's Palatine-Libertyville matchup on Tuesday (Oct. 25).