New Trier knows that if it is to win its third consecutive PepsiCo Showdown, it is going to have to go through some tough teams en route to the big prize.

The Trevians, the top-seeded team in the tournament, were able to outlast a talented Lake Forest squad 4-0 on a chilly night April 12 in Northfield.

New Trier, which hadn’t allowed a goal this season, was looking to keep that streak going against a Scout team that had scored 27 goals through six games. The Trevs got a scare early but were able to keep its opponent off the scoreboard yet again.

New Trier goalie Dani Kaufman was tested early as Lake Forest (5-1-1) maunfactured a couple good chances, but she was able to stop both shots fired at her in the opening three minutes of the match.

“I think coming into this game everyone was a little nervous, but the way we came and showed out, it was better than I think some of us expected,” Lake Forest’s Paige Bourne said. “We created a bunch of chances but couldn’t finish them and the difference was New Trier did. They were out in front of the box always looking to score.”

Kelly Maday, who was coming off of a hat trick in New Trier’s 6-0 first-round PepsiCo Showdown win over Lincoln-Way North, put the Trevians up early. She knifed her way down the field, going through multiple Lake Forest defenders and using a crossover to help her gain advantage for the game’s first goal with 35:51 to go in the first half.

“Lake Forest is probably our most challenging game we’ve played so far and it’s always a struggle getting by them because they know us so well from club,” said Maday, who scored her ninth goal of the year.

In the 23rd minute, senior midfielder Molly Purcell snuck a shot past the Lake Forest goalie off of a feed from junior forward Hannah Arment.

“Getting that first goal was big because it set the game up for us mentally,” Maday said. “It allowed us to just relax.’’

Despite being down 2-0, Lake Forest didn’t seem discouraged, as it continued to pepper Kaufman, forcing the Bucknell-bound senior to make save after save, including a ball that looked like it was about to go in until Kaufman reached up to punch it away.

Maday had a chance for a second goal with 2:48 remaining in the half but she couldn’t control the ball and it trickled wide of the goal.

The second half included a couple firsts for the Trevians.

Sydney Parker chipped in a shot off a Maday throw-in for her first goal of the season with 35:24 remaining to extend the New Trier lead to 3-0.

In the meantime, Lake Forest’s Delaney Williams continued to try to bring the Scouts closer and break up the Trevians’ streak. The junior midfielder had three of her shots thwarted by Kaufman in the second half.

“Their defense is good and it was just able to shut us down,” Williams said. “Yeah they scored one goal fast but it didn’t stop us from fighting. We came out looking for the upset but we didn’t get it.”

Freshman Lily Conely picked up not only her first goal of the year, but the first of her career, when she put a ball away with 1:52 remaining in the match, giving the Trevians the final tally. The talented midfielder is the only freshman on the New Trier squad.

With the win, the Trevians advance to the semifinals Thursday where they’ll host Evanston at 7 p.m. for a chance to continue to advance toward another PepsiCo Showdown title match (the championship game is scheduled for April 24 at Illinois Tech). The Wildkits escaped Tuesday with a 3-2 win over St. Charles North. The ninth-seeded Scouts move on to play at Lake Zurich on Thursday.

“We’ll take this game as a starting point for the rest of our season,” Bourne said. “We know we played a great game against a great team and we can play like this more often.”

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