St. Viator strikes in 2nd half
A 4-goal second-half explosion from St. Viator all but swept away host Notre Dame on Wednesday night as the Lions roared to a 5-1 victory in an East Suburban Catholic Conference boys soccer match.
The Lions (5-3-3, 2-0-0) came to life after ending the first-half proceedings in a 1-1 draw with the Dons (3-6-1, 0-4-0). Kyle Sukowicz fired in the game-winner at 44 minutes to help fuel an offensive onslaught during which the visitors scored three times in the space of eight minutes to end the hopes of an upset by the Dons.
“Tonight, when we were good, we were very good, and except for giving up that soft goal in the first half which allowed Notre Dame to get even, we showed we’re a turf team, a team that can play quick and fast and use our speed and the skill of some of our top players,” said Lions coach Mike Taylor.
The Lions began with plenty of tempo and pace, and the Dons had trouble slowing up St. Viator attackers Ashwin Cornelius and Jackson Owens as well as midfeidlers Spencer Moore and Adam Fetter.
Owens got in on keeper Sean McGovern when Andrew Ferrante set him free along the right side, and the junior went past the Dons senior at three minutes to open the scoring.
The visitors continued to enjoy most of the possession after Owens’ early goal and came close to doubling their lead on a couple of occasions, including a cracker from Kevin Patzke at 18 minutes and on a point-blank blast from Moore in the 29th minute which McGovern stopped.
The hosts tied it seconds later through Brett Bartes’ own inspired moment, as the Dons’ best player scored out of the blue and against the run of play, finishing at the back post a well-served cross from captain Joe Hancock.
“That goal really took away the momentum that we had been building, and for the rest of the (half) we struggled to get back our form,” said Fetter, who had a hand in 2 of the Lions’ 5 goals.
St. Viator seemed to refocus at the break and made a big second-half splash, with Sukowicz making his mark by redirecting a Troy Wheeler header past McGovern.
The Lions lost Moore at 48 minutes when the sophomore aggravated a sore right foot, but Cornelius and Fetter picked up the pace in his absence, and the duo began to dominate play when the visitors went forward.
“We started the second-half playing really well, and continued to do so until we broke the game open,” said Cornelius.
Owens’ goal made it 3-1 in the 67th minute. Ferrante started the sequence with a fine serve up the right side, which allowed Owens to send a shot through McGovern’s gloves.
Stefan Miller, who shared the work between the sticks with Mike McGrath for St. Viator, answered his only call to save in the second half when the junior stopped Bartes’ blast from the right side from 10 yards.
Seven minutes later, Cornelius slotted under McGovern after he and Fetter came through the center channel untouched.
Cornelius brought down a loose ball in the area and one-timed a low drive past McGovern to increase the Lions’ lead to 4 goals at 75 minutes. Cornelus had a 22-yard scoring blast pulled back by the referee, and that was all the prevented him from having a second-half hat trick.
“We played 80 minutes of good soccer against O’Fallon last Friday, then came back and gave a good showing for 40 minutes with Larkin before our third game in three days caught up to us,” said Taylor.
“But I am beginning to see us play within the system, and the boys are starting to understand what we expect from them. Hopefully that means a strong second half of the season, leading into the playoffs.”
The Lions next host Evanston on Saturday in a morning match which has been moved to Celtic Park in Palatine.