Girls soccer: Mueller's goal enough fo St. Viator

Don't be fooled by the final score.

St. Viator's 1-0 victory over Joliet Catholic Academy was a comprehensive 80-minute effort in Arlington Heights on a dreadful weather night at Morris Field in Arlington Heights on Tuesday.

Michaela Mueller was the goal-scoring hero.

The duo of Lauren Kohn and Payton McDonnell controlled the middle of the park all night long.

And back-line mates Maggie Leazer and Maureen McGrath saw to it that JCA (1-4-1, 0-1-0) stayed far away from the Lions' keeper throughout.

"The first 20 minutes we just dominated today, said Lions coach Mike Taylor. "We should have had two, maybe three goals. And although they (Joliet) played hard and with a lot of heart, it was a very good all-around effort."

"This is such a young team, and we had a little bit of a rough start," said Kohn, a 2015 all-area selection and three-time all-East Suburban Catholic Conference choice. "But we're slowly starting to come around while figuring out how to play the system (Taylor) has in place.

"As soon as we start to finish some of the those chances we're creating, things will get better for us."

Kohn and her new running mate, McDonnell, looked in midseason form.

Their distribution, creativity and ability to run at the Angels with regularity helped forwards such as Meagan Vicens, Delia Douglas and Mueller force the guests to defend far more than they would have liked on the cold and rainy night.

The best of several first-half Viator chances came at 22 minutes when Vicens was put through and in on JCA keeper Grace Whalen. She stayed with Vicens' low drive to help keep her club even with the Lions (2-1-1, 2-0-0) at the break.

Although JCA defended valiantly after the intermission, and for nearly the entire second period, it was clear St. Viator would soon get into the back of the net.

There were a handful of half chances, sandwiched in between a couple of glorious opportunities, one each for Douglas, Vicens and Kohn.

Finally it was Mueller's nifty half-volley that was the difference, with Ashley Steadman recording the assist on the 61st-minute strike.

"We're making a step forward with each time out, and we hope to continue that on Thursday against Nazareth, Taylor said.