Girls soccer: McVeigh, St. Viator rise to the occasion against Carmel
Just a few days ago, Carmel Catholic visited East Suburban Catholic Conference girls soccer power Benet and came away with a 2-0 away victory which left the Corsairs atop the league standings and in control of their own destiny.
But on Friday night in Arlington Heights, the Corsairs (12-4-1) saw their chances of earning the championship trophy greatly diminished by St. Viator.
And now the Lions can win the title outright with a victory in its noon Saturday matchup at Nazareth Academy.
Brinley McVeigh produced a pair of first-half goals, then showed a flair for the dramatic with her third goal of the night just after intermission to inspire a 3-0 victory over the Corsairs at Robert Morris Field.
The Lions' league record now stands at 5-0-1. Carmel is 6-1-0 and third-place Benet Academy is 5-1-1.
"I felt all along if we could find someone who could finish, that along with our defense and Anna (Johnston) as our keeper would give us a chance to win the ESCC, and have a good, long run in the 2A state playoffs," said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor.
Should the Lions (11-5-2) defeat Nazareth (11-9-0, 3-3-0) in LaGrange Park on Saturday, they would earn their first conference title since 2014 (a co-championship with Benet) and its eighth outright title.
"We played so well the other night in our win at Benet, but today we really didn't play well at all," said Corsairs coach Ray Krawczak. "The easy excuse is we were tired from playing four games in four days, but that wouldn't be fair to Mike's team. And it isn't altogether true, because we didn't play with any urgency or purpose."
McVeigh was the most dangerous player in the park on Friday, as demonstrated by her elevation to head a terrific inward swinging corner from Payton McDonnell just inside the back post at seven minutes.
Up until the McVeigh strike, the Corsairs had enjoyed most of the possession from the midline forward.
"Carmel did a great job of moving it all around, and playing the ball into No. 17 (Zenaya Barnes), who held the ball and turned on us several times," said Taylor. "But Sam (DeJulio) and Amelia (Botcher), who maybe had her best game of the year, were very strong along the back tonight, not allowing really anything dangerous at Anna all night long."
Johnston earned her 14th shutout of the season.
McVeigh's second goal was superb.
After DeJulio's ball out of the back caught the Corsairs' back line pushing forward, McVeigh ran past the last defender and in full gallop eluded keeper Sophia Sarkis, who'd charged far off her line to challenge the Lions' forward.
Once free of Sarkis, a composed McVeigh fired in an angled shot from the left side to make it 2-0 in the 20th minute.
"That first goal is always the biggest when you're playing in such a big game, but it was great to add another before the half," said McVeigh.
Just after the break, McVeigh scored the final goal of the night, making this her second 3-goal game of the season. The first came against Marist.
"A missed opportunity for us tonight, and now we have to keep our fingers crossed that Naz beats St. Viator in order for us to still win it all," said Krawczak.