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Girls soccer: St. Viator digs in, tops Wauconda for sectional title

Ever since a tough loss to Prairie Ridge in last year's sectional semifinal round, the St. Viator girls soccer team has been hungry.

A victory in Saturday's sectional final hosted by the Lions ought to go a long way toward finally taking the edge off.

Third-seeded St. Viator shut out top seed Wauconda 1-0 to claim the Class 1A sectional title at Robert Morris University in Arlington Heights.

The Lions (16-5-3) next play Burlington Central (22-2) in the supersectional at Streamwood's Millennium Field at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

St. Viator suffered one of its losses to Wauconda (17-2-1) during the regular season.

An improved defense was the difference this time, as the Lions got another shutout from keeper Anna Johnston.

"It's been our mainstay all year," St. Viator coach Mike Taylor said. "We bend, but we don't break. We'll give them one here or there. We're playing pretty well back there. We knew (Wauconda) was a good team and we had to shut down (Kayla Wisniewski). We had to limit touches on the ball and I knew we would be fine. It takes a lot to beat my defense. I'll put my defense pretty much against anybody."

The New Hampshire-bound Johnston made 6 stops in earning her shutout, with big contributions in front of her from Amelia Bottcher, Samantha DeJulio, Christina Petrillo and Maeve Schumacher.

"Coming into this game, we knew that Wauconda was dangerous because we lost to them earlier in the season," Johnston said. "It really came down to our attitudes, and how bad we wanted it."

Getting the 1-0 lead helped the Lions, but Wauconda was still able to generate pressure.

"Even though we scored early, it made me more nervous," Johnston said. "That second goal that gets scored, it really changes the attitude of the game. If we put it away, then we can take it - but if they put it in, then you have to come back even stronger than you did before. Even though we scored first, it brought on more pressure."

St. Viator's goal came in the 23td minute, when Payton McDonnell was able to finish in front after a pass from Mary Ann Castelli. It was McDonnell's 10th goal of the season.

"All season long we've been getting the ball to the outsides and getting balls in," McDonnell said. "It was a great ball to me. It was a big goal for the game. To go up 1-0 in the first half, it takes the pressure off our defense a little bit so we can play our game."

Wauconda had another outstanding season stopped in the sectional final, which was the same point the team reached last season.

The Bulldogs had scoring chances early in the match but were frustrated ultimately by the lack of scoring.

"(St. Viator) did a good job of applying more pressure on us today," Wauconda coach Beau Shogren said. "We lost the 50/50 battle for a while. We weren't able to possess the ball, and they really broke our possession. In the end, we put on a lot of pressure. We had the ball in the area but couldn't find anything clean. (St. Viator's) game plan was good and they got the best of us today.

"I think we had the right girls out there the entire game, a few subs got in there to be a part of it. We had a couple of near-chances in the first half. We just needed to play a little bit better - and give them credit, because they put the pressure on us. It takes something special to beat their goalkeeper and as good as they were playing defense. It was tough to crack that nut."

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