St. Viator holds off Marian Catholic rally
While most area soccer teams have been practicing on cement parking lots or inside their schools while the snow and rain kept falling, St. Viator has missed just one game out of seven so far.
The Lions played three games at Niles North, which has artificial turf. But St. Viator was unable to play Hersey. That game will be played sometime later this season and the winner will also win the St. Viator Tournament.
The Lions played on their home field for the first time this season Wednesday when they hosted Marian Catholic in their first East Suburban Catholic Conference match.
Viator scored the first 3 goals, then held on as Marian Catholic pushed up in the second half. The final score was 3-2 as Viator and boosted its overall record to 5-0-1.
Viator had a slow start, then found a spark and scored 2 goals. The first one came from Taylor Skala on an assist from Colleen Nolan.
It became 2-0 when Susan Szymczak found the net thanks to a pass from Nolan.
At the start of the second half, Jackie Tumberger got the ball past Marian goalkeeper Chloe Peterson on a free kick by Lauren Cozzi.
"They put two players on Skala and left me open," Tumberger said of her game-winning goal. "It just was motivating for me. I expected them to come after us. But we stepped up and wanted it more than they did."
But the game turned around and Marian began taking the attack to the Lions. That resulted in a goal from Meghan Rockrohr on an assist from her twin sister Molly.
It became 3-2 late in the match when Mia Cleary scored on a free kick by Molly Rockrohr.
"We played under our ability by far. But the fact we held on and won it, I think we have some pride," said first-year Viator coach Sam Donnelly. "I know our goalkeeper (sophomore Stephanie Shanahan) was under pressure but we wanted her under pressure. It doesn't make you better sitting on the bench."
"Our defense played better in the second half," said Viator assistant Chris Fischer. "They were in the game and that made it exciting."
Marian's offense was offset by the play of the Lions' defense, led by Nolan and Lauren Gallagher, who made things somewhat easier for Shanahan.
Barrington 1, Meadows 0: Sophomore Lauren Decraene scored the only goal in the second half for Barrington (2-1, 1-0) in the MSL crossover. Natalie Robertaccio had 3 saves and Katie Goldrath had 5 saves as they shared the shutout in goal.
Conant 1, Hersey 0: Lauren Jason's second-half goal off a Meghan Melone feed was all Conant (4-0, 1-0) needed in the early-season MSL crossover showdown. Monica Danek had 5 saves for the Cougars.
Julia Fredian had 2 saves for Hersey (4-1-1, 0-1).
BG 2, Hoffman 0: Vickie Rich had a goal and an assist and Jordyn Lucas stopped 4 shots for Buffalo Grove (2-3-1) in the MSL crossover. Erika Chan had the assist on the goal by Rich, who had the helper on Kelly Mahoney's goal.
Brittany Calendo had 6 saves for Hoffman.
Fremd 5, Prospect 1: Ariana Foster had 2 goals and 3 assists and Susie Plager scored 2 goals to lead Fremd (2-0, 1-0) to the MSL crossover victory at Prospect. Alex Her had a goal and an assist and Allison Casey had an assist for the winners.
Lauren Pusateri and Allison Norenberg split the victory in goal for Fremd. Rebecca Santiago's second-half goal helped Prospect avert the shutout.
Elk Grove 0, Palatine 0: Jen Jarvis had 11 saves for Elk Grove (0-2-1, 0-0-1) in the scoreless MSL crossover draw at Palatine.