Is this the year for Viator?

The slimmest of margins can make the biggest differences. The St. Viator boys lacrosse team proved that last year as they were ousted by MSL rival Barrington last year in the second round of the playoffs with just 3 seconds left in regulation.

"The cliché in sports is that there's always next year," Lions coach Bill Sanford said.

The Lions came out this year looking to get off to fast start and thus far have achieved that. They hold an 8-2 overall record with a 3-0 record against the MSL including wins over Schaumburg, Conant, and Palatine.

"Our conference is always competitive," Sanford said. "So to start off with three wins is very good."

St. Viator is currently riding a seven-game winning streak, most recently beating Highland Park 7-2 Tuesday.

"We won the game, but we didn't play as well as we should have," Sanford said. "We didn't play smart and we didn't capitalize on some opportunities."

The Lions are led by a handful of seniors including goalie Pat Gaeger, and attackers Pat McGee, Drew Hower and Rob Smith.

"These seniors have been the cornerstones of this organization ever since I've been here," Sanford said.

St. Viator will hope to go much further this year with this talented group of seniors.

"We just have to play our game and never take a step back," Sanford said.

St. Viator was scheduled for a rematch with Barrington on Thursday at Harper College and is slated to play Fremd Saturday at 10 a.m.

Fremd: After a .500 season last year, Fremd coach John Cygnar is very excited coming into this season.

"With the group of seniors and the talent in the underclasses, I think we can contend with the anyone," Cygnar said.

Fremd (1-1) is led by seniors goalie Skip Detrich who will be playing lacrosse at Washington and Lee University (Virginia) in the fall and midfielder Brian Rooney who has yet to decide if he will play lacrosse or junior hockey.

On Monday, Fremd played Stevenson -- the same Stevenson team which knocked them out of the second round of last year's playoffs.

"We thought this was going to be a very physical game, and we were right," Cygnar said.

The Vikings, led by senior midfielder Justin Hart (2 goals, 2 assists), battled back and forth the entire game but they couldn't quite pull it out losing 5-3.

"We played great," Cygnar said. "We had high intensity and played with a great Stevenson team."

Cygnar said his team could compete with some of the best teams in the state, and one of his goals would be a first for the Fremd lacrosse program.

"I believe we can make it past the second round of the playoffs," Cygnar said.

The Vikings were scheduled to play Palatine on Thursday and have a game against St. Viator at home on Saturday.

Schaumburg: It's not often you see a 2-15 team in the playoffs. The Schaumburg lacrosse team accomplished that feat last year as they were beaten in the first round by Libertyville. This year is already looking like a different story.

The Saxons are 2-2 overall with a 2-1 conference record with wins against Palatine and Hoffman Estates.

"This year we're hoping to pick up a lot of wins against teams we lost to last year," coach Jon Novotny said. "We want to improve and get back to the top of the MSL."

Schaumburg beat conference foe Hoffman Estates Monday, with a thrilling 7-6 double overtime win. Under the conditions they were win, Novotny wasn't complaining.

"It was so marshy on the field, all the ball would do would is get stuck in the mud," Novotny said.

It looked as if Schaumburg would win in the first OT, but as much as they kept in Hoffman's zone, they couldn't find the net.

"Hoffman's goalie made some excellent saves, as did ours," Novotny said.

In the second overtime however, Schaumburg finally found the net 2:30 in as senior midfielder Dan Knudson scored the winner.

"Dan was left wide open in the middle of the field and threw it right over his shoulder for a great goal," Novotny said. "That was a good conference win for us."

Schaumburg will rely on senior goalie Mike Torren, Knudson, and senior attacker Blaine Skinner to improve a promising Saxon team.

"We hope to continue to build on the confidence of our last two conference wins and ride that for a while," Novotny said.

Schaumburg was scheduled to play at home against on Thursday night against Grayslake Central. today Schaumburg will play cross-town rival Conant at Conant at 7:30 p.m.