St. Viator tops St. Joseph, heads to state
A 3-goal second-half explosion Tuesday night by St. Viator mesmerized its East Sububan Catholic Conference rival St. Joseph with the sort of sleight-of-hand soccer the Lions have become known for.
St. Viator earned a 3-1 victory at the Benedictine supersectional to send the Lions into the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament. The Lions (22-4-1) will face Triad (15-9-2) at 1 p.m. Friday at North Central College in Naperville in its first state appearance since 2004.
Trevor Wheeler and Kevin Cavers were both instrumental in a second-half turnaround which stunned the Chargers, who had been kept in the match by a brilliant effort from keeper Jovani Castanon. Both Wheeler and Cavers said they thought St. Viator played "tight" in the first half, and that advice from coach Mike Taylor made all the difference.
"Taylor told us at the break to play composed and not to panic, and to get the ball wide instead and go from there," said Wheeler. "Once we (found) that first goal, things opened up for us and the match turned in our favor."
Both Wheeler and Cavers were united in the Lions' inability to finish on a couple of early chances, likely allowing the Chargers (20-4-1) to gain some confidence. Meanwhile, the Lions' attack which was surprisingly careless with possession in the middle of the park.
Alan Aboona saw his blast saved by Castanon at the half hour, and the junior keeper seemed to defy the laws of gravity just seconds before the break when a Wheeler shot in close was redirected on the way through - yet Castanon was somehow able to change directions in mid-air to turn away the shot.
Just moments before, Jose Carrera took advantage of a Lions backline which lost its shape when going forward. The St. Joseph sophomore beat keeper Scott Faul, who drifted off his line on the challenge.
"I really thought we had the run of play in the first half, but we weren't very sharp with the ball, and we gave up a bad goal right at the end," Taylor said. "But we played near perfect soccer in the second half, and without their keeper, we could have easily been up by 4-5 goals at the end."
With the Lions making the Chargers' all-state striker Marco Gutierrez a non-factor for 80 minutes, Wheeler's and Cavers' mates began mounting swift and dangerous counter-attacks up and down the outside.
Billy Hamilton drew the Lions even at 55 minutes when he finished low and to the right side after Aboona and Cavers initiated the sequence. Ten minutes later it was Hamilton again as the Lions' playmaker finished another Cavers helper.
Faul stopped Gutierrez when he was sent through at 74 minutes. Three minutes later Cavers added icing to the cake when a bit of trickery brought the senior in close before he fired past a diving Castanon.
"It felt good to score 2 goals tonight, but it feels even better knowing we'll be playing Friday at the state tournament," said Hamilton.
"We told the boys afterwards that (they) are now a legacy because they will come away with a trophy this weekend," said Taylor. "But we now we have out sites on the big trophy on Saturday."