St. Viator reigns at CL Central
Regional host Crystal Lake Central's dream of knocking off a second straight high seed ended abruptly Friday afternoon as lightning delays and tournament-tested St. Viator proved too much for the Tigers.
A determined No. 1 Lions club roared to a 4-0 victory to capture the championship trophy on a wild weather day as play was halted on both sides of the halves, and was finished in a steady rain.
The Lions (17-8-1) advance into Tuesday's Class 2A sectional semifinal at Lakes High School to face the winner of today's Grayslake Central-Vernon Hills match.
"We're still not playing our best soccer yet," said St. Viator senior backline standout Meghan McGrath, who with all the firepower this club has up front still found the back of the net two times within 90 seconds to seal the Lions' victory.
"Our defense did its job today, and (we) made sure to hold (Central) for most of the day."
McGrath, Ariana Kulinczenko and Jackie Tumberger helped keep things air-tight in the back, while the rest of their mates found their pace in the early stages. Still, the early stages of the match didn't please coach Mike Taylor.
"It was pretty ugly in that first half," he said. "(Assistant coach) T.J. King had them scouted really well, saying that they play hard and put a body on you all over the field.
"They are a well-coached team, and did just that, and we had some trouble with the wet conditions and not playing simple for most of that first half."
The Tigers (12-6-0) were clearly content to sit deep, particularly sweeper Mary Grace Thomas, one of the club's co-captains. Yet the visitors were unable to exploit the space the hosts gave away until Katelyn Hammarlund's industrious run up the right side ended with the sophomore finishing a dangerous ball from the left side from Taylor Skala.
Three minutes before the break, Skala extended the Lions' lead to 2-0 with a terrific individual effort, beating first a Tigers defender, then keeper Cory Gustin, who challenged off her line to stop the Lions' top goal scorer.
"That goal was a tough one for us to take, as was the first stoppage time for lightning at 25 minutes," said Central coach Joe Schroeder. "I thought before that we were beginning to gain our confidence, and started to get forward some, but that goal, coupled with the 20-minute break and wait to resume, really did us in."
McGrath took advantage of the slick turf and some advice from King to make it 3-0 when her 45-yard free-kick missile rocketed off the grass and off the far post before going over the endline in the 51st minute.
"I was planning on going far post, but King told me to put it on frame, because he felt a goal coming if I did so," McGrath said with a smile.
The Lions captain finished the scoring moments later when she turned in close to get into the back of the net after collecting a corner from Samantha Gavin.
"Good teams find a way to win games like this, and that's what we did today." Taylor said.