Skala, St. Viator eliminate Vernon Hills
Taylor Skala three times this season has scored 3 goals in a match, and she did one better Tuesday night.
Skala scored 4 goals and assisted on another goal, surpassing the 30-goal mark for the season, and St. Viator rolled past Vernon Hills 6-0 in the Class 2A Lakes sectional semifinals in Lake Villa.
St. Viator (18-8-1) will meet up next with Lakes (21-6) in the sectional final Friday at 7 p.m. in Lake Villa.
The secret to Skala's success? A lot of sweat.
"It's taken a lot of hard work in the off-season and in practice," Skala said. "We've worked a lot on set plays and runs. ... We were able to take the ball to the outside and get the ball back to the middle."
St. Viator coach Mike Taylor knew that Vernon Hills (8-10-2) would have a hard time trying to slow down Skala.
"It's very hard to contain her," Taylor said. "She is very good and our midfielders (Molly McMahon, Samantha Gavin and Ariana Kulinczenko) dictated the flow of the game."
The Lions scored twice in the first half. Skala got St. Viator on the board in the 12th minute off an assist from Meghan Malone.
Skala added another in the 27th minute by making moves through the Cougars defense after taking a pass from Erin Malone.
"Once we got going we were OK," Taylor said. "It took us a while to get going, finishing-wise. We played this game with a lot of respect. (Vernon Hills) was a good team."
St. Viator added four more goals in the second half. Skala scored twice, while Chloe Luthringshausen and Sara Zanfardino had the others. Katelyn Hammarlund added 2 assists, Skala and Carlson had the other assists.
"St. Viator definitely was the better team," Vernon Hills coach Vince DeLuca said. "Just getting to this game was big for us. We just wanted a chance to play in it and we got here. We played St. Viator once before and we knew they were a good team.
"I'm not disappointed at all," DeLuca added. "This was a fun season. We improved throughout the year and did things that people didn't expect us to do by winning a regional."