Krawzak's heady play lifts St. Viator over Palatine
A second-half header by Bill Krawzak, his second strike of the match, helped give host St. Viator a 3-2 victory over Palatine Saturday in the breakfast special between these two longtime rivals and respected soccer clubs.
The match-winner at 52 minutes was an excellent effort from the back post by an unmarked Krawzak set up by Tim Hogaboom, whose helper from the left side helped seal the Class 2A defending state champs' first win of the season after the Lions (1-1-0) opened the season with a less than sparkling effort in a 3-1 loss at Lake Zurich early last week.
"Today we were much improved over that match with Lake Zurich," said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor, who with his coaching counterpart at Palatine, Willie Filian, are approaching 1000 career victories between them. "We had a couple of bad mistakes which led directly to (their) two first-half goals, but other than that, we communicated better, and played with a better work rate than the other night."
The visiting Pirates (2-1-0) entered the match undefeated after a 3-2 OT victory at home against Barrington on Thursday night. But Palatine struggled in the first quarter hour against a team which was clearly outworking the defending MSL champs. That led to the first goal of the game at seven minutes, and well after the Pirates drew even in the ninth minute, when the Lions' backline failed to clear a troublesome ball in its own end.
"We didn't play very well in the first half," said Filian, "but we (were) still able to get the lead and hold it for awhile, until our inexperience and inability to keep things organzed along the back cost us near the end of the half."
Rookie GK Evan Held, who made a handful of goal-saving stops, did so when Krawzak was sent through. In doing so, however, the junior gave up a rebound just outside the box and to his right, where an opportunistic Matt Morsches smartly chipped and found the back of the net over the outstretched gloves of Held.
The Lions' faithful had little time to celebrate its lead, as moments later, Jorge Caballero came through all alone, and thumped a header into the net off a John Livaditis corner.
"We did not do a very good job of defending on (that) goal, or the second set piece in which they basically scored on their first and only chances up to that point in the game," said Lions senior and tri-captain Jack Horvath.
Just moments after a turnover by the Lions, the visitors quickly took advantage and found the go-ahead goal.
Alex Wasuniec created the chance at 24 minutes when he collected a loose ball on the left side before sending in a wonderful ball to the back post, where Caballero's one-timer found its way past keeper Mike Alegani, who'd been subbing for injured starter Scott Faul.
Showing some resolve and a little more urgency, the hosts finally found their pace, especially on the outside in the counter-attack, and with the likes Krawzak, Horvath, Mike Decker, Adam Fetter and Ashwin Cornelius, the Lions came alive for the final 10 minutes before intermission.
The Pirates allowed both Krawzak and Hogaboom to create an opportunity for Decker, who finished past Held in the 39th minute.
"(They) took advantage on the outside when they countered, just as Maine South and Barrington did at times during our first two matches, and fortunately we dodged a bullet in both of those games, but not today," Filian said.
Adam Fetter helped set up Krawzak's game-winner with a corner at the far flag.
The Lions continued to enjoy the run of play, but needed a strong second-half effort from Mike McGrath, who turned away opportunities by Martin Rodriguez and Jack Simpson.
"We've got a long, long way to go, but we saw some good things today," said Taylor, whose team meets defending 3A champion Lyons Township in LaGrange on Friday afternoon, while the Pirates begin preparations for their annual 31st annual Mike Hogan Memorial Tournament, which also begins Friday.