St. Viator eludes Wheaton Academy in OT
An overtime winner from sophomore Ashwin Cornelius gave St. Viator a dramatic 2-1 victory over Wheaton Academy early Saturday morning and a spot in the championship match of the Mid-State Classic at Olympic Park in Schaumburg.
The Lions (11-4-2), who Friday afternoon failed to impress coach Mike Taylor in a rather lackluster 2-0 win against Schaumburg in its tournament opener, were unable to get a rise out of the veteran coach for the second-straight day, despite back-to-back shutout victories toward a matchup with Evanston or Wheaton North.
"This might have been uglier than yesterday with Schaumburg," said Taylor, who watched his lads battle the highly regarded Class 2A Warriors, as well as storm-like winds for nearly 90 minutes, before Cornelius snuck in his goal just minutes before this match went to a shootout.
"It didn't help that we were missing two starters from our lineup (Adam Fetter and Jack Simpson) and that we lose (Michael) Decker (later) on," Taylor said, "but we just didn't play very well, and especially with our possession, which is something that has been lacking during the past two ball games."
The Warriors (10-5-1), who were coming off an expressive 3-0 result from the day before over Quincy Notre Dame, which featured a penalty kick save from keeper Jesse Carmody, could only take advantage of a ferocious first-half wind at its back on one occasion. That came at 23 minutes when co-captain Stephen Fernandes showed terrific composure when running onto Devin Moore's corner and striking into the back of the net to culminate a quarter-hour of play in which the Warriors were in charge.
"I thought we did a good job of managing the wind in the first half, but we struggled after the break, while (St. Viator) produced so many opportunities off long throws until a mistake along the back allowed to get even," said Warriors head coach Jeff Brooke.
"(Their) high pressure really helped take away a lot of what we do, and, even though we tried to possess, we were unable to get anything going because of that."
Continued gusty winds, along with the postage-stamped sized turf at the park, made for less than artistic soccer when both clubs would change sides at the intermission. The Warriors looked to playmakers Moore, Fernandes, Andrew Luetkehans, Brian McLean and others when the wind was in their favor.
The Lions, on the other hand, found balls over the top from its backline would produce plenty of deep throws from its long-throw specialist Nick Abel to help keep the pressure on the Warriors and its keeper Carmody.
"That's what we work on all the time, and I actually train (to) do (just) that," said Abel, who came up midway through the Lions state title run last fall, and would be a key figure along the back both defensively, and with his searing dead-ball throws.
Carmody would elevate high above a group of attacking Lions to pull down a perfect throw to the spot from Abel. Carmody's teammate Trevor Adams would clear two others which seemed destined for the back of the net.
However, the Warriors would allow another Abel screamer to fall inside the 6, where an anxious Bill Krawzak would slot under Carmody to bring this match even at 55 minutes.
"The only thing we haven't done (lately) is score, so that's why we need to be tight in the back, and not give anything up," said Abel, who along with Dan Loizzi, Joe Surdam and Matt Morsches, kept the chances on keeper Scott Faul to a minimum.
After a quiet first overtimee, Jack Horvath, would carry and run to the endline, before finding Cornelius on the other side in the 88th minute to end the match.
"We've been in two previous PK situations (this) season, and we seemed resigned to going to another before St. Viator scored the game-winner, so I am not sure if that caused the let down for (their) winning goal (or) not, but it was still a tough way to end for us nonetheless," admitted Brooke.