Resilient Carmel finally solves St. Viator
The will to win showed clearly Wednesday afternoon.
Carmel’s resiliency surfaced when needed most as the Corsairs stunned host St. Viator in 1-0 in overtime Wednesday in East Suburban Catholic Conference boys soccer play.
Ian Heinrich’s goal in the 84th minute saved the day for the Corsairs, who kept their hopes alive in the race for the conference championship.
Heinrich somehow guided his shot into the back of the net after a scrum erupted following a free kick awarded after Todd Holup was fouled by the Lions (10-4-4, 4-1-0). That started a wild celebration by coach John Halloran’s club, which inched closer to conference-leading Benet. The Redwings stand atop the ESCC ladder at 5-0-0.
“We’re going to become fans of St. Viator from here on out,” said Halloran with a wry smile, knowing his team must win its last two matches against St. Patrick and Marian Catholic and hope the Lions can upend Benet on the final day of the regular season to perhaps force a three-way tie for the league lead.
“It’s kind of standard practice that the title comes down to the last week of the season between the three of us,” said Halloran, “and even though we still have a lot of work ahead of us, we’re all exited to get a win where we haven’t had a lot of success of late, both on the boys and girls side of things.”
The Lions were coming off a successful trip in Springfield last weekend, where they outscored three opponents 4-0. So St. Viator was hoping to extend that momentum toward four matches against ESCC opponents.
“We didn’t come to play,” said Lions coach Mike Taylor. “Maybe we’re not as good as we think we are, but we sure didn’t play the way we know how to, and afterward all I heard were excuses about this and that ... I guess we’ll see how we respond from here on out, and hopefully see some leadership that we appear to be lacking right now.”
Neither team was able to maintain possession consistently at midfield, which made for few quality scoring chances and shots on goal through regulation.
“It wasn’t very pretty out there to say the least,” said Halloran. “There was a lot at stake today, and I think both teams knew it, and that led to a lot of frantic play. I know for us, we never really knocked the ball around and possessed the way we like to.”
The best chances of the first half fell to the visitors, the first coming at 20 minutes when a wonderful cross-field serve from Christian Avalos led to a header that was easily saved by Mike McGrath at the back post. Moments later, Mike Scheer used a deft touch over the top met Avalos on the run, but the shot lacked enough pace to challenge McGrath, who once again made an easy save.
Avalos was around the box once again when the junior redirected a free kick from Mike Reed on frame, but that was all the Corsairs (10-4-3, 5-1-0) could manage before intermission.
“St. Viator went over the top on us for most of the match, resulting in a bunch of set piece and dead-ball opportunities, but I thought we defended most of them really well, and held up against all of that (extra) pressure along the back,” said Halloran.
A spectacular save sequence from Stefan Miller, who came on after the break, was the highlight of the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Lions junior seemed to single-handedly keep his club in the match, once by taking a would-be goal from Heinrich out of the back of the net.
Heinrich initiated more trouble in the Lions’ box at 47 minutes, sending a well-aimed free kick to the back post, where an acrobatic Miller turned away attempts from Justin Gibbons and Avalos as the ball danced along the end line for what appeared to be an eternity to the Lions faithful.
“Their keeper was just amazing with those back-to-back saves, I don’t know how he stopped all of us,” said Heinrich.
With extra time looking to become more of reality as the end of regulation grew closer, Troy Wheeler jumped into the attack from out of the back on a Lions counter and sent a lovely ball to the back post, where Spencer Moore collected but fired wide of Corsairs keeper Steve Sliwa as the Carmel fans held their breath.
The first of two five-minute OT sessions was controlled by the visitors, and it wasn’t too long before the Corsairs and Heinrich ended the day the way they’d hoped it would.
“Christian (Avalos) had a great game, and his ability to keep the ball alive with his header back toward me was the reason I was able to get the ball off and past the keeper for the game-winner,” said Heinrich.