St. Viator forces ESCC tie
So close to closing out conference rivals St. Viator and Carmel for the East Suburban Catholic Conference boys soccer championship, Benet instead was stunned by a pair of late goals.
The game-winner came at 77 minutes from Adam Fetter as St. Viator prevailed 2-1 Friday afternoon at Celtic Park in Palatine, helping the Lions to a share of the league title.
Benet, Carmel and St. Viator each finished with 7-1-1 records in a three-way tie for the league title for the first time since since 2001. That year, Carmel, St. Viator and St. Joseph shared the league championship.
“On one hand, we get to share the conference title after finishing fourth last season,” said Benet coach Sean Wesley. “However, on the other, it is so disappointing to be just seven minutes away from winning outright, not protecting our lead, like we know how to do, then eventually giving away 2 goals.”
Lions sophomore Spencer Moore struck the equalizer in the 73rd minute to help set up Fetter’s late heroics.
“Sometimes you have to win ugly games, and today was an ugly one, but it was just the type of win this team needed heading into the playoffs,” said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor.
The hosts weren’t much more than spectators in the first half-hour as the Redwings (13-4-2, 7-1-0) owned most of the possession. But they lacked the killer touch in the final third and went scoreless.
Alex Senak hit an absolute thunderbolt into the upper corner at 30 minutes to put the visitors on the scoreboard to reward the Redwings for their effort. But that’s all they got, as several quality chances were wasted and quality work from Stefan Miller stopped the others.
“If we put any of those chances into the back of the net, I have to believe we go into the break with at least a 2- or 3-goal lead, and then it’s a different story later on,” said Wesley.
“It didn’t look very good for us because we weren’t playing very good soccer,” said Miller, “but we kept it close, and Spencer’s goal really helped to get us going.”
The sophomore ran up the center channel unmarked, and finished a marvelous ball from Troy Wheeler, who along with Fetter were pushed forward from their spots along the back line to add some energy, pace and and physical presence just after the hour mark by Taylor.
“We tried a different look, and moved around a few players, and we thought with Troy and Adam up into the middle, it might help us create something while maybe giving Benet a look they weren’t ready to defend,” said Taylor.
Benjamin Kucera had a go, but went wide of Miller just after play resumed following the goal from Moore. Then the senior put Patrick Nemetz through with a lovely ball, only to have the assistant referee throw up his flag to signal offsides.
Kevin Patzke was the architect of the game-winner when his shot from the right side cut across the face of the goal and off of the back post, where an alert Fetter managed to slot past diving Benet keeper Kyle DalSanto.
“It all happened so fast, but Kevin got things started for us, and when the ball popped (free) I guess I was closest to it, and I just put it in,” said Fetter.
The Lions (13-4-4) prepare for their regional opener at Stevenson next Wednesday against the host Patriots at 6:30 p.m. in Lincolnshire, while the Redwings will hit the road to face No. 10 Waubonsie Valley on Tuesday.