St. Viator fights another day
St. Viator is back in the big show once again.
For the second time in three seasons, the Lions (15-8-4) have earned a spot in the Class 2A girls soccer final four.
St. Viator defeated Freeport in overtime 1-0 Tuesday night when Katherine Petrovich found the back of the net in the 85th minute inside Barrington Community Stadium to win the Barrington supersectional.
The Lions will meet St. Francis (22-3-0) in Friday’s state semifinals at North Central College in Naperville. The Spartans outlasted Benet in shootout to advance from the Benedictine University supersectional.
“At this time of the year, it’s all about winning the battle if you want to win the war,” said St. Viator coach Mike Taylor. “On a night when we didn’t play our best soccer, we still won the war.”
Taylor didn’t mind admitting Freeport brought a higher level of play than he expected to see.
“They were much better than we had imagined,” said the Lions coach. “They played hard and were just chippy enough to make us work for everything we could get tonight, but in the end, I think we had too much speed and pace coming from Hammar (Katelyn Hammarlund) and Chloe (Lutheringshausen) who just ran and ran and finally broke them down in their own end — right up until ‘Petchie’ (Petrovich) put the game-winner into the back of the net.”
The Pretzels (20-5-1) nearly stunned the Lions when in the first minute, Darice Brooks got in on the left side. If not for wrong-footing her shot on frame with her left foot, the talented sophomore may have given coach Nick Namio the early lead he had desired.
“St. Viator was the favorite going in, but it wasn’t anything we talked about at all with the girls leading up to this game,” said Namio. “But we also knew if we could score first, we would immediately put a lot of pressure on, which was something we were hoping to do all along. We got a little worn down during the last 5-10 minutes of the first half, but this is a team with almost all freshmen and sophomores, so they bounced back in the second half and gave just a great effort. All all of us are very proud of them for that, and their season.”
The Pretzels weathered an early storm of St. Viator pressure and worked hard to keep their opponent out of their end. Hammarlund and Lutheringshausen quickly tested the Pretzels’ back four, using the extra-wide field at Barrington to spring a constant counter-attack which produced some anxious moments for the large contingent on hand from Freeport.
“We didn’t really start attacking until the second half, and when we finally did it seemed like we were in their end most of the half, and that they were slowly getting worn down from all of our pressure,” said Hammarlund, a four-year standout who played the entire 85 minutes.
The Lions’ veteran captain was part of the best scoring in the first quarter hour. After a patient build-up, she found Lutheringshausen, who on the turn, squared up her shoulders and drove her 16-yard strike off the bar and over.
The Pretzels lost Brooks to an ankle injury in the 32nd minute (she later returned), but the play from Ali Reedy and Julia Luecke seemed to inspire Freeport after the break and led to a couple of quality chances from the dynamic duo.
With the Lions backline of Erin Malone, Emily Zahrebelski, Liz Graff and Maria Petrillo firmly in control and enterprising runs forward from Hammarlund, Lutheringshausen, Katie Gavin and Petrovich coming more frequently, the Lions did everything well — except score.
“Our defense played very well in the second half, which allowed us to get forward,” said Taylor. “But we just weren’t sharp enough to get ourselves a goal or two, which helped keep (Freeport) in the game.”
The Pretzels once threatened as Morgan Geiser and Haley Swords pried open the Lions in their own end, leaving Luecke enough time and space to unload a 25-yard blast that went just wide.
That was about it for the Pretzels, who defended with all their might for the final quarter hour of regulation as the Lions had near missed on a couple of occasions. The best chance came a minute from time when Gavin snuck inside to thump a header at keeper Fiona Neary on the tail end of a corner from Petrovich.
In the first extra session, the Lions were all over Freeport.
Hammarlund roared down the left side and turned at the end line. Her well-aimed serve to the back post went through Neary and off a defender to an opportunistic Petrovich, who didn’t flinch at her golden chance.
“It was just a great ball into the box, and I was lucky to find it after it bounced around a bit, and then the game was over,” said a still-smiling Petrovich.
“‘Hammar’ and Chloe, since being put together seven or eight games ago, have been playing at an amazing level, and the two of them were at it again tonight,” said Taylor. “In the end, it was their constant running and work rate that was the difference.”