St. Viator returns to final four

History was on the side of St. Viator going into its boys soccer supersectional matchup on Tuesday night.

After all, with coach Mike Taylor on the sidelines, the Lions have never lost a game with state final qualification at stake.

And true to form, St. Viator is headed into the final four after getting past Chicago Foreman 5-2 in the Class 2A Stevenson supersectional in Lincolnshire.

The Lions (21-5-1) next face St. Joseph in the Class 2A semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday at Hoffman Estates High School. St. Joseph reached state with a 2-1 victory over Marian Catholic in the Lemont supersectional.

Aidan Williams led the Lions with a pair of goals, and Ryan Carroll, Anthony Pineda and Jack Hartman had the others.

It was anything but an easy go for St. Viator, as its opponent had plenty of speed.

"(Foreman) had a skill team and had some players that were very slick," Taylor said. "I knew if we stayed with our discipline plan, we would be OK. But we really didn't play that well, and they took us out of our game plan a little bit. Then we got back to it, and we were doing all right.

"Never really thought we were going to lose the game. I've believed in these boys all year long. We knew this team was skilled, we scouted them and knew it would be a tough game. They were a city school that wanted to get (to state). You can't take anything for granted."

The Lions wasted no time getting on the scoreboard first on Tuesday night, scoring four minutes into the match when Williams found the back of the net off a pass from Pineda.

But Foreman (6-7-4) tied it in the 25th minute when Omar Jaimes beat the Lions defense and chipped it over keeper Aaron Tres. Jaimes was set up off an assist from Francisco Urena.

Freshman Jack Hartman broke the tie in a hurry, just 20 seconds later with a run and netted a goal that made the score 2-1 St. Viator.

Then Pineda delivered another Lions goal at the back post off a Chris Beiersdorf long throw-in that made the score 3-1 in the 34th minute.

The Hornets came buzzing back and got within a goal at 3-2 in the 54th minute. Jaimes scored his second goal and 15th of the season on an assist from Joal Diaz with a shot that made it through four St. Viator defenders.

St. Viator answered with two goals of its own in less than a minute. Beiersdorf sent a free kick from midfield that went off the Foreman keeper Anibal Ramas. Williams knocked in the rebound in the 57th minute.

Then Carroll followed up a goal following another free kick from Zach Gyuricza 45 seconds later for a 5-2 advantage.

"I was just crashing the goalie," said Williams, who scored his 18th goal of the season. "They were pressuring us, so we had to put the pressure on them and it put the game away. We were told to follow up on every shot and always go to the goal."

Foreman was still in the match until the final 2 goals were scored by St. Viator.

"We got back to a 1-goal game for a while," Foreman coach Dan Hakimian said. "We knew that it would be a challenging game. (St. Viator) had a great season and has been ranked high all year. They are tall, big and fast. They're smart soccer players. We knew it was going to be a challenge for us."