Boys soccer: St. Viator fights back for 2-2 tie

St. Viator finished in a 2-2 tie with Notre Dame on Wednesday night in Niles.

But it was a finish with two sensational late goals from Will Hartman and Francisco Campos that helped rescue the Lions from what seemed sure defeat in the East Suburban Catholic Conference match.

St. Viator (3-8-2, 2-0-2) was chasing two goals seven minutes from time when Hartman pulled one back.

Then Campos, a sophomore, curled his left-footed free kick attempt around a Notre Dame wall in the 80th minute to pull the visitors even.

Hartman steered in a nearly perfect cross from Patrick Hammarlund.

"For the first 10 to 15 minutes we were doing just about everything well," said Hartman, a junior and three-year veteran for coach Mike Taylor. "We were playing with a lot of confidence but we were paying so much attention to No. 10 (Nick Feeney), we forgot that Notre Dame had a few other good players, and we got ourselves in a lot of trouble."

"Tonight you saw exactly how we've been playing this year," Taylor said. "A good start, then our play falls off because there's no real leadership on this team. We don't have an identity. Everyone is trying to do the job of someone else, and it's the lack of discipline that is hurting us right now."

During the first quarter-hour, the Dons (6-2-2, 1-2-1) were sitting too deep in their 4-5-1 formation.

Without any pressure coming from their men up top, the Lions were allowed enough time and space to build an attack from the back, finding their teammates at midfield with ease.

St. Viator, however, was first to flinch as Notre Dame scored on a free kick.

Feeney, a marvelous senior midfielder, saw the Lions slowly getting their wall together and unleashed a blistering strike into the back of the net from just outside the box.

"This was a game we should have won at 2-0," Feeney said. "We've got to learn to finish these types of games because there's no way we should concede 2 goals in the last seven minutes of regulation."

Feeney had a terrific look on frame in the 51st minute but his left-footed blast was stopped by David Petrovich at the near post.

Nicky Marchese made the Lions pay for a defensive error when the sophomore forward broke free and beat Petrovich, who'd come out to cut the angle on this 73rd-minute goal.

Hammarlund whipped his cross from the near flag onto the foot of Hartman to stun Notre Dame shortly thereafter.

"Whenever 'Hammar' comes in, he always does something like that," Hartman of his teammate, whose close-range attempt was stopped by Dons keeper Michael Pierson.

Campos send the contest into extra time, and once there, the Lions enjoyed most of the play.

They were unable to put in the game-winner - although Jack Hartman nearly did so when he turned and drove his attempt on frame. However, Pierson pushed it up and over the bar in the 99th minute.

The Lions host Marist on Monday in Arlington Heights.