Boys lacrosse: St. Viator blasts defending state champion Loyola
St. Viator was looking to make a statement Saturday in Glenview.
And the Lions made a loud one.
The Lions pulled away from a 4-4 tie in the second quarter to blast the defending state champion Loyola 15-6. It was dominating performance by St. Viator (12-0) in a battle between a pair of previously unbeaten teams and two of the top three ranked teams in the state.
"I couldn't be prouder of what this team did today," St. Viator coach Patrick Gaeger said. "This just doesn't happen. It is very rare to beat this team (Loyola) and it very rare to beat them at their home."
Loyola (7-1) came into the game as defending state champion and was ranked No. 2 in the state. The Ramblers had allowed just an average of 3.4 goals per game this season.
St. Viator, which was ranked third in the state, came in scoring an average of 18.6 goals per game. The Lions offense, led by Leo Izqquierdo, Nicky Pastore, Emerson McGrath and Cade Faulkner, showed why.
"We started the game off hot," said Faulkner, who will play at Utah next year. "In the second half, we just kept going, firing the ball and hit the cage. They had a tough time guarding us."
Goals by Pastore, Faulkner and a pair by McGrath gave Viator a 4-3 lead early in the second quarter. Loyola tied it at 4-4 with 8:05 left in the half. It was all Lions from there.
Izquierdo, who will play at Marquette next season, then scored a natural hat trick. Two of the goals came just a minute apart at the Lions surged ahead 7-4.
"I knew they were locking Cade (Faulkner) off," said Izquierdo, who would score five goals in the game.
"He is the guy that usually starts our offense. So we needed someone to go."
Loyola made a final grasp to get back in the game when they scored with 44 seconds left in the half to make it 7-5.
Viator then blitzed the Ramblers with McGrath scoring with 13 seconds left in the half. Then, after another huge faceoff win by Michael Tauschner, the Lions converted again with two seconds left as Pastore scored on a sweet pass from Izquirdo to make it 9-5 at the break.
"We have been getting after it day in and day out," said Tauscher, who is a sophomore. "The whole unit had worked hard with the wings. We have been making sure we have been ready for this game."
Loyola cut the margin to 9-6 early in the third quarter. Again the Lions' blitzkrieg began.
Viator scored the next five goals with Pastore tallying three of them along with Izquirdo and McGrath as it became 14-6.
"That first goal of mine really got us off to an emotional start," said Pastore, who scored five goals on the day and broke the 100-goal mark for his career.
McGrath scored his fourth of the game in the final period to close out the scoring. Meanwhile the Lions' Jayden Franzen, Dallas Starr and Ethan Angst along with goalie Jack Hartman put the clamps on the Ramblers.
The win marked the first time in Viator history that the Lions defeated traditional state powers Loyola and New Trier in the same season. Viator beat the Trevians 14-3 earlier this season.
"We are very blessed to have great senior leadership," Gaeger said. "We put a premium on our culture and this team has been together for four years. They just love each other. When we play our game, we are very hard to stop."