Skala's hat trick gives St. Viator OT win, share of ESCC crown
St. Viator will share the East Suburban Catholic Conference girls soccer title with Benet.
The Lions (15-8-1) would stun visiting Carmel (10-6-3) just moments into overtime Wednesday afternoon for a 3-2 victory to guarantee its first title since 2005, seventh in program history, and first under head coach Mike Taylor, who has won 10 on the boys side in his illustrious career.
"It's kind of a nice way to win a title," admitted Taylor, just moments after junior Taylor Skala finished the Corsairs off with her third goal of the match and 23rd of the season.
The Lions finish 9-1-0 overall in the ESCC with Benet, which beat Joliet Catholic on Wednesday.
"It's really an exciting way to end a game, especially considering how much it meant for our team in the conference, and after giving up a 2-goal lead as well," said Skala, who collected a ball from teammate Ariana Kulinczenko on the right side off a set-piece and slotted past keeper Maddie Allen in the 81st minute.
That this match went into extra time is a tribute to the Corsairs, who have admittedly struggled to find the back of the net. However, on this day, they fired back in sensational style to equalize late in the match, after looking to be down and out following a pair of early strikes from Skala.
"We've had a lot of trouble scoring, pretty much all season long," began Illinois-bound Kassidy Brown of Carmel. "But it was very encouraging for us to comeback after being down (by) two - but also very disappointing to lose the match the way we did."
Brown and her backline mates Caitlin Jung, Jessica Gilstrap and Shannon Kouba spent far too much time defending in the first half than they would have liked, as the home-side enjoyed most of the run of play, while keeping extra pressure on the Corsairs' midfield, which would help grind the vistiors attack to a halt.
Taylor would bring on plenty of fresh legs to help continue the Lions pace and energy, and to offset cold temperatures, which felt even worse when the nasty winds would unleash on the pitch in Arlington Heights.
Skala and Katelyn Hammarlund from the Lions first-11, along with Katherine Petrovich and Chloe Luthringshausen, would help when Taylor brought on the rookie pair to relieve his front-runners. When the action began to pick up after the quarter-hour mark, it seemed only a matter of time before the Lions would get into the back of the net.
"We dominated play in the first half, but didn't have anything to show for it at the break," Taylor would say.
Skala would help jump-start a second-half scoring explosion when she redirected her header over Allen, who may have come too far off her line in anticipation of a Meghan McGrath freekick. Sixty seconds later, Skala would make it 2-0 at the hour mark when she drove in a shot from in close following a Kulinczenko corner.
The atmosphere on the Carmel side appeared to darken after the goal, but Kelly Trillhaase brightened the spirits of the Corsairs four minutes later.
The junior would finish at the back post what teammate Meegan Johnson would start with her long-range blast from the near touchline. When it looked as though the visitors were running out of time to draw even, Lauren Lehman would do so with the help of Brown and her superb serve to the spot.
"We really were able to create chances to score in the second half, but in order to score, (you) have to shoot, and we just didn't do enough of that today," offered Brown.