Lions rally for title; Broncos fall in PKs

St. Viator head coach Mike Taylor has been insisting that his boys soccer team would have more to offer as it heads into East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

After the performance witnessed Saturday it appears Taylor may be right.

Late second-half goals by Rob Vavrik and Alec Simpson put the Lions up and over tourney host Glenbrook South 3-2 in the final of the 14th annual Titans Invite Saturday in Glenview.

Simpson's close-range blast in the 77th minute broke the hearts of the Titans' fans who had thought this match was headed into a shootout after one of their own, Raul Hudema, had struck the equalizer two minutes earlier.

"Today I really saw something from the guys, from top-to-bottom," said Taylor.

"We looked good for most of the ballgame, especially in that first half when we dominated play, and did it without Victor (Mendoza), one of our leaders in the midfield.

Simpson's game-winner capped a wild final few minutes of regulation which saw 3 shots find the back of the net in the span of three minutes, beginning with Vavrik finishing a Shane Owens helper at 74 minutes to break a 1-1 match.

"I think it took a lot of perseverance on our part to come back from being down (2-1), then finding the energy to get the go-ahead goal just after (Glenbrook South) equalized," said Simpson, who was on target with his one-timer from the right side and into an open net as an unfortunate Titans' keeper Dan Karras was at the back post watching the action from that side.

"I was at the right place at the right time, which in that instant was the weak side. So all I had to make sure to do was (hit) the ball straight and square into the net."

Taylor felt the Lions (3-0-3) played their best soccer of the season the first 40 minutes, and the work of Mike King, Trevor Wheeler and Ryan Cortese in the middle of the pitch was the main reason for this success.

The Lions should have entered the break in a goal-less match, if not for a terrific effort by the Titans (4-1-0) Ned Pavlocic and Chris DeLetto, who would combine to find the back of the net at 40 minutes as a perfectly positioned Pavlocic would record the goal.

Cortese would draw the Lions even at 48 minutes when he went unmarked to the near post to thump an Owens serve into the box.

"Today we found a way to create chances and finish them as well. It was our best match of the season thus far," said Taylor.

Barrington tourney: St. Charles North secured its place on the championship trophy at the 2007 Barrington Classic Tournament in penalty kicks against the host Broncos Saturday night.

It was an exhilarating night on the north end of the park for the North Stars (4-0-1) faithful as keeper Zach Hosler became the player of what was a scoreless match through regulation and 2 overtimes.

He stopped 3 straight spot-kicks by the Broncos (3-1-0) to clinch the title after teammate Alex Bergmann converted his attempt to push the North Stars advantage to 3-1.

"I just looked into (the) eyes of the shooters before making my decision as to which way I was going (to) go," said Hosler, who guessed correctly against Ryan Nolan, Ata Osbay and Jack Valentine to stop each Broncos' player stone cold.

Mike Picinich and Jake Hosler struck their penalty kick attempts easily.

Early on, Ryan Mangone was sent through by the Broncos' leading scorer, Francesco Furio on the right side, but the junior struck his shot wide to the right.

"You know we really did a lot of terrific things in our attack during that first half," said Barrington coach Scott Steib. "I am really encouraged by what I saw, and despite the fact that we fell off a little after the break, it was a very good effort from both sides of the ball for us."

Just after intermission, Broncos' keeper Jack Deroche made his best stop of the match when he used full extension to pull an Austin Andrekus blast out of the air.

Following regulation, both sides did their best to muster up enough energy to play through a pair of 10-minute extra periods. But it was apparent from early on this match was headed to a shoot-out.

"It was a great week of soccer for us, and, right now, I'd say things are looking up for us after coming into (this) first week not knowing what we really had this season," added Steib.