St. Viator likes the look of victory

Since style points don’t count for anything in posteason girls soccer, St. Viator is a pretty happy program.

The top-seeded Lions pulled out a 1-0 victory over No. 4 Deerfield on Tuesday afternoon in the Class 2A Lakes sectional semifinal in Lake Villa.

Katelyn Hammarlund scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute.

The Lions (13-8-4) advance to the sectional championship and will play second-seeded Lake Forest (16-4-2) at 6 p.m. Friday.

The Scouts outscored fifth seed Lakes 5-2 in the other semifinal.

“At this time of year, you don’t care how you win,” St. Viator coach Mike Taylor said. “You just have to win — it can be ugly, it can be pretty, you just want to win. You just want to be playing the next game.

“It was one of those ugly ones.”

St. Viator had the majority of the play, with a clear edge in possession and shots on goal. But the Lions had a tough time finishing their shots until they got the one they needed late in the second half.

“We just can’t finish, and it’s nice to dominate a game,” Taylor said. “If you don’t put one away, then you give (Deerfield) a chance at the end of the game.

“You just have to finish when you get the opportunities. It is the hardest thing to do in the game to finish. When we get in there, it comes down to the last service and playing 70 minutes of soccer. The girls just get tired.”

Hammarlund scored the game-winner by knocking it in off her body after the ball was hit off the crossbar by Chloe Luthringshausen.

“When (the ball) hit the bar then it bounced straight up,” Hammarlund said. “I just raced in to make sure and it hit off of me.”

Deerfield goalkeeper Sarah Ginn made 11 saves and kept the Warriors in the game with sound defense.

The Warriors (12-6-8) normally play on turf and was playing only for the fourth time this season on grass.

“We knew that it would be a good challenge,” Deerfield coach Rich Grady said. “(St. Viator) was a good team. We were slowed down a bit with the grass.

“We moved a couple players back on defense that helped a lot. We did have a couple of chances before they scored. (St. Viator) got the right bounce and we didn’t.”

Deerfield had its chances in the 68th and 74th minute, but Lions keeper Morgan Hess made saves on both and saw another Deerfield shot go wide of the post.