Boys soccer: Hartman's heroics lift St. Viator past Carmel
Will Hartman's stunning wonder goal in the first overtime period inspired a 2-1 for St. Viator's boys soccer team Wednesday afternoon over Carmel Catholic in Mundelein.
This long-running East Suburban Catholic Conference rivalry was decided just seconds before the first of two five-minute extra sessions ended to help keep the Lions (10-4-1, 5-0-0) atop the league with just over a week remaining in the regular season.
"What a crazy game and crazy ending," said a relieved Hartman, who scored the opener in the third minute.
"It could have easily been a 3-1 or 4-1 game in favor of Carmel but our defense, which has been terrific in the last 3-4 games really, came through for us to give us a chance to stay in the game, and eventually win it. Sebastian (Howarth) and Nick DiMarco were great along our back line all day."
It's been a well-worn script for the Corsairs, whose recent rough starts against St. Patrick, then Warren, sent coach Ray Krawzak's club reeling long before the quarter hour.
"It's the way things have been going for us," began Krawzak.
"We concede a bad goal or two, forcing us to chase the rest of the game and although we show plenty of fight and a lot of effort and heart, we're still on the wrong side of the result."
Hartman and his teammate, Zaul Perez, were buzzing around inside the Corsairs' end from the opening whistle but shortly after Hartman finished in close the momentum would do a 180-switch in favor of the home side.
Matt Duffy, who bagged 6 goals in his first two games with the varsity after being recalled from the JV, drew the Corsairs back even in the 23rd minute when he elevated to redirect his header after Ian McKernan and Ryan Long did all of the preliminary work on the Duffy equalizer.
The Lions' struggles in the middle of the park led to a handful of chances for the Corsairs, three of which fell to Shane Farrell with Sean Seidl, Matt Grzesiak and Duffy, among others, all going close.
When it appeared this contest would end in a 1-1 draw, up stepped Hartman, who had an eye for the goal just when his club needed it.
"I think it was Hammer (Patrick Hammarlund) who got the ball to Zaul, whose ball out of the back fell to me," recounted Hartman.
"I looked up and saw I had ten seconds when I got into my diagonal run, saw that their keeper moving to his right and figured, why not, get something on frame."
Hartman admitted he thought his attempt went off the bar until he heard his bench and the Lions faithful cheering wildly.
In truth, the assistant referee on the far side was racing down the line to follow the play and would raise his flag after the Hartman blast hit the underside of the bar and fell over the line, and back out of the net.
St. Viator sat back in the second extra session to hold onto its precious one-goal advantage until the final whistle.
"That was a tough one for us to lose today because we had so much of the play, almost all of the chances, and I thought were the better team today," said Krawzak.
"The stars have not exactly been aligned in our favor of late, but we'll stay with it, and hope that things turn around very soon for us."
Carmel will travel to Benet Academy next Monday, while the Lions go on the road to Burlington, Iowa to play in the Goal 4 the Goal Fall Classic, which begins Thursday and continues on through the weekend.