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Boys soccer: St. Patrick interrupts St. Viator's ESCC title hopes

St. Patrick's relentless march toward its first East Suburban Catholic Conference boys soccer title continued on Wednesday afternoon in thrilling style when Joshua Torres' sensational game-winner came early in the first overtime session to help defeat St. Viator 2-1 in Arlington Heights.

The Shamrocks' (17-2-1, 6-0-0) road victory sends coach Kyle McClure's team alone atop the league ahead of both St. Viator and Benet Academy, each of whom have been already been beaten by the Shamrocks this fall.

"We sure didn't play very well in the first half. Some of that was due to fatigue after playing five games in the last six days and some to St. Viator, which defended really well all throughout the game to make things really difficult for us," said McClure, who last season guided the Shamrocks to a fourth-place Class 2A state trophy.

St. Viator (12-6-1, 6-1-0), itself coming off just as busy of a schedule, came out on its front foot in the first quarter hour, scoring the opener in the 10th minute, then making sure the high-powered attack of its guests could never get up and running.

"Our plan was played out to near perfection," began Lions assistant, TJ King, filling in for head coach Mike Taylor, who was away on business.

"We looked to play through Zaul (Perez) as much as we could, defend in our end and play with a great work rate and a lot of energy so when Zaul scored first for us, things looked really good."

Perez unloaded a 35-yard unstoppable blast that went just under the bar to stun the visitors, who won the team trophy in Kentucky last weekend at the River Region Rumble in Paducah.

With the Shamrocks unable to run their attack through their talented midfield duo of Angel Adame and Sebastian Modrzejewski, and the home side pair of Patrick Hammarlund and Conrad Glodz winning 80 percent of the 50-50 balls, the first half would be won by the Lions.

However, the Shamrocks would rebound soon after the intermission, drawing back level when Herbet Carrera steered in his side-footed one timer from in close.

The equalizer proved to be just what the visitors needed to inspire a lethargic attack, and if not for two terrific goal-saving stops by Matt Marchiori, the Shamrocks could have built a two-goal advantage.

"Matt had a great game for us, making those two point-blank saves for us, and just keeping his box under control all afternoon," said King.

Marchiori turned away a close range effort by Carrera in the 61st minute, then watched teammate Nick DiMarco block a Torres' attempt from inside the box.

Will Hartman went close for the Lions moments later, and back-to-back deep throws by Perez in the first extra session were defended nicely by the Shamrocks just before Torres, a sophomore, bagged the eventual game-winner.

"We did not execute well on all of the dead-ball and set-piece chances we created, and that may have cost us but Pat's has plenty of firepower, and we saw some of it in the second half when they enjoyed most of the play for long stretches," admitted King.

The Lions will look for some help from Marian Catholic and Joliet Catholic this week, who play the Shamrocks, while they also go on the road at Lyons Township Friday in a nonconference match, in advance of league rivals Marist and Benet Academy to finish out the regular season.

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