Girls soccer: Early goals carry St. Viator over Buffalo Grove
Three first-half goals, two from Mary Ann Castelli, sent visiting St. Viator (2-1-0) on its way to a 4-2 victory over host Buffalo Grove in nonconference girls soccer action Friday afternoon at Grant Blaney Stadium in Buffalo Grove.
After finishing second at the Class 2A state tournament last year the Lions, who lost to St. Francis in the state title game, find themselves in a rebuild of sorts after saying goodbye to nearly all of their starting lineup.
"We have a lot of first-year players, including a new keeper, so it's going to take us a while to get comfortable with each other but I think we had a pretty good week to start the season," sad Lions captain, Sam DeJulio, a 2018 Daily Herald All-Area performer who returns as coach Mike Taylor's center-back.
DeJulio and her teammates opened this season with an easy win over Maine East before falling to Lake Forest 3-0 on Wednesday.
"We've given up five goals this year but none through the run of play, so it's obvious we've got to clean things up defensively on corners and free kicks," Taylor said. "We'll figure that part of our game soon but it's something none of us are very happy about right now also."
An uneventful opening first 10 minutes was brought to life when Castelli finished a diagonal ball from Payton McDonnell.
Nine minutes later, Emily Rasher doubled the Lions' advantage when she slotted past keeper Zugey Olvera after the Bison senior saved a shot.
The Bison keeper made a terrific first save off a McDonnell attempt but when the ball spilled freely to her right the opportunistic Rasher struck.
Clare Reynolds drew the home side close in the 29th minute when an inward swinging corner from Quinlan Libit pried open the St. Viator defense.
Castelli's second of the game just before the intermission erased the Reynolds goal.
"Our communication needed to be better today, and we gave them too much room and space especially on the outside, where I thought they had a lot of success against us," said BG coach Pat Dudle, whose club is now 0-2-0.
Gabby Brown extended the Lions' lead to 4-1 three minutes after the break.
Libit nearly pulled one back in the 53rd minute, and would have if not for a fine save from Lilly Collins, who takes over for Anna Johnston, the East Suburban Catholic keeper of the year, all-stater, and the co-captain of the 2018 Daily Herald Northwest All-Area team.
BG still had plenty of fight in it and would draw one goal closer in the 68th minute on a knock from Macy Floro.
"St. Viator came in with more energy and a sense of urgency, maybe) because of their loss to Lake Forest the other day and we just never really matched that today," said Dudle. "We have a lot of quality players on our roster, but we're also a very young team and it will take us some time to sort things out."