Boys lacrosse: St. Viator opens with big win over Carmel
As St. Viator's boys lacrosse squad opened its season against East Suburban Catholic Conference rival Carmel Catholic Thursday afternoon, the Lions were operating at a bit of a disadvantage as other teams had started their seasons as early as a couple weeks ago while the Lions had 22 members of their 34-man roster finishing up their football season last weekend.
By the time the contest wrapped up, the hosts had the visiting Corsairs at a disadvantage on the scoreboard, tallying a 14-4 win at Forest View Educational Center in Arlington Heights.
"It feels really good," Viator sophomore attacker Nicky Pastore said. "It's kind of nerve-racking, but once you get used to it, you're fine."
The Lions got things going a little over two minutes in with a goal from sophomore midfielder Kane Snyder that set off a subsequent 8-goal barrage that featured a pair of scores by senior Dom Dejulio, a goal and an assist by senior and Mikey Pastore and two of senior attacker Ryan O'Malley's assists. Those helpers set Dejulio up for his second goal and the Nicky Pastore for his first score of the afternoon that had the home team up 9-0 at the 6:13 mark of the second.
Nicky Pastore joined Dejulio with 3 goals apiece while junior attacker Isaac Harrington and sophomore midfielder Leo Izquierdo tallied 2 scores each in the win.
"It's pretty apparent that we're pretty bountiful at the offensive side of the ball," Viator coach Patrick Gaeger said. "We're loaded with some really talented sophomores who we're excited to watch develop over the next three years and will be pretty pivotal to our success this year. The seniors get to put their arms around each other and have that bond and lookout for one another and share that with everybody else. We want to pass that down."
Sophomore Trent Zimay knocked in the first of his 4 goals for Carmel (3-3, 0-1) at the 3:30 mark of period two prior to Harrington's and Nicky Pastore's second goals respectively giving Viator an 11-1 edge at the break.
Looking forward, Gaeger views his squad's family climate as an antidote to the challenges ahead.
"Last year, we probably had one of the most talented classes to ever go through St. Viator and this class here seeing what those talented boys lost," Gaeger said. "They've been so hungry, so loving of each other and that's what we preach. That's culture - the biggest thing that makes St. Viator a constant success year in and year out."