Saint Viator prevails in PKs
Lions outlast guests from Missouri
By Mike Garofola
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS -- Still reeling from its disappointing 1-0 conference loss to Marian Central on Wednesday, St. Viator looked to make amends against one-time Missouri state power DeSmet Jesuit on Friday at its home park.
In an up-and-down affair, Man of the Match Aidan Williams, who fired in three goals during regulation, helped lead the way one last time, when he, Zach Gyuricza and Patrick Hickey converted their spot-kicks to give the Lions (8-4-1) a 3-1 advantage and victory over the visiting Spartans.
"It's the little things, especially along the back, that we still manage to make a mess of, and today, just as it's been, we give up three soft, sloppy goals, which takes away some of the good things we're doing in our attack," said manager Mike Taylor.
The veteran coach watched his club start brightly, then fall back into its shell. The Lions recovered to edge the Spartans (3-7-2), who have played six highly ranked big schools in the St. Louis area.
"DeSmet has been one of the best down there for quite some time," began Taylor. "We always welcome competition like that, and to see that they drew (1-1) with No. 1 Chaminade earlier in the month, and team that we lost to (2-0) - giving up a very late goal - gave me and my assistants hope that we'd come out and play like we did in Milwaukee against Chaminade."
The home side looked as if it were at that level from Milwaukee, and had erased its lackluster play from three days ago against Marian Central, when it opened brightly and immediately put the visitors under pressure from the opening whistle.
However, as it has on several occasions this fall, the Lions conceded a bad goal to bring a struggling DeSmet back to life. Saint Viator allowed Gordon Hartweger to run freely to a loose ball at the back post - before lashing his angled shot past keeper Aaron Tres to give them a one-goal advantage at the 6th minute.
DeSmet's Ben Yeager came off his line in a hurry to take a 50-50 ball off the shooting boots of Williams just after the Hartweger goal, but the big keeper could do nothing when his failure to challenge a little quicker allowed the Lions lanky striker to slot a ball just under him after a nice helper from Patrick Hickey.
The 12th minute goal put the Spartans on their heels, and with the midfield group of Miles McDonnell, Hickey and Gyuricza clearly showing more pace and energy than its counterparts, the Lions enjoyed the majority of the run of play and possession for the next 10 minutes. That led to Williams' second goal in the 22nd minute.
"There was some very good work from everyone, especially our midfield which was playing quick, with some sharp play," Taylor said. "As I told them afterwards, that how you earned that well deserved foul and PK for Aidan."
Williams and his rookie teammate, Jack Hartman initiated a hard foul from Anthony Klier, just inside the box, leading center official, Eddie Przbylski to point to the spot.
The Spartans did not hang their heads after the Williams PK, and responded well with a spell of some pressure, and lovely play, inspired by its midfield, and junior Nick Hanson.
However, just as soon as DeSmet appeared to take control of the match, the home side, with halftime looming, put together two quality chances, the first coming when Gyuricza's snap shot off a long throw forced Yeager into action. Later another from the senior, when he had Yeager all too himself, needed a close-range save from the DeSemet keeper.
Those wasted chances came back to haunt the Lions just after the intermission. Hartweger popped up once again to drive home the equalizer in the 42nd minute when the home side allowed a long throw from John Russo to fall to the unmarked senior at theback post.
With the wind in their sails, the Spartans poured forward to put plenty of pressure on the Lions midfield, and backline, which suffered from lacks of shape and organization.
"We've spent so much time lately trying to jump-start our offense, and maybe too much time, as we've neglected working on some of the simple things in our defense," said Taylor.
"I'll have to take the blame for that - and we'll get working on some of those things this week during training."
Williams came to the rescue in the 58th minute, giving his club the lead one more time, when he went airborne to redirect a header into the far corner after a terrific bending freekick effort from Beirsdorf from just inside the midline.
Once again, the Lions short-lived advantage failed to hold.
Gavyn Brand's short range strike had too much pace for new keeper Kevin Napoleon to handle and gave the Spartans the sought after equalizer nine minutes from time.
Brand nearly stunned the home side moments later when he latched onto Connor Ferguson's ball out of the back. But this time, Napoleon turned away the potential go-ahead attempt.
The two sides played an unspired 10-minute extra session, setting up the shoot-out heroics of the aforementioned Williams, Gyuricza and Hickey.
"When you score three goals at this time of the year, you should be walking out of your ballpark with a victory," stated Taylor.
"Our defense had a lot of trouble today, and so did our keepers. This has always been a program with a rich, and proud tradition of playing strong defense. In fact, when you look back to the last two years, we've only given up one goal during the regular season in the ESCC."
"We'll fix that, because I know if we do, we'll be there in the end when it counts.
Starting lineups
DeSmet
GK: Ben Yeager
D: Sam Grass
D: Anthony Klier
D: Ryan Sullivan
MF: Matt Yankowitz
MF: Nick Hanson
MF: Jon Riordan
MF: Kyle McDonough
F: Andrew Huber
F: Gordon Hartweger
F: John Russo
St. Viator
GK: Aaron Tres
D: Brandon Braun
D: Javier Romero
D: Ryan Carroll
D: Sean Lonigro
MF: Chris Beiersdorf
MF: Zach Gyuricza
MF: Miles McDonnell
MF: Patrick Hickey
MF: Anthony Pineda
F: Aidan Williams
Man of the Match: Aidan Williams, Saint Viator.
Officials: Eddie Przbylski (center).
Lions outlast guests from Missouri
By Mike Garofola
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS -- Still reeling from its disappointing 1-0 conference loss to Marian Central on Wednesday, St. Viator looked to make amends against one-time Missouri state power DeSmet Jesuit on Friday at its home park.
In an up-and-down affair, Man of the Match Aidan Williams, who fired in three goals during regulation, helped lead the way one last time, when he, Zach Gyuricza and Patrick Hickey converted their spot-kicks to give the Lions (8-4-1) a 3-1 advantage and victory over the visiting Spartans.
"It's the little things, especially along the back, that we still manage to make a mess of, and today, just as it's been, we give up three soft, sloppy goals, which takes away some of the good things we're doing in our attack," said manager Mike Taylor.
The veteran coach watched his club start brightly, then fall back into its shell. The Lions recovered to edge the Spartans (3-7-2), who have played six highly ranked big schools in the St. Louis area.
"DeSmet has been one of the best down there for quite some time," began Taylor. "We always welcome competition like that, and to see that they drew (1-1) with No. 1 Chaminade earlier in the month, and team that we lost to (2-0) - giving up a very late goal - gave me and my assistants hope that we'd come out and play like we did in Milwaukee against Chaminade."
The home side looked as if it were at that level from Milwaukee, and had erased its lackluster play from three days ago against Marian Central, when it opened brightly and immediately put the visitors under pressure from the opening whistle.
However, as it has on several occasions this fall, the Lions conceded a bad goal to bring a struggling DeSmet back to life. Saint Viator allowed Gordon Hartweger to run freely to a loose ball at the back post - before lashing his angled shot past keeper Aaron Tres to give them a one-goal advantage at the 6th minute.
DeSmet's Ben Yeager came off his line in a hurry to take a 50-50 ball off the shooting boots of Williams just after the Hartweger goal, but the big keeper could do nothing when his failure to challenge a little quicker allowed the Lions lanky striker to slot a ball just under him after a nice helper from Patrick Hickey.
The 12th minute goal put the Spartans on their heels, and with the midfield group of Miles McDonnell, Hickey and Gyuricza clearly showing more pace and energy than its counterparts, the Lions enjoyed the majority of the run of play and possession for the next 10 minutes. That led to Williams' second goal in the 22nd minute.
"There was some very good work from everyone, especially our midfield which was playing quick, with some sharp play," Taylor said. "As I told them afterwards, that how you earned that well deserved foul and PK for Aidan."
Williams and his rookie teammate, Jack Hartman initiated a hard foul from Anthony Klier, just inside the box, leading center official, Eddie Przbylski to point to the spot.
The Spartans did not hang their heads after the Williams PK, and responded well with a spell of some pressure, and lovely play, inspired by its midfield, and junior Nick Hanson.
However, just as soon as DeSmet appeared to take control of the match, the home side, with halftime looming, put together two quality chances, the first coming when Gyuricza's snap shot off a long throw forced Yeager into action. Later another from the senior, when he had Yeager all too himself, needed a close-range save from the DeSemet keeper.
Those wasted chances came back to haunt the Lions just after the intermission. Hartweger popped up once again to drive home the equalizer in the 42nd minute when the home side allowed a long throw from John Russo to fall to the unmarked senior at theback post.
With the wind in their sails, the Spartans poured forward to put plenty of pressure on the Lions midfield, and backline, which suffered from lacks of shape and organization.
"We've spent so much time lately trying to jump-start our offense, and maybe too much time, as we've neglected working on some of the simple things in our defense," said Taylor.
"I'll have to take the blame for that - and we'll get working on some of those things this week during training."
Williams came to the rescue in the 58th minute, giving his club the lead one more time, when he went airborne to redirect a header into the far corner after a terrific bending freekick effort from Beirsdorf from just inside the midline.
Once again, the Lions short-lived advantage failed to hold.
Gavyn Brand's short range strike had too much pace for new keeper Kevin Napoleon to handle and gave the Spartans the sought after equalizer nine minutes from time.
Brand nearly stunned the home side moments later when he latched onto Connor Ferguson's ball out of the back. But this time, Napoleon turned away the potential go-ahead attempt.
The two sides played an unspired 10-minute extra session, setting up the shoot-out heroics of the aforementioned Williams, Gyuricza and Hickey.
"When you score three goals at this time of the year, you should be walking out of your ballpark with a victory," stated Taylor.
"Our defense had a lot of trouble today, and so did our keepers. This has always been a program with a rich, and proud tradition of playing strong defense. In fact, when you look back to the last two years, we've only given up one goal during the regular season in the ESCC."
"We'll fix that, because I know if we do, we'll be there in the end when it counts.
Starting lineups
DeSmet
GK: Ben Yeager
D: Sam Grass
D: Anthony Klier
D: Ryan Sullivan
MF: Matt Yankowitz
MF: Nick Hanson
MF: Jon Riordan
MF: Kyle McDonough
F: Andrew Huber
F: Gordon Hartweger
F: John Russo
St. Viator
GK: Aaron Tres
D: Brandon Braun
D: Javier Romero
D: Ryan Carroll
D: Sean Lonigro
MF: Chris Beiersdorf
MF: Zach Gyuricza
MF: Miles McDonnell
MF: Patrick Hickey
MF: Anthony Pineda
F: Aidan Williams
Man of the Match: Aidan Williams, Saint Viator.
Officials: Eddie Przbylski (center).