St. Viator surprises Huskies
with second-half outburst
Lions use perceived snub to their advantage
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Saint Viator was not one of the 16 seeded teams at the prestigious PepsiCo Showdown.
Maybe the Lions should have been seeded.
They made a convincing argument for it on Saturday by upsetting No. 13 seed Oak Park and River Forest 3-0 in the opening round at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
The victory earned Saint Viator (4-2-1) a second-round date Tuesday with fourth-seeded Wheaton Academy, which blanked Downers Grove North 4-0.
“We had a little chip on our shoulder,” Saint Viator forward Aidan Williams said. “We knew we were unseeded coming in here and we knew they were ranked higher than us. And we knew we should have been ranked higher, so we took it to them.”
This figured to be one of the most evenly matched games of the day and it was, at least for the first half.
Neither side did much offensively in the opening 40 minutes, as both defenses were outstanding.
But the Lions broke through in the second half. Zach Gyuricza scored two goals, and Williams added a goal and an assist.
Williams earned the first two goals for the Lions, as he was knocked to the ground twice.
The first came when he collided with OPRF goalie Will Dunne on a breakaway in the box with 32:40 to go. Dunne received a yellow card and had to leave the game for a play, and Williams drilled the resulting penalty kick past Sam Lisak to open the scoring.
“I think we were attacking the whole game,” Williams said. “We had good, high pressure, which is something we’re really trying to do. When we got the high pressure, we finally put one away and it just opened up the floodgates.”
The Lions made it 2-0, thanks to another set piece 13 minutes later.
Williams was again dumped, this time 25 yards from the goal just outside the top of the circle. After two of his teammates dummied the shot, Williams sent a pass along the ground to the left of the Huskies’ wall to Gyuricza, who got in behind the defense and beat Dunne with an open 10-yard shot.
“I was just trying to do what I could one-on-one, and getting fouled is what it is,” Williams said. “I think we executed really well as a team on the set piece.”
Indeed, most teams opt to fire over or through the wall when they are that close to the goal. Williams was tempted to do that, but he stuck to the plan.
“We ran a play and got a wide-open goal,” Williams said. “None of us are selfish on this team. We knew we could have put a shot on there, but we have good plays and we all know the system.”
Even so, Gyuricza was surprised the play worked so well.
“At first I thought it wasn’t going to work because of the positioning, but Coach [Mike Taylor] insisted, so he was right,” Gyuricza said. “I made the run that I was supposed to and lo and behold, there’s the shot and there’s the goal.”
Williams explained, “We know that Zach has speed, so we played it through and he did what he needed to do and finished the ball. We’ve got a lot of options on that play. That’s just one of many.”
The goal seemed to deflate the Huskies, who conceded again just 3:07 later when Williams scored on a breakaway with 16:06 left.
Miles McDonnell sprung Williams with a beautiful lead pass, and Williams, despite being bumped, was strong enough to stay on the ball and beat Dunne for a 3-0 advantage.
“We’re hungry for goals,” Williams said. “We know we have speed up top, so we just finally finished our chances.”
Despite surrendering three goals for the second time in three outings, the Huskies (4-4-1) allowed just six shots.
“We sort of just punished ourselves,” OPRF midfielder Harrison Engoren said. “It was a penalty kick, a free kick and a breakaway.
“We had a solid defensive effort. We just had a mental lapse for three plays.
They’ve got three fast guys up top and they’ll turn on you.”
The game could have turned in the opening minutes had junior midfielder Evan Kindler’s shot gone it. It went over the head of Saint Viator goalie Aaron Tres and struck the crossbar.
The Huskies had just one other scoring chance. With 7:10 to go in the opening half, Kyle Pendleton briefly got free in the box and collided with Tres, who knocked the ball up in the air before a defender cleared it out of danger.
“They were a good team,” OPRF midfielder Noah Fluharty said. “We play good teams all around. It’s still early in the season, so it’s a building process throughout the entire season. Every game we take and learn from it.”
Both teams entered the tournament coming off victories against conference opponents. The Huskies edged Glenbard West 2-1 in overtime on Thursday in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action. Engoren scored both goals, including the game winner with 19 seconds left in extra time when he booted home a rebound of Zach El Metennani’s shot, which hit the crossbar.
“It was almost like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Engoren said. “Every kid dreams of it. It just feels good to win a conference game.”
Saint Viator won a weather-shortened 2-0 game Friday over Nazareth in East Suburban Catholic Conference action. Gyuricza, who leads the Lions with six goals, assisted on a Patrick Hickey goal in that contest.
The ESCC race is important to the Lions, but the Pepsi tournament provides tougher overall competition.
“It’s a big tournament,” Gyuricza said. “There’s a lot of good schools. If anything, it’s just getting us ready for the rest of the season and playoffs.
“If we can keep going, it would be great. We’ll get a lot of steam after that. I think it’s a really good opportunity to give us energy, give us what we need to start winning games.”
Starting lineups
Oak Park and River Forest
GK Will Dunne
D Quentin Drane
D Graham Nagle-Deamer
D Mavin Gill
D Kirk Svensson
M Joe Gullo
M Evan Kindler
M Max Klevgard
M Harrison Engeron
F Zach El Metennani
F Purvis Funches
Saint Viator
GK Aaron Tres
D Ryan Carroll
D Brandon Braun
M Jack Hartman
M Miles McDonnell
M Javier Romero
M Anthony Pineda
M Patrick Hickey
F Aidan Williams
F Sean Lonigro
F Zach Gyuricza
Man of the Match: Aidan Williams, Saint Viator
with second-half outburst
Lions use perceived snub to their advantage
By Matt Le Cren
LA GRANGE – Saint Viator was not one of the 16 seeded teams at the prestigious PepsiCo Showdown.
Maybe the Lions should have been seeded.
They made a convincing argument for it on Saturday by upsetting No. 13 seed Oak Park and River Forest 3-0 in the opening round at the Lyons Soccer Complex.
The victory earned Saint Viator (4-2-1) a second-round date Tuesday with fourth-seeded Wheaton Academy, which blanked Downers Grove North 4-0.
“We had a little chip on our shoulder,” Saint Viator forward Aidan Williams said. “We knew we were unseeded coming in here and we knew they were ranked higher than us. And we knew we should have been ranked higher, so we took it to them.”
This figured to be one of the most evenly matched games of the day and it was, at least for the first half.
Neither side did much offensively in the opening 40 minutes, as both defenses were outstanding.
But the Lions broke through in the second half. Zach Gyuricza scored two goals, and Williams added a goal and an assist.
Williams earned the first two goals for the Lions, as he was knocked to the ground twice.
The first came when he collided with OPRF goalie Will Dunne on a breakaway in the box with 32:40 to go. Dunne received a yellow card and had to leave the game for a play, and Williams drilled the resulting penalty kick past Sam Lisak to open the scoring.
“I think we were attacking the whole game,” Williams said. “We had good, high pressure, which is something we’re really trying to do. When we got the high pressure, we finally put one away and it just opened up the floodgates.”
The Lions made it 2-0, thanks to another set piece 13 minutes later.
Williams was again dumped, this time 25 yards from the goal just outside the top of the circle. After two of his teammates dummied the shot, Williams sent a pass along the ground to the left of the Huskies’ wall to Gyuricza, who got in behind the defense and beat Dunne with an open 10-yard shot.
“I was just trying to do what I could one-on-one, and getting fouled is what it is,” Williams said. “I think we executed really well as a team on the set piece.”
Indeed, most teams opt to fire over or through the wall when they are that close to the goal. Williams was tempted to do that, but he stuck to the plan.
“We ran a play and got a wide-open goal,” Williams said. “None of us are selfish on this team. We knew we could have put a shot on there, but we have good plays and we all know the system.”
Even so, Gyuricza was surprised the play worked so well.
“At first I thought it wasn’t going to work because of the positioning, but Coach [Mike Taylor] insisted, so he was right,” Gyuricza said. “I made the run that I was supposed to and lo and behold, there’s the shot and there’s the goal.”
Williams explained, “We know that Zach has speed, so we played it through and he did what he needed to do and finished the ball. We’ve got a lot of options on that play. That’s just one of many.”
The goal seemed to deflate the Huskies, who conceded again just 3:07 later when Williams scored on a breakaway with 16:06 left.
Miles McDonnell sprung Williams with a beautiful lead pass, and Williams, despite being bumped, was strong enough to stay on the ball and beat Dunne for a 3-0 advantage.
“We’re hungry for goals,” Williams said. “We know we have speed up top, so we just finally finished our chances.”
Despite surrendering three goals for the second time in three outings, the Huskies (4-4-1) allowed just six shots.
“We sort of just punished ourselves,” OPRF midfielder Harrison Engoren said. “It was a penalty kick, a free kick and a breakaway.
“We had a solid defensive effort. We just had a mental lapse for three plays.
They’ve got three fast guys up top and they’ll turn on you.”
The game could have turned in the opening minutes had junior midfielder Evan Kindler’s shot gone it. It went over the head of Saint Viator goalie Aaron Tres and struck the crossbar.
The Huskies had just one other scoring chance. With 7:10 to go in the opening half, Kyle Pendleton briefly got free in the box and collided with Tres, who knocked the ball up in the air before a defender cleared it out of danger.
“They were a good team,” OPRF midfielder Noah Fluharty said. “We play good teams all around. It’s still early in the season, so it’s a building process throughout the entire season. Every game we take and learn from it.”
Both teams entered the tournament coming off victories against conference opponents. The Huskies edged Glenbard West 2-1 in overtime on Thursday in West Suburban Conference Silver Division action. Engoren scored both goals, including the game winner with 19 seconds left in extra time when he booted home a rebound of Zach El Metennani’s shot, which hit the crossbar.
“It was almost like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Engoren said. “Every kid dreams of it. It just feels good to win a conference game.”
Saint Viator won a weather-shortened 2-0 game Friday over Nazareth in East Suburban Catholic Conference action. Gyuricza, who leads the Lions with six goals, assisted on a Patrick Hickey goal in that contest.
The ESCC race is important to the Lions, but the Pepsi tournament provides tougher overall competition.
“It’s a big tournament,” Gyuricza said. “There’s a lot of good schools. If anything, it’s just getting us ready for the rest of the season and playoffs.
“If we can keep going, it would be great. We’ll get a lot of steam after that. I think it’s a really good opportunity to give us energy, give us what we need to start winning games.”
Starting lineups
Oak Park and River Forest
GK Will Dunne
D Quentin Drane
D Graham Nagle-Deamer
D Mavin Gill
D Kirk Svensson
M Joe Gullo
M Evan Kindler
M Max Klevgard
M Harrison Engeron
F Zach El Metennani
F Purvis Funches
Saint Viator
GK Aaron Tres
D Ryan Carroll
D Brandon Braun
M Jack Hartman
M Miles McDonnell
M Javier Romero
M Anthony Pineda
M Patrick Hickey
F Aidan Williams
F Sean Lonigro
F Zach Gyuricza
Man of the Match: Aidan Williams, Saint Viator