Griebel helps fire Lions past Deerfield in Pepsi Showdown

 

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By Mike Garofola

 

On paper, at least, it would have appeared that Saint Viator was going to have itself an 80 minute challenge against one of the best from the Central Suburban League in visiting Deerfield as the two sides went to battle in their Pepsi Showdown opener on a chilly Thursday afternoon in Arlington Heights.

After all, the Warriors came into this season with high expectations after setting a school record for victories in 2010 with 13 - while returning a quality core of veterans, including seniors Audrey Rabushka, Ali Ragins and Katie Conroy, not to mention sophomore Samara Haas, who in her rookie year recorded eight goals and 11 assists.

However, this match never came to be anything but a rout for the Lions, who remained largely in control from the opening whistle and never let off the pedal until opening up a 4-goal lead after the hour mark, en route to a 4-0 victory to get its tournament off to a strong start.

The victory earned Saint Viator (5-2-1) a place in Saturday's championship bracket against No. 3-seed Loyola Academy at 1:30 in Schaumburg, on the turf at Olympic Park.

Two goals in the first 10 minutes from Keegan Griebel put the Lions in charge, and another from Megan Goerth near the half-hour mark pierced the backline of a Deerfield club which struggled to find their feet in the early exchanges.

"There was absolutely zero commitment to compete today, and that's about all I can offer as a comment on this match," said a disappointed Deerfield head coach Rich Grady, who watched his side muster only a handful of chance on frame against the Lions' two keepers on the day, Melissa Stawicki and Morgan Hess.

That pair, along with the help of their backline, recorded a fourth straight clean sheet, which isn't too bad, says junior defender, Katie Gavin.

"We've got an entire brand new backline this season, with Kathleen (Kane) one of our few returning seasons on the line with me and Erin (Malone) and Katherin Petrovich the other," Gavin said.

"As a group, we're beginning to get a little more confident with each game and we're starting to play the ball out of the back (more) while our passing is getting better, also. It's been a major adjustment for all of us but I am really liking what I see from the defensive side of things."

So does head coach Mike Taylor.

"We lost a lot of talent and experience in the back and not only are we breaking in a whole new group in the back, but also new keepers," offered Taylor, who will now lean on the junior-tandem of Stawicki and Hess the rest of the way after learning that Maggie Farwell has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.

"T.J. (King) and I have to stay on all of them on how we want them to play along the back, but both of us can honestly say that we're beginning to make strides on the defensive side of things, and that's all good for (them) and the rest of the team."

With only five minutes gone, Griebel would score what would be the eventual game-winner, when she easily went past keeper Skyllar Hughes after teammate Katelyn Hammarlund provided the helper.

The sophomore Hughes, a club player last season who's back on the prep scene this spring, had no chance in the 10th minute after Griebel came down the left side unmarked before finishing just inside the near post, after Hammarlund and Taylor Skala did all of the work in the buildup before Griebel doubled the host's lead.

Deerfield struggled to find any possession at all, as the Lions outworked their guests on nearly every 50-50 ball, whether in the air or on the floor, and until Haas, clearly its best player on this day, was able to create a corner at 18 minutes and a shot wide of the post at 34 minutes, the Lions had the run of play for the entire first half of action.

Goerth ran onto a Skala ball at 23 minutes to finish near the spot on Hughes, who deserved a much better fate after 40 minutes, as Grady replaced his starter with senior Dani Glass after the break.

"You could sense after we scored that third goal that Deerfield was just about done at that time," suggested Gavin.

Saint Viator was not done, even with its commanding lead.

To its credit, the club continued to play hard from front-to-back, with Skala and Chloe Luthringhausen causing enough trouble up top to keep the Warriors from pushing forward after the break, while Hammarlund, Siobhan Klinkenberg and Erin Renee Murphy keeping the pressure up in the middle to further stall any hopes for Deerfield to get its attack started.

Even Molly McMahon got into the act after missing some time with an injury, as did the bench with Lauren Rooney nearly scoring at 65 minutes - then finally doing so six minutes later when Skala gave her a superb ball to set up the fourth and final tally on the day.

"We were able to get Molly almost 15 minutes, there were others who came on as we continue to build some depth after our first (11-14) and you saw once again how valuable Taylor (Skala) is, even when she doesn't put the ball in the back of the net," began Mike Taylor.

"We all know how much and often she can score, and I know she thinks she should have a few more goals than she has (thus) far, but we told her afterwards how much more dangerous she becomes when she assists on 3 of our goals and how valuable she is to our entire attack.

"We've still got a very young team, with only four seniors in our starting lineup, so there is a lot of room for improvement, which we're beginning to see at every level - but there's still a lot of work for us ahead."