Lions' early goals stand up vs. Providence

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By Matt Le Cren

In the beginning, it looked like Saint Viator would have a cakewalk on Wednesday.

In the end, the Lions had to withstand a late flurry from host Providence before holding on for a 2-0 East Suburban Catholic Conference victory in New Lenox.

Saint Viator (4-2, 2-1) scored both of its goals a minute apart in the early going. Katelyn Hammarlund gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with an 18-yard shot in the 10th minute and Taylor Skala followed with an 11th-minute strike off a nice give-and-go in the box with Keegan Griebel.

The Lions dominated the action, outshooting Providence 24-8, including 13-2 in the first half. But Saint Viator coach Mike Taylor was not pleased and criticized his team during his halftime speech.

“For the first 25 minutes, [the Celtics] hardly come over the halfway line,” Taylor said. “We play our system. Everyone knows what the system is. Everyone knows where the ball’s going to be and then all of sudden we’re taking two extra touches on the ball.

“Now the girl’s in the wrong position or the other girl’s not quite thinking we’re she’s at and they’re not understanding where to go. Now we break away from being a good team to being individuals.

“Did the better team win? Yes. But we made it a struggle. We didn’t have to make it a struggle. You put 20 shots on goal, you’ve got to put more than that away. At least you’re getting the opportunities.”

The Lions had plenty of those and it wasn’t just leading scorers Skala and Hammarlund. Katherine Petrovich and Siobhan Klinkenberg both hit the right post with first-half shots. Skala headed home the rebound of Klinkenberg’s shot in the 36th minute but was ruled offsides on the play.

Klinkenberg, who unleashed seven shots, nearly scored in the 38th minute when she beat the Providence goalie with a shot only to see it cleared off the line by a defender.

Hammarlund agreed with Taylor that her team’s level of play would not be sufficient against higher level opponents.

“I think that even if we do score two nice goals in the beginning, we still need to keep it up throughout the whole entire game,” she said. “We can’t just let it be like a cakewalk, because that other team did give us good competition. It gives us a chance to really work on things we need to, like putting it wide, passing, moving and continuing what we’ve started.”

After struggling to gain possession for much of the game, the Celtics (4-3-1, 2-1) got going in the final 20 minutes, launching six of their eight shots. Cincinnati-bound senior forward Chris Reed hit a bullet of a 20-yard free kick just wide of the left post in the 62nd minute and two minutes later beat Lions goalie Morgan Hess with a shot. But senior defender Kathleen Kane was in position and cleared the ball off the line.

“We started off strong and then pieces starting falling apart,” Kane said. “We started getting too comfortable and then we realized that we really couldn’t play that way. We’re not good enough not to work as hard as how we were playing in the beginning. It’s a matter of getting the pieces together again.

“We started doing better again in the second half and then in the last 15 minutes they just started coming at us at our goal and we were breaking down completely. The girl crossed it in and our goalie stepped up and I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ I cleared it, thank God.”

Providence had two more golden opportunities. Reed hit the crossbar with a 23-yard free kick in the 69th minute and Hess later made a diving save on a long shot from Claire Zeeman.

That preserved Saint Viator’s third consecutive shutout.

“It’s good because actually our whole defensive line is completely different from last year,” Kane said. “All the girls graduated so…I take a lot of pride in our defense. Everyone’s playing new positions. It’s just been a really good start.”

Kane, Erin Malone, Katie Gavin, Emily Zahrebelski and Micaela Lonigro all helped out in the back in front of Hess and fellow junior Melissa Stawicki, who each played a half and made two saves apiece. Expected starter Maggie Farwell is out for the season after tearing her ACL for the second year in a row.

“Our keepers have really stepped up,” Hammarlund said. “They’re all brand new and everyone is doing an amazing job.”

The Lions will be playing their third game in as many days when they host Deerfield Thursday in the opening round of the Pepsi Showdown. That will test a team that did not play for two weeks over spring break, but Hammarlund said the Lions are up for it.

“I think our team has a lot of motivation and Kathleen Kane has been doing a really great job with the leadership role and she’s been getting us all going,” Hammarlund said. “It will be rough, [but] I think if we work together as a team as we are I think we’ll be able to handle it.”