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SAINT VIATOR |
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Lions put 6 on the board vs. Marist By Gary Larsen
The basketball player wins that battle every time. Skala – who is either a basketball player trapped in a soccer player’s body or vice versa – won that battle to score the first of her three goals against Marist in an eventual 6-0 win for the Lions in Arlington Heights. The Lions also got goals from Katelyn Hammarlund, Katherine Petrovich, and Chloe Luthringshausen in improving to 8-5-1 overall, and 4-1 in the East Suburban Catholic Conference. Benet and Carmel remain unbeaten in ESCC play, and it was Benet that handed Saint Viator its lone conference loss. Not that the Lions were disappointed in their play against Benet. In fact, coach Mike Taylor is happy with the way his squad is developing during a season in which injuries and absence have hampered the team. “They’re starting to gel,” he said. “If we can get everyone healthy -- we have yet to have a game where I have every player to choose from. We’ve been trying to get them all on the field so at this point it’s a question of continuity.” “But we’ve been playing well. We played a good game against Benet a week ago, we played a couple good games in the Pepsi (tournament) and started to find each other, and when we play to feet and find each other we do well.” Senior defender Meghan McGrath put in a fine day of soccer against Marist, and she is one of the numerous Lions that have seen time on the injured reserve list this season. “It’s been hard but our team has really worked hard in practices to make sure the chemistry is still there, even though players are coming in and out,” she said. “And the girls that are hurt are pushing us to make sure we click in the games.” McGrath, Kathleen Kane, Andree DiVito, and Jackie Tumberger kept things airtight in front of Saint Viator goalkeeper Katie Lavelle, who stepped into net for the injured Stephanie Shanahan to help the Lions to their fourth shutout. Shanahan received a knee to the face against Benet, fracturing a bone underneath her eye, but is expected to return to net soon. “We’ve been working for a shutout and that’s the goal every time out for our defense,” McGrath said. “That was our number one goal today.” “The defense has been shuffled around a lot. We’ve had three in the back, four in the back, and what we’re playing now has been working well. We have people who have never played defense before that are back there and they’re doing a good job.” Skala’s athleticism keyed her hat-trick performance on Wednesday. “She’s got speed and she can turn,” Taylor said. “But she’s like (Alan) Aboona. It’s not her first love. She lacks that little finesse touch but she does a lot of nice things out there.” Aboona netted 30-plus goals for Saint Viator’s state title team in the fall, as a basketball player moonlighting as a soccer forward. Hammarlund ensured that Ariana Kulinczczenko’s head shot off a McGrath restart ended up in net, and Taylor liked the edge he saw from the attacking duo of Hammarlund and Skala on Wednesday. “Right from the start, on Taylor’s first goal, she took a chance and went to it. She attacked,” Taylor said. “Katelyn’s goal, she stole it from Ariana. It was going in the goal but she sticks it in the back of the net. She made sure, and that’s the kind of aggression we want to see.” We’re progressing at the rate we should be progressing at. We’re plugging along and I’m happy with where we’re at.” “He’s happy but he’s always pushing us to do better,” Luthringshausen said of Taylor. “He expects a lot out of us.” And when the Lions are playing well, the formula is no secret. “When we talk and play the ball on the ground to feet,” McGrath said. “When we don’t talk and play the ball to space – we are not a team that can run into space. When we play to feet we can connect five or six passes, and then we have a chance on goal.” On the heels of Pepsi Showdown play, Saint Viator opens play of the Naperville Invitational on Thursday by taking on highly-ranked Barrington. The Lions take on Evanston Saturday before heading to Providence Catholic on Wednesday for another ESC contest. The Pepsi and Naperville tournaments feature a multitude of quality Class 3A teams, which will only help the Lions prepare for the 2A postseason. “It really puts us in our place and lets us know who we can compete with,” McGrath said. “I’d rather lose to a better team than win against a team that isn’t as good as us. In better games in the playoffs, we’ll be better-composed for it.” |
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Marist’s goalkeeper left her line to go after a ball in the air on Wednesday, but with Saint Viator junior Taylor Skala bearing down on her, she fell victim to an immutable fact.