Chicagoland Soccer

Corsairs score in OT to beat Lions, stay alive in ESCC race

By Dan Santaromita

In a game with little possession play from either Carmel or Saint Viator and several scoring chances from set pieces, it seems fitting that someone won in overtime on a free kick.

After 80 minutes of evenly-played soccer on Wednesday, the Corsairs broke the stalemate late in the first overtime on a Max Heinrich header.

Following a free kick from Max’s brother, Ian Heinrich, Christian Avalos headed the ball back across the goal to Max for the open header.

The golden goal gave Carmel an important 1-0 win in Arlington Heights and spawned a Corsairs’ dog pile near midfield. An ecstatic Max Heinrich credited Avalos for doing the hard work on the play.

“Obviously he wasn’t in a really good position to shoot so he just saw me wide open and he made the right play and just put it right on my head,” he said of Avalos. “I had the easier part because I was unmarked. He had to get over his guy.

“Christian Avalos, he’s been the MVP this year. Him and Ian have just been the heart and soul of the team. Obviously with him scoring the most goals. It’s no fluke. He just works hard. He seems to be in the right place a lot of times so we kind of joke about that, but it just shows his work rate and his intelligence playing the game.”

There was good reason for a Carmel celebration: the win keeps Carmel in contention for the East Suburban Catholic Conference title.

“Now we become Viator’s biggest fans because we need them to beat Benet for us to create a three-way tie at the top,” Carmel coach John Halloran said.

Carmel (10-4-3, 5-1), Saint Viator (10-4-4, 4-1) and Benet (6-0 in ESCC), are all in the running at the top. The Lions close the regular season with Benet on Oct. 14 with the league likely to be on the line.

“We had to win this game to have any chance after our loss to Benet,” Max Heinrich said. “I’m just so happy to get this win. It’s a huge win for our team, a lot of momentum going to playoffs.”

Forgetting what the goal meant in the conference standings, with the way that the match had gone, any goal was cause for excitement.

Both teams had multiple shots saved off the line and it appeared that it would take a Herculean effort to break the deadlock.

Instead, all it took was a man left unmarked in front of the goal.

“They had four guys open on that goal,” a frustrated Lions coach Mike Taylor said. “We said going into overtime we knew we’d lose that game because we’re not there. We didn’t come with any energy.”

Both coaches admitted it wasn’t the prettiest soccer and neither side played the style they wanted. However, Taylor was more upset with his team’s lack of energy in a big conference game.

“I think right now it’s catching up to us that we’re an average team,” Taylor said. “We’re an average team that plays well some days and other days we don’t play well. I think we lack a lot of leadership on the team and we’ll see how we rebound.

“It’s up to them to turn it around, not me.”

Saint Viator twice came just inches away from the lead on first-half corner kicks, only to see goal-bound headers blocked by a defender on the line.

The Lions had eight corners, as well as a handful of long throws from Andrew Ferrante and free kicks from Adam Fetter, but the Corsairs held steady at the back on set pieces.

“We did and I’m really proud because Viator has beaten us several times on set pieces,” Halloran said. “A couple years back on a corner, two years back on the girls side off a set piece so that was definitely a huge part.”

In the second half, it was Carmel’s turn to be denied a sure goal. On a play similar to the goal, Justin Gibbons headed an Ian Heinrich free kick back into the area.

Through the mess of players, Justin Andreasik managed to put a shot on goal that Lions keeper Mike McGrath (7 saves) stretched to get fingers on and save.

The ball remained in the box, but McGrath was able to recover in time for another save before the danger finally passed.

“Their keeper had a great game,” Max Heinrich said. “He just made three great saves on that play so you just gotta tip your hat to him sometimes.”

McGrath almost pulled off another miraculous save on the game-winner, but couldn’t quite get there in time before the ball flew over the line. His counterpart, Steve Sliwa, made four saves for the shutout.

Halloran said his team got caught up playing over the top more than he’d like, but the quality matchup made for back and forth play.

“I think part of that is when two good teams play it just becomes more difficult to find space to knock it around,” Halloran said.

“I think some of it was nerves. When you play a big game you tend to get rid of it a little bit quicker because you’re afraid to make a mistake.”

Carmel next hosts St. Patrick on Saturday while Saint Viator travels to Marian Catholic that morning.