Lions shine in 3-0 win over high-flying Warren
By Mike Garofola

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In its single biggest test of the 2012 soccer season, Saint Viator was too strong for its high-profile opponent Warren on Thursday afternoon.

The Lions sent the top-seeded Blue Devils (9-2-0) out of the championship bracket, while booking its place in the semifinals of the Pepsi Showdown this weekend against tournament host Lyons Township.

The Lions, backed by a sizeable and vociferous crowd, surprised the visitors with an early goal and went on to score another shortly thereafter to send the Blue Devils into chase mode, in what would eventually end in a 3-0 result on a dreadful, rainy day in Arlington Heights.

"The boys brought it today," said soggy but thrilled Saint Viator coach Mike Taylor, who had just witnessed what to many score line watchers might look like a three-goal thrashing, but in reality was a match where a goal by the technically talented Blue Devils could have changed the entire complexity of this 80-minute contest.

"We were desperate to find that first goal before the break, and I have a feeling if we did then maybe things might have turned out differently," began Warren's superb young manager, Jason Ahonen.

"But we defended nearly all of their dead-ball chances very poorly today, and to give up all three goals on those opportunities is not acceptable, and that's why we walk out of here with the loss."

Warren returned several from a group which went 22-5-3 last season on its way to a 4th-place finish at the 3A state tournament, including its brilliant three-year attacking player Daniel Szczepanek.

The Marquette-bound Szczepanek claimed most of the early impetus, but not the advantage on the scoreboard. After the Lions’ outside midfielder Mateo Leudo ran freely to a loose ball provided by the first of three helpers from Spencer Moore, Leudo steered in the first goal of the game in the 7th minute.

Leudo's second goal would reduce Warren to a serious game of catch-up when the Saint Viator duo combined again, this time with Leudo finishing on another corner serve from the junior Moore just five minutes after the Lions’ opening strike.

"We moved Spencer up top to take the place of Jackson (Owens) who was out of school with an illness, and he might have been the biggest difference maker for us today," offered Taylor.

"He created so much trouble for Warren by holding the ball, running off of others, putting pressure on their defense, while giving us great service and some very good balls to his teammates.

"I told him afterwards that what I like about his game today is that he came away with all three assists, and that really kind of showed how important he was to us today."

That the game started in such a fashion had to take the wind out of the sails of the visiting Blue Devils, but Warren did not fold up and go away. Instead, the Blue Devils revved up the engine and the speed of play to a blur, prompting the Lions' backline and captain Troy Wheeler to take notice, along with defensive mates Michael Duszynski, Ethan Wolf and Mark Tun.

"(They) have so many weapons who could do so many things with and without the ball, but I thought all of us responded very well to what they threw at us today, and I really feel this was the best effort as a group that we've had this season so far," said Wheeler.

Wheeler's driving freekick from just inside the mid-line gained extra pace off the wet surface and put Moore in a 50-50 situation with Blue Devils keeper Nick Hathuc, but the Warren senior stayed with the dangerous ball to take the would-be scoring chance off the shooting boots of the onrushing Moore.

Warren sophomore RJ Hill would be brought on for Hathuc near the end of the first period, and he too would be challenged by the likes of Moore, Nick Winter and others as Saint Viator looked to increase its lead after the break.

But this would not be a one-sided attacking affair in favor of the Lions, who themselves, would dodge a few bullets on both sides of the half, especially when Warren was clinically clean and went through Szczepanek, who ventured high at times or withdrew in the Blue Devils attack to collect and inspire the Warren attack.

After Leudo struck again, Warren came at the Lions with several strong advances forward.

Warren’s Auner Solis went just wide on his angled shot, and then it was some nice combination work from Sean Kirwan and Szczepanek that allowed Nick Wegrznowicz to have a go at Lions keeper Mike McGrath at 24 minutes.

McGrath would establish a strong hold in and around his box all afternoon - a tricky thing to do considering the conditions -- and the constant concern that the Blue Devils had the firepower to lash out every time they advanced up the field.

"They are so good on the ball, but I felt like they had one too many touches in the final third instead of just shooting on goal and seeing if something would happen," said Taylor.

Ashwin Cornelius did just that before halftime, unloading a freekick missile from 30 yards that hit a body on the way through and redirected with a favorable bounce which almost caught the aware Hathuc out of position.

The Blue Devils denied themselves a goal in the closing moments of the first half, twice missing an open net. The first opportunity came when Tony Severini received a nice ball from Wegrznowicz at the back post, and the second came after Szczepanek set up Kirwan, who fired over the woodwork. 

The second half started chippy, and as the ferocity of the rain increased, so did the level of play. The soccer was fast and entertaining - quite a compliment to both clubs despite the less than ideal conditions.

The end-to-end play produced several anxious moments for the faithful of both sides,  with each keeper rising to the occasion to help keep balls out of their respective net.

Viator junior Kevin Klinkenberg who would draw praise from his coach afterwards, was a sturdy partner alongside Cornelius in the middle of the park, winning a high percentage of 50-50 offerings while providing quality connections with his mates up top to help free Cornelius to get forward when he could, while himself being a force in the Lions attack.

"Klink was very strong in the middle for us today," began Taylor.

"He told me one day that he wanted to be out there for us in the starting lineup, and he's worked hard to get there, and while he isn't always pretty, his work rate is very high and as you saw today, he somehow is able to win balls and isn't afraid to do the dirty work that is necessary at his position."

A corner to Warren’s Chris Travis from Szczepanek resulted in the sophomore heading over the bar at 65 minutes, and then a fearless tackle by Wheeler ended a give-and-go that nearly put Kirwan in on McGrath, who moments earlier stopped a drive by Warren’s Rafa Macias.

Warren continued to push forward looking for an instant response to its countless charges into the Lions half, but Wheeler and his young trio of backline mates held firm, and then celebrated Ryan Henry's 80th minute goal.

"This was a very good win for us today, everyone played maybe their best game of the year," said Wheeler with a smile.

Moore agreed. "We knew (Warren) would really come at us in the second half, but we stayed strong and organized, especially in the back, to get a win over a very good team,” he said.

Next up for the Lions is Lyons Township (7-2-1), always a well-trained side led by head coach Paul Labbato, which drew with Saint Viator on August 31 on the turf in LaGrange.

The Lions fought back from a pair of one-goal deficits in that game, using two goals from Cornelius to force a 2-2 final.

"We knew today would be our biggest challenge of the year thus far, and the boys came out and played hard from the very start," began Taylor.

"The rain never affected the way we played, and we really stood strong in that second half when Warren came at us looking to cut into our lead. Then Henry's goal put the icing on the cake for us, in a game I thought we deserved to win."