Lions sharp in Pepsi opener at Wheaton North

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By D.J. Wanberg

It's been said many times that high school sports are an extension of the classroom.

That's especially true for the St. Viator girls’ soccer team over the past couple of weeks and so far the results have been pretty close to perfect.

From March 19 to April 2 because of the makeup of its schedule and spring break, St. Viator did not play a game.

During part of that break, coach Mike Taylor used the opportunity to call his team to class and the subject was soccer. It was a perfect chance for St. Viator to refine its game with the majority of its schedule coming up.

"We played in our system," he said. "When you get off a bicycle, you need to get back on."

The Lions returned to action with a 4-0 win at Marian Catholic on Saturday, April 2 and kept the momentum going Tuesday, April 5 as they blanked host Wheaton North 4-0 in first-round play of the Pepsi Showdown.

"We played well," Taylor, whose team improved to 3-2, said. "We worked the ball around. We had four or five corner kicks in the first five to 10 minutes of the game. One of them led to a score, but we should have had more (converted). We were able to run our plays."

St. Viator attacked the Wheaton North net from the game's start and stayed in that end most of the contest. Early on, the speedy Chloe Luthringshausen of St. Viator went on two breakaways with Falcon defenders Natalie Waterman and Sarah Weatherred staying with her both times and preventing damage.

But sandwiched between those two plays was the Lions' first score of the night, coming just 3:25 into the contest.

A St. Viator corner kick from  corner kick from Katherine Petrovich was stopped at the Falcon defense. Katelyn Hammarlund grabbed the rebound and put it in the net from 15 yards out.
Hammarlund said that first goal gave a big boost to the Lions and the offense went up a notch.

"Katherine Petrovich is great at corner kicks. That first goal made us feel that we could do more," she said.

The Falcons (3-3) got their first shot on goal with just under 20 minutes left in the first half. However, St. Viator struck again at the 14:06 mark as Hammarlund found Luthringshausen alone just five yards in front of the net and she made good for a 2-0 lead.

Wheaton North's best show of offense in the remaining time of the first half came a couple of minutes later as Kate Wiegman passed to Anne Denz, whose shot forced Lion goalie Melissa Stawicki (five saves) to make a flyball catch not that far in front of the net.

The Lions' Erin Renee Murphy and Taylor Skala both had breakaways as the first half wrapped up as did Thea Athens of Wheaton North, but the shots of all three went wide.

St. Viator struck quickly at the 37:31 mark of the second half as Hammarlund hit for her second goal. She got it just past diving Falcon goalie Emily Barry (six saves) to make it 3-0. An assist went to Skala.
Wheaton North's best scoring opportunity of the night came about five minutes later as Wiegman's shot hit a post.

St. Viator closed out the scoring with 4:02 left in the game as Megan Goerth converted on a pass from Lauren Rooney.

Taylor was also pleased with the play of midfielders Erin Malone and Katie Gavin.

It was to be a busy week for the Lions as they were heading to Providence Catholic on Wednesday for an East Suburban Catholic Conference game followed by a home game Thursday against Deerfield as the Pepsi Showdown continues.

"A lot of seniors left after last season. The new players are filling the roles and we're starting to play good soccer and starting to have team chemistry," Hammarlund said.

As for Wheaton North, the Falcons were wanting to move on from this one quickly. The team travels to Park Ridge on Thursday, April 7 to continue the Pepsi Showdown against Maine South.

"You can't over-analyze a single game. We did not have it tonight and they won. It's a blip on the radar and we're moving on," coach Tim McEvilly said.