Saint Viator's ESCC chances disappear at Carmel

By Rusty Silber

Everything was in sight for St. Viator picking up another East Suburban Catholic Conference championship.

However, the Lions didn't get the result they wanted or needed, falling to Carmel Catholic 2-0 in Mundelein on Wednesday afternoon.

The loss put St. Viator (16-4-1, 6-1-1) on the outside looking in and awaiting its last match-up against Benet (10-5-2, 7-1) tomorrow afternoon 4 p.m. in Arlington Heights.

Carmel (13-5-2, 8-1) clinched at least a share of the title for the first time in five years.

The Lions are not playing its best soccer at the closing parts of the season, leaving St. Viator coach Mike Taylor less than happy.

"We were out-played, out-hustled and gave away a conference championship," Taylor said. "There's nothing more to say about it. This team is not as good as they think they are. They didn't prove it last Saturday and they didn't prove it today. They deserved to lose."

The Corsairs on the other hand, came out scoring a couple of goals in the first half.  Donald Kolb scored in the 5th minute off a Jummy Ryan assist and Jake Changelon knocked in the other in the 34th minute.

"We came out with no motivation," St. Viator senior Trevor Wheeler said. "We knew about the competition and the conference championship. We just came out flat."

St. Viator tried to get some motivation and find some energy in coming back in the second half.

"Coach (Taylor) said there was no talking, no communication or motivation," Wheeler added. "We came out with intensity, but we couldn't get one in the back of the net.

We did find some momentum after the big save, but couldn't put one away."

Lions found some motivation from its goalkeeper Patrick Windle stopping a penalty shot off the leg of Carmel's Joe Monroe in the 60th minute, and following it up with two other stops on the rebound.

Still, the Lions had tried getting some headers and shots from Alan Aboona, Mark Lada, Petar Milenkovich and a few others. They went around the Corsairs goal a number of times but couldn’t get a ball to the back of the net.

Carmel's defense did a great job bending and not breaking not only in the second half, but throughout the entire game. The Corsairs' game plan almost worked to perfection in stopping the Lions' attack.

"Our effort level was huge out there," Carmel coach John Halloran said. "We conceded the middle and knew we would have to get our goals off counter attacks.

"Everyone on our defensive line did a great job (Nick Sturm, Jack Stefanski, Shane Einloth, and Joe Monroe). Our work rate was so high and made things difficult for (St. Viator).”

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