A late first half goal from Robert Rodriguez followed by a remarkable save from goal keeper Jovani Castanon provided the St. Joseph boy's soccer team with a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
However, a one score lead ended up being not enough for the Chargers as they went on to surrender three second half scores in their 3-1 loss to St. Viator in a Class 2A supersectional at Benedictine University on Tuesday night in Lisle.
"They have an arsenal," said St. Joseph head coach Stanley Niemiec of the Lions. "We tried to neutralize their midfield and if we would have done that, we probably would have hung in there a little longer. It just came down to who got more opportunities and they were better on their opportunities."
St. Viator was able to pressure the net throughout the second half and ended up generating countless chances. With 25:48 remaining in regulation, the Lions evened the score at 1-1 after forward Billy Hamilton splashed the bottom right corner of the net. Just under 10 minutes later, Hamilton cashed in on his second score of the game to give St. Viator a 2-1 advantage.
The Lions went on to put the game out of reach when midfielder Kevin Cavers added a goal with 3:21 left in the second half. During the regular season, the two teams fought to a 1-1 tie on Oct. 10.
"We know their key guys and made sure to step up to them and make them work," Niemiec said. "We made them work harder and they did a great job of distributing the ball outside and back inside and keeping the ball moving. We were ready for it. We knew it, but is just was a little bit too much for us tonight. We just couldn't get that pressure off of us."
Niemiec added a perspective on a 20-4-1 overall final mark.
"It was a great season," he said. "We beat good teams and we got to places where we wanted to be. Of course you never want your season to end early. It was too bad. The biggest thing we're going to take away is that the younger guys got to gain the playoff experience."
