GLENVIEW — Scoring is a state of mind, and the relative few who have mastered it believe that no situation is ever completely out of reach.

“Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in high school soccer,” Loyola coach Justin Dunn said.

Jay Carroll has made it almost seem like its second-nature to him, so natural, intuitive and essential to his manner and method that his shot-making prowess and creativity have come to feel inevitable.

“You can’t ever give a player of his caliber any open space,” DePaul midfielder Dom Scandariato said. “I knew it was going in as soon as he hit it.”

Carroll fired a 28-yard blast in the 66th minute from the left edge that broke cleanly inside the post and became the exclamation point on the Rams’ 2-1 comeback victory in Chicago Catholic League Blue Division play Tuesday night at Munz Field.

For his two-goal performance, Carroll earned the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match distinction, which marked his third time claiming the privileged award.

“We were waiting for those moments the whole time,” Carroll said. “We knew they were going to come. This was a hard team we were playing against, and we just had to stay patient for those goals.

“They love to be on the ball, we knew that. So, we knew they’d be gassed eventually. We just had to stay patient.”

Building his status as one of the state’s top offensive players, Carroll maintained his scorching individual start for the Rams (7-1-1, 1-0-0), who are ranked sixth in the Chicagoland Soccer Class AA Super 7 poll.

Carroll notched his eighth multiple-goal game of the season.

“We talked about making sure we knew where he was at all times,” Dunn said. “We just gave them two opportunities.  At halftime, we talked about alleviating our mistakes, and I felt we were doing it. 

“We made one error, and the next thing you know it was 1-1. When it was 1-0, we had chances to score, and we didn’t put them away. It was 1-1, and we had chances to score, and we didn’t put them away.”

Loyola (3-4-1, 1-1-0) entered the game riding a four-game unbeaten streak, and demonstrated an improved and more fluid and mobile attack bolstered by creativity in the midfield.

Despite the absence of any first half goals, the play was inspired and sharp. 

Midfielders Rayden Dominguez and Daniel Vehovsky created a compelling rhythm for Loyola, distributing the ball and switching the ball cleanly from side to side.

Dominguez blasted a ball from about 19 yards  that required a superb diving stop from DePaul keeper Joe Phillips. 

Vehovsky, who also challenged the Rams inside the box, is the youngest player from a very skilled family who excelled in the Ramblers’ program. His brother Joey plays forward at DePauw University, and his sister Ellie is a freshman at Loras College.

Like his siblings, he showed excellent instinct and presence around the ball, creating some dangerous moments in the final third.

“We have a lot of new players, a lot of new starters on the team, but we’re starting to figure out the pieces,” Vehovsky said. “The hard work and passion are there.

“We just have to finish the goals.”

Two sophomores, midfielder Luca Colino and forward Christian Olaoye, came off the bench and infused the attack with energy, speed and athleticism.

DePaul entered the game off its first defeat -- a tough back-and-forth encounter with DeLaSalle, which is ranked 12th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25. The Meteors took a 3-2 cross-over win on Sept. 12.

The setback helped sharpen DePaul’s edge, shape and focus.

“It was a really hard loss,” Carroll said. “We thought about it, and we realized we don’t really want to lose anymore.

“DeLaSalle was really good on the attack, very good one-on-one. So, we changed the formation and went to a 4-3-3. 

“I think it really worked out for us tonight, because this team was also really skilled with their attackers and had a lot of good players.”

Carroll is quick and mobile, and superb either on or off the ball. 

Loyola keeper Luka Garatic made a couple of excellent saves during the first half play including an alert kick-stop off a Carroll shot from point-blank range. He later came off his line to win a challenge against Rams’ midfielder Harrison Mellon.

The energy and aggressive play of Loyola paid dividends at the start of the second half.

“We were doing great building-up through the back,” forward Daniel Loder said. “The midfield helped move the ball really well. We were really lethal down the lines.

“We got the free kick, and we were able to put it away.”

On that restart in the 44th minute, midfielder Kevin Sicena played a perfect cross from about 21 yards on the right edge to forward Brett LoPresti, who smashed his header off the crossbar.

Loder followed with the rebound first touch from a couple of yards for his fourth goal of the season.

“I think we had a lot of great passion,” Loder said.

The Ramblers’ inability to finish follow-up opportunities came back to haunt them.

After bottling up Carroll for long stretches of the game, the elite talent took the game over the final 30 minutes of play. 

In the 52nd minute, Carroll broke free down the left edge and made a cross that teammate and defender Nico Chavarria could not get a clean hit on.

“Next time, Nico,” coach Kyle Kreider yelled out. 

That moment arrived minutes later.

Off a through-ball on the right edge, Chavarria broke down the right edge and fired a ball that was deflected in the immediate vicinity of the hard-charging Carroll.

He put away the rebound in the 54th minute for the game-tying goal.

“We’re playing soccer; we’re not a team that just boots the ball around,” Carroll said. “We’re really moving it right now. The more we move the ball, the more we know what each other is doing. 

“Our team played solid defense the whole game, and stuff like that is going to come.”

The momentum clearly shifted in the favor of the visitors. Defender Malachy McDonagh created the game-winner, slotting a ball that Carroll took in stride. He bore down from the left edge.

“It shows our character,” Carroll said. “We kept our heads and never freaked out, even after we got down the way we did. Our first year in the Blue (big school) Division was last year, and we didn’t do as well as we wanted.”

Scandariato, a holding midfielder who helped neutralize the Ramblers’ attack and build DePaul’s activity, was the key connective thread in an excellent two-way performance.

The victory was sweet and monumental.

“This means the world to us,” he said. “I’ve been playing on this team for four years. This year is the best we’ve ever been. My freshman year, we were losing 7-0 against Notre Dame (Niles), and today we’re beating Loyola on their home turf. 

“Our whole team (plays) club now, and before it wasn’t. We’ve been playing together since we were young kids. We all knew each other when we were young, and our chemistry has developed over these four years. We’ve put in a lot of effort during the offseason, and that has really helped.”

DePaul escaped several dangerous scenarios in the frenzied final moments. Phillips made a great stop off a rocket ball from Colino from the left wing in the 71st minute.

In the closing seconds, Vehovsky had a decent look that was pushed just wide left.

“We should be able to compete with and even beat teams of this caliber,” Dunn said. “I’ve talked to the guys about errors that we make. How are you able to pick yourself up from the error, and continue to do what you’re trying and put the ball in the back of the net?

“This was a legit game of soccer, the way it should be played at the purest form. I hope people see that’s a really good team that we were competing with.”

Starting lineups

DePaul
GK: Joe Phillips
D: Connor McLeod
D: Ryan Drayton
D: Bode Bryant
D: Nico Chavarria
MF: Harrison Mellon
MF: Dom Scandariato
MF: Francesco Sessa
F: Max Kerber
F: Jay Carroll
F: Will Marshall

Loyola
GK: Luka Garatic
D: Patrick Kozak
D: Nicolas Szorc
D: Daniel Sullivan
MF: Kevin Sicena
MF: Abeyod Dawit
MF: Daniel Vehovsky
MF: Rayden Dominguez
F: Luke Ojala 
F: Daniel Loder
F: Diego Fernandez 

Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Jay Carroll, sr., F, DePaul

Scoring summary

First half
No scoring

Second half
Loyola—Daniel Loder (Kevin Sicena/Brett LoPresti), 44’
DePaul—Jay Carroll (Nico Chavarria), 54’
DePaul—Carroll (Malachy McDonagh), 66’