Senior forward Marco Antonio Valencia skipped his junior season with Mount Carmel to play full time with the Chicago Fire Academy.
He was lured back for his senior year, however, by the thought of playing with his Caravan teammates one last time.
“I really enjoyed playing with the Fire,” he said. “It was a great experience. But this is my family over here. These are guys I’ve played with since I was 7 or 8 years old.
“I play more for them, and it means a lot more to play for them than guys I haven’t known as long. I knew the choice I had to make was to come back here.”
The return of Valencia continued to make a big difference Tuesday night. He scored a penalty kick to help visiting Mount Carmel hold off St. Laurence 2-1 in a Catholic League Blue showdown.
Valencia played two varsity seasons for Mount Carmel (6-3, 1-1) before taking the year off, but his love for the Caravan goes back to 2016 when he was in junior high watching his cousins Salvador and Sergio lead the team to a Class 2A state runner-up finish.
“Having cousins here that came before, I’ve always wanted to play in big games like this for the school,” Valencia said. “To have this opportunity as a captain and a senior, it means a lot to win a game like this against probably one of the best teams last season.”
Valencia put St. Laurence (8-3, 1-2) in a hole during the 31st minute. After Irving Moreno drew a foul in the box, Valencia buried the penalty kick under the crossbar.
“As soon as I got the PK, I knew I wanted to go to my left,” Valencia said. “I didn’t want the keeper to have a chance, so I wanted to put some power on it.
“I think I hit it with enough power and right under the crossbar, so it was a decent shot, I’d say.”
Mount Carmel coach Antonio Godinez said Valencia’s presence on the field opens things up for the Caravan.
“The scouting report changes,” Godinez said. “He’s marked up by two and three guys. He’s always attracting defenders to him. The biggest thing is not only his leadership but his maturity.
“He’s been in and won high-level games. You can’t teach experience like that.”
The other pivotal moment Tuesday night also came on a penalty kick. Trailing 2-1, St. Laurence got a chance to tie it with under two minutes left when Andres Lemus was fouled in the box.
Mount Carmel sophomore goalkeeper Efrain Farias, though, came up huge, lunging to his right and knocking away Jessie Cardiel’s PK to preserve the win.
“It feels good,” Farias said. “Once they cleared it out, we were celebrating, and that felt good to celebrate with the team.”
Moreno made it 2-0 with 32:20 to go when Andrew Torres’ long pass into the box was deflected by Moreno and a defender before hitting off the back of Moreno’s head and going into the net.
St. Laurence responded as Bryan Rivera scored on a looping 45-yard shot with 19:50 to go.
“I’d rather us not bury ourselves in those holes,” St. Laurence coach Jaime Alonso said. “The first goal was 100% our fault. The second one was a little unlucky. I’m glad we reacted the way we did. We adjusted, put ourselves in a good situation and we missed.
“I told (Cardiel) the only players that don’t miss PKs are the ones who don’t take them. Their goalie made a big play. He owned the moment.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
