St. Laurence’s Kris Caravantes
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sees himself as something of a trick-shot specialist.Caravantes, a junior midfielder, is all about tough angles. He prides himself on being able to score from anywhere on the field.
Bend it like Beckham? Caravantes can definitely do that.
“That’s my shot,” Caravantes said. “It always has been. I scored two goals like that in the state semifinals last year. I always seem to find myself on the side of the field and I’m able to curl it in from there.”
Caravantes did it again Tuesday night, ripping in a 20-yard free kick from the left side of the field to spark the Vikings to a 4-1 win over Lincoln-Way East in a Windy City Ram Classic semifinal game at Reavis in Burbank.
Pauly Rzadkosz, Jesus Salazar and Cristiano Koloffon also scored for St. Laurence (5-0), which advanced to take on Lockport at 6 p.m. Thursday in the championship game of the 32-team tournament. The Porters (4-0) earned a 2-1 win over De La Salle (3-1) with a 5-4 decision in a seven-round shootout.
Dario Stipcic scored off an assist from Owen Bohren for Lincoln-Way East (3-1). Jacen Winefka made eight saves.
Caravantes’ free kick in the eighth minute gave the Vikings a quick 2-0 lead, following Rzadkosz’s opening goal, which also came on a free kick.
Caravantes perfectly placed his shot inside the far post for his third goal of the season.
“Me and ‘Chuy’ (Jesus Salazar) were just looking at and seeing how the wall was setting up,” Caravantes said. “I looked at the angle, Chuy peeled off and the defenders were looking at him, so I wasn’t going to play it to him so I just tried my luck with the shot and it worked out.”
Salazar wasn’t surprised, either. He knows that Caravantes is always capable of producing goals for St. Laurence.
“Kris, he’s explosive, man,” Salazar said. “When he gets on the ball, he’s always two steps ahead of anyone else. And he can always get his shot off from anywhere.”
Last season, Caravantes scored nine goals as a sophomore as the Vikings finished as the Class 3A state runners-up.
That included his two-goal performance in a 3-0 state semifinal win over Glenbrook North.
Caravantes shined brightest in the biggest games, according to St. Laurence coach Jaime Alonso.
“Scoring two goals in a state semifinal, you just don’t see that from a sophomore,” Alonso said. “But he has always been the youngest player on his club team.
“He plays with a lot of these guys in club and he just fits right in perfectly with them.”
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Alonso saw room for Caravantes to grow going into his junior season this fall. Literally and figuratively.
“Something we wanted to work with him on over the summer was his ability to beat someone one-on-one,” Alonso said. “He’s always had the quality but it was just his body catching up to him.
“He was a 15-year-old playing against 18-year-olds last year. Now, he’s physically stronger and in this game he showed he’s made big strides.”
Caravantes has spent his whole life building into the player he is now. His father, Cristobal, moved to the United States from Guatemala a couple years before Kris was born.
He quickly passed on a passion for soccer to his son.
“My dad introduced me to the sport and he’s still supported me over the years,” Caravantes said. “He played in Guatemala and sacrificed a lot for me to be able to play soccer and do what I love to do.
“It’s amazing to be able to make him proud of me by doing the thing that he loves the most.”