St. Laurence’s Pedro Mendez was drenched in rain and feeling some pain from a couple hard fouls by the time Tuesday night’s nonconference game ended.
But as far as Mendez was concerned, he was having one heck of a night.
“This was so much fun,” Mendez said. “It’s just the best atmosphere, to be honest. I love it when it rains.”
The senior forward had free reign, scoring two goals and dishing out an assist as the visiting Vikings topped Bloom 3-1 in the pouring rain in Chicago Heights.
Jonathan Esparza also scored for St. Laurence (15-2-4), while Edgar Perez added an assist. Omar Ortiz had the lone goal for Bloom (17-5-2).
Mendez was more of a role player last season for the Vikings, who had a pair of all-state seniors leading the way in Andres Lemus and Jessie Cardiel.
This season, Mendez switched his jersey to No. 9. It was worn by Lemus — the Daily Southtown’s player of the year for the 2021 spring season — before he headed off to Illinois-Chicago.
“I took his number,” Mendez said of Lemus. “It’s a big responsibility. I know I’m not going to be as good as him, but I try my best. He had a lot of goals under his belt. I’m trying to do what he did.
“I learned about confidence from him. He had a ton of confidence.”
Mendez got the scoring started Tuesday night in the 12th minute, finishing after a scramble in front of the goal off a Vikings’ free kick.
Ortiz tied it for the Blazing Trojans just four minutes later, with the game going to halftime tied 1-1.
Mendez, though, struck again with just over 32 minutes left in the game, taking a pass from Perez and slipping home a shot from in front of the net.
“We needed that goal,” Mendez said. “I just took a touch, toe-poked it and it went in. It worked. It put us in the lead.
“I’m getting ready for playoffs. I have to play good going into the playoffs. I want to go into it with the mentality that we’re going to win the whole thing.”
St. Laurence coach Jaime Alonso has seen how dangerous Mendez can be when he gets going.
“Before the season started, the big question was goal production,” Alonso said. “We’ve been spreading our scoring out between a lot of guys, but when Pedro scores, he scores in bunches.
“When he has that confidence through the roof, he puts himself in good positions and he usually puts the ball in the back of the net. I’m proud of him for stepping up into that role and hopefully his good fortune can transfer to the playoffs.”
Less than two minutes after putting the Vikings on top, Mendez set up Esparza’s goal on a rocket-like 35-yard shot.
“It’s great playing with him,” Esparza said of Mendez. “Me and him have had a great connection since the summer. He’s always finding me. I’m always finding him. We have great chemistry.”
Bloom, meanwhile, had an eight-game winning streak snapped.
“We have to finish games,” Bloom coach Zack Radtke said. “We got the game tied 1-1 and then we came out in the second half, fell behind early and gave all the momentum back to St. Laurence. They were running and gunning after that.”
With the playoffs starting next week, both teams were glad to get in a big test.
“This whole night reeked of the playoffs,” Alonso said. “The quality of the opponent, the questionable weather. We knew coming out of here with a win wasn’t going to be easy, and I think our boys played very, very well.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.