Vikings look solid in 2-0 win over Wheaton Academy

By Darryl Mellema

Picking Geneva’s best player from Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Wheaton Academy is a very difficult process. Thanks to a strong all-around performance, a number of names could be brought into consideration.

In part, your choice depends on the moment of the match you focus on. Based solely on the first 20 minutes of play, that selection would almost certainly have been goalie Stephen Soderstrom.

Soderstrom made a save from Josh Urban in the opening minute, stopped a Stephen Fernandes free kick from long-distance moments later and saved a Frank DellaTorre shot after 13 minutes of play.

While his level of play never dipped, Soderstrom stood very tall when the match was still 0-0.

“(Soderstrom) didn’t get much action in the Oswego game (which finished 1-1),” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “They scored one goal on him but he didn’t get a lot of other touches. He got some pretty dangerous looks today. There were a few crosses he had to pull out of the air.  He made a great point-blank save in the second half. It was nice that he got some action and kept a clean sheet as well.”

A junior, Soderstrom has waited for this chance. The one-on-one save of which Estabrook spoke came in the final minutes of play, when DellaTorre came in on a breakaway.

“He’s waited in the wings two years, and before that, he was a ballboy out here for two years,” Estabrook said. “He’s been anxiously awaiting his first varsity start against a quality team like Wheaton Academy. I think he was ready for it.”

With the knowledge that Soderstrom had things under control in goal, Geneva began to get its offense moving forward. The Vikings had a possible penalty claim waved away after 11 minutes when Seamus Kaminski went over in the penalty area.

Six minutes later, there was no denying that Josh Poythress’ right wing cross from inside the penalty area was knocked out the air by a Wheaton Academy hand, and this time a penalty kick was awarded. Brady Wahl stepped up and converted.

At this point, Wahl stepped forward as the Vikings’ most influential player on the field. While he didn’t complete all his passes, he made connections on most of them, and never lost possession in a dangerous area of the field.

“He's very strong on the ball,” Estabrook said. “You won't see many central midfielders that are better ballhandlers than he is. But we also talked about the need to get it off his foot quickly.”

Pulling the strings from midfield is something Wahl is accustomed to. But there was an incisive nature to his play moving forward that sought to carve openings in the Wheaton Academy defense. He hit a post with one shot but was the architect of so much more.

“The connection with (Kaminski and Carlos Gonzalez) up top, that's when we started to dominate the game,” Wahl said. “From the outside backs to the mids to the forwards, the combination play going forward was good. We look to do that more often.”

Thirteen minutes into the second half, Wahl started the move that effectively sealed the match for the Vikings when he played the ball forward to the right edge of the penalty area to Poythress. From a slightly tight angle, Poythress brought the ball back to just outside the 6-yard box to Carlos Gonzalez, who rolled the ball into the net.

“I feel like I got into a rhythm in the game,” Wahl said. “My teammates got me the ball in the right places, so all I had to do was execute. Coach Estabrook said to me at halftime to start pinging the ball wide. That second goal, that's exactly what we did. Josh Poythress made a nice run and I hit it to him. Then (Gonzalez) made a nice run. We executed what coach asked, so that's good.”

The dark horse candidate for the Vikings best player was Poythress, a sophomore whose play on the outside of the midfield was effective, especially as it balanced the play of Wahl, who played on the other side of the midfield.

“I guess you'd call him a 'cool customer,'” Estabrook said. “He's very calm on the ball. Sometimes we have to check his pulse to make sure he's playing as hard as we want him to. When he turns it on, he's as good a player as you're going to see.”

There were other standout performances by the Vikings. Late in the first half, Geneva switched from its 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2, with Mike Henricksen moving to the outside-left of the midfield and with Sean McGrath taking up a defensive midfield role. Henricksen was especially effective, making forward runs and strong tackles.

The Vikings reverted to 4-4-2 at the start of the second half, but again shifted to 3-5-2 for a time – playing for a time with a triangle at the top of that formation – with Poythress and Kevin Higgins playing just ahead of Wahl.

Whatever formation and with whatever personnel, the Vikings reveled on the best grass surface their home Burgess Field has had to offer in a boys soccer season for ages and played nearly a complete game, which is pretty good considering the season is less than one week old.

“There were bits and pieces of the game where we played like we've been trying to in practice,” Wahl said. “We're still trying to get 80 minutes together, though. We were a little fortunate to get the PK call. We did a good job of converting the chances we had.”