Finishing woes doom Bulldogs at St. Charles East

 

By Chris Walker

There certainly was a lot of buildup for Saturday afternoon’s boys soccer match between Batavia and host St. Charles East.

While the Saints won last year’s non-conference contest 2-0, this one meant a great deal more as the two teams are battling one another this season in the River Division of the Upstate Eight Conference.

The Bulldogs created a fair amount of scoring opportunities, but proved incapable of finishing, while the Saints made the most of their chances and would hold on for a 2-1 victory.

“We were creating opportunities and we just need some of them to fall in for us,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I thought we had some good chances in the first 15 minutes, just like against Glenbard West (Thursday), but we didn’t put them away.”

St. Charles East (5-3-0, 2-1-0) pulled ahead 1-0 in the 13th minute when Jonny Bren headed an Austin Jackman corner kick.

Batavia produced ten shots in the opening half in hopes of knotting things at 1-1 but the Bulldogs just couldn’t penetrate the net. Perhaps their best opportunity of the first half came with only 2:10 remaining. Lalo Cuautle sent a corner kick to Peter O’Brien who crossed it back beautifully to Cody Balogh who headed a shot into the hands of Saints goalkeeper Nick Novotny.

“We had some nice opportunity up top but when you put it right at them, you make their keepers look pretty good,” Gianfrancesco said.

Batavia (2-2-1, 0-1-0) controlled the midfield game and nearly pulled even with just under 20 minutes remaining when Cuautle somehow broke free, dribble ahead and blasted a shot into the hands of goalkeeper Eric Messenburg, who split duty in goal with Novotny for the Saints.

"I would agree that we outplayed them in moving the ball more and maintaining possession,” Gianfrancesco sad. “In my opinion the only shot they had on frame in the first half they scored and the same thing in the second half. I thought we did well defensively.”

That second goal scored by the Saints proved to be an especially crushing blow for a Bulldogs team that appeared to be on the cusp of tying the match several times.           

It came with less than seven minutes remaining in the contest from Ethan Jendrzejczyk. The junior forward blasted a shot off the crossbar but didn’t quit on the play. Jendrzeczyk followed his initial shot, which was batted around by Bren, before he could pounce on it and strike it past Bulldogs goalkeeper Ben Steskal.

Jendrzeczyk’s goal proved valuable when Batavia finally lit up the scoreboard a few minutes later with 3:31 remaining. Cody Witkowski assisted on the header goal by Anton Kondaurov.

"A bit late there but it was good to finish one at least,” Kondaurov said. “We just haven’t been able to finish, I guess, and we dominated the middle, played the ball wide and kept out composure with the (yellow) cards and the sloppy play.”

Emotions did indeed run high throughout the contest as four yellow cards were distributed. The officials also stopped play on a few occasions to warn players about the intense style of play and what would and would not be accepted.

“With the local rival, sometimes the playbook goes out the window,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “The passion was certainly there, but I’ll be honest, our quality wasn’t.”

While the Bulldogs left Norris Stadium disappointed that they couldn’t win their third straight match of the year, they continue to realize that their season has truly just begun with this being only their fifth game.

“The first thing I said to them was that this only five games, so it’s so early still,” Gianfrancesco said. “The season’s so far from over and we can improve in some areas.

“I’d much rather win it later in the season than now. We’re going to keep getting better, understanding each other better and that’ll come when we play a more consistent schedule now.”