Warriors get on the scoreboard but let one slip away
Late Geneva goal dooms Waubonsie

By Eddie Burns

Waubonsie Valley waited three weeks to not just score a goal, but to actually enjoy playing with a lead.

And that lasted for all of about 5 minutes against Geneva as the Vikings scored twice in the final 6 minutes to sting the Warriors by a 2-1 decision in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover match played Saturday morning in Aurora.

The Warriors ended their 390-minute stretch without a goal in the 70th minute when senior defender Jason O’Brien sent a restart from 45 yards out and placed it perfectly behind the Geneva defense, which allowed teammate Tyler Yanisch run in and flick the ball past Vikings’ goalie Steven Soderstrom to give the hosts a 1-0 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

“Jason put a great ball in over the defense and I just went up and put it in,” Yanisch said.

Waubonsie coach Angelo DiBernardo was encouraged to see the Warriors score for just the eighth time through 11 matches.

“We haven’t scored many goals this year and at least we got on the board today, but one goal is not going to take you very far either against this type of competition,” DiBernardo said. “You are going to need more than one goal to win games. One goal isn’t going to do it.”

It turned out that DiBernardo was right.

Waubonsie (2-8-1) appeared to relax once it had its lead and Geneva made the Warriors pay.

The Vikings (6-6-1) pulled even when Robbie Johnson and Brady Wahl connected off a corner kick. Johnson dashed into the Warriors’ box untouched and headed Wahl’s service into net in the 75th minute to tie the match.

“I can only say that it is very disappointing to let a team get back on the kind of goal they scored,” DiBernardo said. “(Geneva) had a corner kick and nobody challenged (Johnson). OK, if we are not going to challenge, then we are going to open the door up for them to come in and score. Well, that is what happened and you are not going to win games that way.”

Yanisch said the Warriors had a mental lapse after they took the lead.

“We let down our guard,” Yanisch said. “We didn’t mark one of their players in the back and they made us pay – it is disappointing. Nobody marked (Johnson), which is extremely disappointing. He went straight in and got the header. Nobody followed him in – I don’t even know if anyone was marking him in the first place. He got in there too easy and free.”

Johnson’s goal only tied the match but with 1:18 left the Warriors allowed Geneva’s Seamus Kaminski a wide open lane to rip a shot from 35 yards out. The shot deflected into the back of the net for the winning goal.

DiBernardo was frustrated that there was not a Waubonsie player to be found attempting to put himself between Kaminski’s shot and the goal.

“When you take shots you take them with the intention of scoring goals,” DiBernardo said. “If you allow the other team to take a shot, you have to think and analyze the situation, ‘Hey, they are trying to score a goal here. Am I going to try and block that shot?’ But again, there was nobody within five yards of the player who scored the winning goal.”

The other disturbing aspect to Kaminski’s goal is that it’s the second time this season the Warriors have allowed the opposition to score the tying or winning goal in the final 90 seconds. Waubonsie allowed St. Charles North to score in the final minute to help earn a 2-2 draw earlier this season.

Waubonsie also has allowed goals in the final minute of the first half twice this season against Neuqua Valley and Naperville North.

The Warriors are simply not finishing strong whether it is at the end of the first or second half.

“I don’t know what it is, but we seem to relax a bit at the end of the half of games and other teams have really made us pay for it,” Yanisch said.

DiBernardo said the Warriors have let their guard down at a lot of key moments this season.

“At crucial times of the games, we have not been sharp,” DiBernardo said. “We have given up two goals in the last 90 seconds of the game and we have given up two goals in the last 30 seconds of the first half – something is not right and something is breaking down and I want to say that it is momentum more than anything else. Maybe they think each half is only 35 minutes long. You have to play through it.”

Waubonsie has not lost four straight and eight of its past nine matches.

“We had a lot of energy and tenacity and then we scored, then it disappeared and I don’t know what happened,” Yanisch said. “People are getting down (about losing). We need a win to pick ourselves back up. We’re a strong team from top to bottom and we won’t allow losing to break us.”

DiBernardo said the team must persevere.

“How do you keep them motivated? Well, that is my job to keep them motivated,” DiBernardo said. “Losing is frustrating and demoralizing, so we’re going through that process. If can come out of this and continue to play with the same type energy that we’ve been playing with we’ll be OK. Maybe we’ve just been a bite snake bit and maybe at the end it will make us stronger. Right now, we have to continue to weather the storm – and it is a fierce storm.”