Vikings keep the Fox after giving Saints first UEC River loss

By Darryl Mellema

In so many ways, Geneva outfoxed St. Charles East on Wednesday night.

Playing for the honor of being the best team among a mini-league that also includes Batavia and St. Charles North, the Vikings romped to a 3-0 victory in St. Charles.

They did so by taking advantage of time and space allowed in the midfield and also using counterattacking play to devastating effect in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division match.

And thanks to their previous 5-2 win over St. Charles North and 2-1 victory against Batavia, the Vikings get to keep the clay fox statue that has become a traveling trophy.

Already painted Geneva Blue thanks to their 2009 exploits, the fox proudly adorned the top of the Vikings dugout – and it will be there again in 2011, although it's due for a makeover.

"We're going to repaint it anyway," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "The guys were talking about a new color scheme. I told them we had to win it first, so then they talked about it a little more secretively.

"So now we'll see what color scheme they decide on, whether it's blue and gray or gray and blue. I don't know."

Keeping 'The Fox' certainly enthused the Vikings (9-7-1, 3-2), who celebrated with the trophy and their fans at the end of the match.

"There are three great teams in the Tri-Cities," Geneva senior Craig Hancock said. "To come out on top of the other three, it really means something.

"(St. Charles East) was leading the conference and to put a three-spot on them means a lot."

Blue will be the dominant color, of course, and the Vikings took the lead then they tried to remove some paint from the crossbar at the north end of Norris Stadium 35 minutes into the match.

Brady Wahl started the move when he sent the ball from the right into the penalty area. Kyle Hurley hit a fierce shot that was only blocked by the Saints.

The ball came to Carlos Gonzalez, whose sharp rebound caromed off the crossbar and then over the line. The ball still had enough force to bounce sharply off the turf and back into the roof of the net.

Gonzalez mentioned to Estabrook from the field as he celebrated that goals of that nature – off the crossbar and then into the net – count for two points when scored in informal matches in Mexico.

In any country, by any counting method and in any match, that Gonzalez goal was priceless.

"We had to win this game," Gonzalez said. "Scoring the goal feels really good. We played really well."

In the 80 minutes of play, St. Charles East (8-7-1, 3-1) had pressure, even dominated at times, but the Vikings only allowed a handful of opportunities.

The best of those was perhaps an Ethan Jenrzejczyk show two minutes into the second half that was blocked by Andrew Walton.

"That East team has a pretty good squad," Estabrook said. "At least two of the goals came against the run of play.

"We did a nice job on the counterattack. That's something we talked before the game. Fortunately we were able to execute that."

With neither team creating much midway through the second half, Geneva scored in a manner familiar to anyone who has seen even small dose of Vikings soccer in the past couple of seasons.

Brady Wahl took a free kick on the right wing near midfield and drove the ball into the Saints' penalty area.

Robbie Johnson got a touch to the ball and the redirected header went untouched into the net.That goal came with 17 minutes left.

With eight minutes to play, the Vikings turned on the style to wrap the match, secure the Fox and walk off the Saints' field as victors.

A multi-player passing move culminated in Craig Hancock feeding Josh Poythress alone in front of goal. Poythress did the rest and scored the third goal.

"(Poythress) was very composed on the spot to slot it past their goalkeeper," Estabrook said. "It was nice to see nice ball movement get a goal for us at the end to really seal it off.

"The people who were here tonight know that even with a 2-0 lead, it was still a tight game. East created a lot of chances."

The loss put a dent in the Saints’ plans to celebrate the UEC River title. The Vikings saw their own conference titles damaged on Monday when they lost 4-2 to Larkin.

"If we played this well against Larkin the other night, we wouldn't be sitting where we are in the conference," Estabrook said. "Hopefully this is a good sign."

That Larkin match ended a five-game winning streak for the Vikings. Geneva has four matches to play, starting with Saturday's trip to Peoria Notre Dame in which to try to build momentum for the postseason.

"A big part of it is preparation," Estabrook said. "We were a lot more focused at the start of the game today and we got a good result. Hopefully we can continue to do that as we move forward now."

This week has served as a microcosm of the Vikings' season and a pattern the team will want to banish before the playoffs begin. After a 3-6-1 opening, the Vikings caught fire before losing to Larkin.

"The loss against Larkin reminded us that we are going to lose if we don't keep playing hard," Hancock said. "We definitely wanted to bring that out tonight, and we did."

Geneva played Wednesday's match without injured senior forward Seamus Kaminski. Estabrook said the date of his return is still unknown.

"His knee was bothering him (Tuesday)," Estabrook said. "We're just being cautious right now. There's no need to risk injuring him more if he has a serious injury. But it's unclear right now."