Chicagoland Soccer

Young Vikings made their mark in 2011

By Dave Owen

The tears that flowed from Geneva's players after a 1-0 overtime loss to host Lake Park in Friday's regional title game couldn't wash out a brilliant season and an even brighter future.

"We had seven freshmen on a varsity team, and four of them started from Day One," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "With three freshmen starting on defense, to have as many wins as we did (a 12-5-4 record) and shut down as many teams - we had a great season.

"You look back on our season for our age, and people said we weren't going to beat any of the other teams in the Tri-Cities and we beat them all. We won our conference, we advanced to the final four of the Naperville Invitational - we overachieved in every way possible this season, and we only lose one senior so the teams in the area better watch out because I don't know of any other schools that played this well and will only lose one senior. We had a great season. Luck didn't go our way tonight, but we played a good, solid game. They just got the lucky shot today."

That deciding shot came with 5:21 left in the first overtime. After a Lake Park cross from right of the net into a crowd inside the box, the Lancers' Jessica Berkshire won the battle for the loose ball and converted the game-winning goal.

"(The ball) was in among a bunch of people," said Geneva goalkeeper Victoria Fortney, one of just two seniors on the Vikings' squad (along with injured defender Demi Miller). "It was just a bad bounce and they got away the shot."

Geneva had controlled play with the wind at its back in the second half, generating a 14-6 advantage in shots over those 40 minutes.

Sophomore Amanda Lulek was the catalyst, either setting up chances from the wing or launching shots herself. Her drive through Lake Park defenders 10 seconds before halftime to set up a Geneva corner kick foreshadowed her big second half, which began with a nice move 1:45 into the half that ended with Lulek's 15-yard shot on goal.

Six minutes later, Catherine Allon sent a Lulek cross just wide of the left post. Allon also had a nice shot inside the box off a Caitrin Griffin corner kick with 21:45 left in regulation deflected just wide.

Great offensive chances even came off Lake Park threats. After the second of two straight Lancer corner kicks with 13 minutes left, Lulek raced free for an end-to-end rush that was denied on a point blank save at the left post by Lake Park goalkeeper Amanda Siciak.

After briefly exiting the game with a cramp in her leg, Lulek returned to generate Geneva's last shot of the night. With 6:50 left in overtime, her sliding 15-yard attempt off nice passes from Kristin Rodriguez and Allon sailed over the net,

"We had a lot more chances and it just evaded us a little bit," Owens said. "But all we can do is learn from it and be very proud of what we accomplished."

Geneva keeper Fortney also faced some tough tests, including a big diving save of a point blank shot by Lake Park's Megan Lindbert with 7:05 left in regulation,

Fortney earlier made a diving catch of a 30-yard line drive shot 20 minutes into the game, as Lake Park used its size advantage to create its own threats,

"It was a really physical game," Owens said, "I think the refs let a lot go, and obviously Lake Park is a lot bigger than us. We're a very small team, but I thought we held our ground. We got shoved around a lot.

"I'm proud of how our kids stepped up and played. With their youth against older kids and the size they had against us, our kids played really hard.

"And luck plays a big part in the playoffs. They got lucky tonight and we didn't."

Geneva's good luck for the future includes an underclassmen-dominated lineup that included freshmen starters Tory Herbst, Hope Goodman, Annie Waldoch and Molly Stanfa.

And despite a bad break in overtime, 2011 was packed with accomplishments.

"We did really great," Fortney said. "We beat a lot of our rivals, we won conference, we got far in the Naperville tournament as one of the smallest schools. I thought we hung with a lot of tough teams and did really good."