Vikings draw with rival St. Charles North
By Darryl Mellema

 

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There are a few things that are guaranteed to happen if you watch two of the tri-cities girls’ soccer teams in action this spring: There will be non-stop action; the match will be played at 100 miles per hour, neither team will give up on loose balls or consider the match over until 80 minutes have been played.

Every one of the matches involving Geneva, St. Charles North, Batavia or St. Charles East has shared those basic gritty traits in 2012, and Tuesday’s Geneva-St. Charles North contest went by this hard-fought script as well.

Long before the goals were scored in what ended as a 1-1 tie, the two teams tore into each other, gave very little space and never relented on that until the final whistle sounded.

The ironic thing is that the players on the teams actually know each other well. Many are club teammates or have been in the past. But when they don their high school uniforms, the teams have, in recent years engaged in some almighty pitch-based battles.

“We talk about it that it doesn’t matter what name is on the jersey, these are our goals, and we want you to focus,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “You can be friends after 9 o’clock, or whatever it is. It’s not a mind game. I just want them to focus on playing for North. Whoever they know after the fact, great.”

To be sure, players from both these teams shake hands and smile and talk with each other when the game is done. There are times when they say “hi” to each other at the halfway line before heading into the match as substitutes.

“We’re all friends with everybody on the team,” Geneva’s Amanda Lulek said. “You have to forget about it and think that they’re another team. They come out strong and they come out aggressive every single time. You have to have that same caliber and just play your heart out.”

Recent meetings have been just as taut as Tuesday’s encounter. In 2011, Geneva won 2-1 with a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes. In 2010 and 2009, the teams met in sectionals, with the North Stars winning 2-1 in 2010 and, avenging a 1-0 Vikings win in 2009.

That’s four encounters, with each team winning two and the goals for-against registering at 5-4 in Geneva’s favor.

“The last couple of years have been really intense,” St. Charles North’s Kelly Manski said. “We know people who play club on the other team. It was very tough, fighting for every ball and possession. But I think we did well for most of the game.”

The tie resolves nothing with regard to the Upstate Eight conference River Division race. Each team has one massive game left, and for each school, it involves its long-standing traditional rivalry. Geneva still has to play Batavia while St. Charles North must still meet St. Charles East.

“They didn’t beat us and we didn’t beat them and who knows, maybe we’ll have co-champs this year,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Geneva took the lead when Lulek scored with 17 minutes left and St. Charles North equalized on a Manski penalty kick with 1:48 to play. For Geneva, victory was very close and for St. Charles North, there was a sense that a series of offensive chances finally resulted in a match-tying effort.

“I think it’s a disappointment for both sides,” Owens said. “I think both sides were looking for a victory. I think North played well. They’re a very physical, tall team. They’re hard to beat out of the air.”

But there was universal agreement on the intensity of this rivalry, which is very new. The teams weren’t conference foes before 2011 and only the luck of the tournament threw them together in 2009 and 2010.

“I think of all the tri cities teams, North’s our biggest rival,” Owens said, “I don’t think there’s any question. Just the battles we’ve had over the past three years. There’s always something. It’s never ‘just a game.’ There’s always something that, whether you’re on the receiving end of it or whatever, that makes you wonder. We’ve had some amazing battles.”

Above the familiarity among the players is the fact that these teams have been evenly-matched recently. In none of the recent encounters has either team played the other off the pitch, and that was hardly the case on Tuesday.

“You have teams that are skill-wise, level, and it comes down to someone making an extra effort or a great play, that kind of thing,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said.

If the match had been scored like a boxing match, Geneva was probably ahead on points at halftime while St. Charles North came back with a series of shots on goal in the second half.

“I thought, in the second half, that we created a ton of chances,” Vostal said. “There were some that should have been in the back of the net. So I was happy to come up with a tie.”

Lulek’s goal came first, from a leading pass from central midfield. Lulek brought down the ball, moved wide to the left in the penalty area and then shot back to the right and scored.

“I just had my head in the game,” Lulek said. “I saw the ball, took it to the corner, didn’t see anyone in the box and took a shot. At first, I looked to see if anyone was in the center to slot the ball. I didn’t see anybody in there, so I took a shot and it went in.”

Geneva had chances to double its lead in the minutes immediately after Lulek scored and the North Stars had difficulty moving forward,

“It was a beautiful shot,” Owens said. “We shouldn’t have to wait for us to score to start playing our game, and that’s what happened. It wasn’t pretty and not every game’s pretty.”

But then St. Charles North burst forward and Lauren Koehl was taken down in the penalty area and a penalty kick was awarded. Manski stepped up and scored.

“It’s kind of spur of the moment, where I think the goalie’s going to go, I try to go the opposite” Manski said. “It felt good as soon as I hit it.”

Standing in the way of St. Charles North’s shots on goal was Geneva keeper Marisa Schroyer, who made a series of saves, especially in the second half, to keep the match scoreless.

“I go out there and don’t think and just react,” Schroyer said. “When you think, you’re a second late to everything. You put everything out of your mind and you react and do whatever you can do in order to keep the a ball out of your net.”

Owens was much more emphatic about her starting keeper’s play when she said, “Big players make big plays in big games.”

Of Geneva’s players who had strong games against St. Charles North was forward Michaela Loebel.

“She did a nice job,” Owens said. “She always does a nice job when she plays physical and gets after it, she’s a real threat for us up top. I just think, overall, we struggled a bit to connect.”

For the North Stars, the Geneva match marked the big-match return of Alex Gage from offseason knee surgery.

“She’s obviously a great leader,” Vostal said. “She’s played, but this is the first game that she’s played significant minutes. I think it’s taken her some time to get back into the flow, get fit and gain pace. But you look at her and she’s physical, she’s not hesitant and I think she’s just going to get better and better.”