Chicagoland Soccer

Bulldogs and Vikings settle for a tie

By Darryl Mellema

How's this for an opening? Before either team had gotten much of a chance to settle into Wednesday's match, Batavia earned a corner kick and from the ensuing scramble, the Bulldogs scored to go 1-0 ahead of their longtime rivals from Geneva.

There were some highlights in the ensuing 75 minutes, but it never got better than that - and Batavia eventually had to settle for a 1-1 tie in the final Western Sun Conference matchup between the two teams.

"I think it was a good match," Batavia's Tory Kinniard said. "But they were tough and they were scrappy. They know they're good. I think we could have won but they were good too."

Becky Bartos took that corner kick and it bounced around in the Geneva penalty area. Several Bulldogs tried to put the ball into the net before Tara Rush succeeded just under five minutes into the game.

"A lot of heads went up and there were a lot of bobbles in there," Rush said. "I saw an opening and headed it in."

There's never been a goalscorer that wasn't happy about putting the ball into the net. But Batavia-Geneva games are never just "another game" on either squad's schedule.

"It feels great tonight because of the rivalry," Rush scored. "I have a lot of friends on that team and it feels good to put one in."
In the moments after their goal, the Bulldogs (6-3-3, 2-0-2) dominated the Vikings (9-5-2, 3-0-1.) There weren't many great goalscoring chances in the first half, and neither team was able to do anything about each other's defense.

"I don't know what was happening," Rush said. "We lost our composure. At half, we had a good talk and came out ready to get back out there and fight.

Then Geneva began to put pressure on of its own. And that paid off 13 minutes into the half when Amanda Lulek raced up the right wing, beat her defender and crossed on the ground to Sammi Hill, who shot into the net at the left post.

At that point, the match opened up. Neither team had much of an advantage in the middle portion of the half and either could have had a second goal.

"The mood changed," Kinniard said. "It went from happy to nerve-wracking. It was everywhere. Everyone started to freak out."
Kristin Rodriguez hit the crossbar and Hill sent a flicked shot wide for Geneva while Batavia was always dangerous from Bartos corner kicks.

Then the match shifted one final time and the Bulldogs had a 10-minute spell of solid attacking soccer in the final quarter of the match. Liz Barnes sent a free header wide and Hillary Cooper sent a free kick over the crossbar. That momentum sagged in the final moments of play, but the Bulldogs had come close with their final push to score.

"We almost got it," Kinniard said. "We had the momentum going. If only we had five more minutes, I think we could have got one in."

Rush also saw how close the Bulldogs were to getting a winner.

"We wanted it through the whole game, but just there at the end, we really wanted it," Rush said. "We needed five minutes and I know we would have put it away."

Next year, Batavia and Geneva join the Upstate Eight Conference, marking the fourth league in which the two schools will battle. The teams have previously competed against each other in the Little Seven, the Suburban Prairie and the Western Sun. The packaging of the rivalry will change, but the essence of the competition between the teams will certainly remain the same.

"It always is a good match because they're our rival and they're always good," Kinniard said.

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