Geneva gets it done in ugly fashion against St. Francis

By Darryl Mellema

There weren't many style points to be handed out after Tuesday's 2-1 Geneva win over St. Francis.

But that's one of the messages of the match - a somewhat tired Vikings team overcame a determined, talented opponent on a blustery day after falling behind. Grit was always going to trump style in that scenario.

"I think, overall, pulling off the win was good for us," Geneva senior Kristin Rodriguez said. "Fighting through the wind was pretty good. Even though it wasn't our best game, it was still pretty good."

Results have not been atrocious for the Vikings (12-5-3), who are unbeaten in six matches and have only lost once since April 15. But it is the manner of play in those recent matches that is worrisome.

In Tuesday's game, the Vikings roared from the gate at the start of the second half, scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, then fell into a bit of a malaise that was solved only by the final whistle.

"We had that talk at halftime that we're making it hard for ourselves," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "We need some consistency. That's what I'm looking for now. We have two games left to figure it out before regionals. But it was still a win, so I guess we have to be happy about it."

The Vikings had to dig deep to find the reserves to gain the victory after St. Francis' Andi Matichak scored in the game’s eighth minute to put the Spartans ahead.

"It was a quick goal and good job for them for getting it in," Rodriguez said. "I think them getting that (goal) made us push more to pull off the win."

For some time after Matichak’s goal, Geneva struggled to make an impact on the match. The pattern was similar to how the Vikings opened in Monday's 9-2 rout of Glenbard South - though the final outcome was much more positive from a Geneva perspective.

"We struggled with getting out there and playing hard from the first whistle," Owens said. "They scored within the first eight minutes. That's not the first or second time that's happened so that's something we need to focus on."

The Vikings equalized within five minutes of Matichak's goal when Amanda Lulek poked home a loose ball following a corner kick. Throughout the half, Lulek was able to find some space on the wings from which to trouble St. Francis' defense.

"In the first half, they were pushing up to try to catch us offside so I just tried to use my speed to get past them the whole time," Lulek said.

After Lulek’s score, Geneva worked to wrest control of the match from St. Francis. Sammi Hill stole the ball from a defender, then shot and hit the crossbar. On a subsequent shot, Hill narrowly missed the goal. Thirteen minutes before halftime, the Vikings missed a penalty kick.

"Not every win is going to be pretty," Owens said. "This one wasn't pretty. But they still got the job done and that was good. But they know they have to step it up if they want to win conference or if they want to be competitive in the regional."

Owens tried to lift her team at halftime, and the discussions seemed to have had the desired affect when Hill got free on the left side at the top of the penalty area. She dribbled in a bit before shooting the game-winning goal.

"Our goal was to get a goal within the first 10 minutes," Lulek said. "We ended up getting it in the first minute and that was really good."

St. Francis found its own response at that point and Geneva struggled in the final half-hour to be the more dominant team.

"They know we have to work on consistency," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "We're in a very tough regional and they have to figure it out. We played really strongly (Monday) and then we struggled today."

Geneva has only two matches left in the regular season, but they are important ones. If the Vikings defeat Rochelle on Thursday and Sycamore on Tuesday, they will claim the final Western Sun Conference title. The conference disbands after this season. Geneva, along with Batavia, join the Upstate Eight from the 2010-2011 school year.

"We still have a lot left to work for," Owens said. "We need to keep working. We did not connect well today. It was another windy game but you can't use that as an excuse."

Days without matches have been in short supply for the Vikings recently. Wednesday was the first time in eight days - other than Sunday - that Geneva did not play.

"We have regionals coming up and we're still working hard to get everything fixed," Lulek said. "We have little things to work on and it'll be good to have a practice to work on some of those things."

After a brutal three weeks of competition, the pace slows before the postseason begins. After Tuesday's match at Sycamore, Geneva has an eight-day break before its May 19 Streamwood Regional opener against Glenbard West.

"We've played a lot of games in a little bit of time and I think prom's really hit them hard," Owens said. "I think some of them are really tired and we played (Monday) and today."

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