Saints' season ends at the hands of Geneva
By Darryl Mellema

It was the moment goalkeepers dream of – diving to make the match-winning save in a penalty kick shootout against an area rival in a key playoff match.

Never mind that Geneva's Sam Hauser has only been keeping the Vikings' net for two years – and only one at the varsity level – her actions during Saturday's penalty kick shootout against St. Charles East in the IHSA Class 3A Bartlett Regional title match were nothing less than heroic.

Hauser saved two penalty kicks, including the one that ended the shootout – and made a significant contribution to her team's advancement in the tournament.

“It's been amazing playing goal,” Hauser said. “I just started close to a year ago and I've been picking up the pieces along the way. I've been playing soccer for my whole life.”

Saturday's penalty kick shootout was the first Hauser had been involved in.

“When I was standing there, I was freaking out and really nervous,” Hauser said. “And then once the ball was hit, it all set in. Mentally, I knew I had to get to the ball, find it and stop it.”

Hauser joins the ranks of Rebecca Bald and Sue Hedrick as Vikings goalkeepers who have had great postseason performances – and those other two keepers stood in goal during the state finals for Geneva's 2002 Class A and 2005 Class AA third-place teams.

But Hauser did not grow up with thoughts of stopping penalty kicks or wearing a jersey a different color from the rest of her teammates. For most of her life, she was an outfield player – until the Vikings were in need of goalkeeping help.

A year ago, Hauser was the junior-varsity keeper and this year, she moved to the varsity team. Saturday, the junior was center stage for the drama after 100 minutes had been played, and she starred in the role.

“She's just a tremendous athlete,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “She works really hard and she's a great leader on our team. She's been solid for us all year and had some beautiful saves for us all season.”

Hauser faced four penalty kicks. She got her hands to one that went into the net, was beaten on a second but made key saves on the third and fourth kicks. With Annie Waldoch, Taylor Williams, Hope Goodman and Molly Stanfa converting their kicks, Hauser's save in the fourth round ended the shootout with the Vikings leading 4-2 and the fifth round unnecessary.

“We do this all the time in practice,” Hauser said. “I just had to concentrate on where the ball was going and follow my instincts.”

Hauser said it took her a moment to realize that the shootout was over. When she did, she yelled, threw the ball high into the air and joined in the celebrations.

“I saw everyone running at me and I was like 'we did it, finally,'” Hauser said.

Geneva (14-8-1) claimed its seventh regional title in school history in advancing to Tuesday's Hoffman Estates Sectional semifinals, where they meet Batavia in a 7 p.m. Contest.

The Vikings are also on a winning roll. Geneva won its eighth straight match and advances to join not only Batavia but Upstate Eight Conference River Division foe St. Charles North in Hoffman Estates. The North Stars play Conant in the 5 p.m. semifinal.

“It was just an awesome game, a hard fought battle on both sides,” Owens said. “With the heat and everything else – props to East. My kids, to make four of their four PK's, they kept their composure and they did a tremendous job. I couldn't be prouder of them.”

But the emotions of the match swung wildly between the two benches through the regulation 80 minutes and the two 10-minute overtime periods. Geneva took a 2-0 lead through the first 50 minutes, then St. Charles East rallied and eventually scored the tying goal with 6:28 to play. The overtimes were scoreless and led to the shootout.

St. Charles East (14-6-2) defeated Geneva twice in six days in the regular season, the first was the teams' Upstate Eight River match and the second came on the final day of the St. Charles East Invitational.

“This is what games between tri-city rivals are all about,” Owens said. “They leave it all on the field. They are back-and-forth, back-and-forth all game. We made some adjustments, my team really wanted it. We're not the same team we were. We talked before the game that we play such a hard season to get us ready for this.”

Molly Axen scored both Geneva goals. Her first came with just under two minutes left in the first half from a Courtney Lardas pass.

“I can't do it without my teammates,” Axen said. “They've been crossing the ball to me and placing it really well. We've been doing a lot with cutting it back, and I saw (Lardas) make the run. I saw the space and she crossed it right there.”

To that point, St. Charles East had dominated possession, especially after the midpoint in the half. One left-sided passing move involved Shannon Rasmussen, Allie Arvizu, Darcy Cunningham and Clara Stoffel before breaking down. Shortly after, Stoffel, Cunningham and Rasmussen combined again on the left side and won a corner kick. Finally Cunningham and Carly Pottle played an elongated give-and-go in the center of the field.

But the Saints weren't generating clear scoring chances, and Axen's shot was the firmest effort either team aimed at goal in the first half.

Geneva opened the second half with continued attacking vigor. Axen had a shot saved, Amanda Lulek sent a left wing cross through the penalty area to win a corner kick – and then the Vikings doubled their lead. Lulek sent the ball in from the right wing and Axen rose to head into the net.

“We always say to leave it all out there on the field and try to get a head or any part of you on the ball,” Axen said. “(Lulek's) pass was absolutely perfectly placed. I just went and put my head in there.”

Axen's goals put the Vikings in a strong position to win the match, though a strong push-back was expected from the Saints, and the sectional's No. 2-seed delivered.

St. Charles East's attacks gained urgency and it took the Saints 10 minutes to reduce the deficit to 2-1 when Pottle came in on a breakaway and scored from near the top of the penalty area with Hauser in no-man's land in front of her goal.

St. Charles East pressed further for the tying goal, but immediately needed a strong save from keeper Kendra Sheehan on Samantha Billek to keep the deficit at just one goal.

At the other end of the pitch, the Saints had a two-shot sequence that Geneva had to scramble clear and then Cunningham fed Imbrogno for a shot that forced a Hauser save.

The match-tying goal came courtesy of a left-wing cross from Rasmussen that was headed in by Cunningham.

“In the first half, let's face it, we got caught in their kick-and-run tactics,” St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison said. “Unfortunately we didn't play a single ball the way we wanted it. In the second half, we bossed the game. I'll be honest, to lose the way we played against them, I'm pretty upset that we haven't come away with the win.”

In the final five minutes, the match moved from penalty area to penalty area. Axen had an effort saved by Sheehan and Cunningham hit the crossbar.

The strongest effort in the first overtime came from Axen, who shot wide from top of the penalty area. In the second overtime, Arvizu volleyed a Rasmussen corner kick narrowly wide, Rasmussen had a speculative shot collected and Amanda Hilton send a shot just over the crossbar.

“We dominated the last two overtimes, and unfortunately, that's just the way the game is,” Jennison said. “Don't get me wrong, congratulations to Geneva. But we did some beautiful stuff out there. We moved the ball and we put it away twice. But if we hadn't put ourselves in a position of being 2-0 down, we're walking out winners.”

St. Charles East was denied its first regional title since 2007. Graduating seniors on the roster include Pottle, Arvizu, Morgan Settle, Imbrogno, Stoffel, Kelsey Roxworthy and Brianna Kruitt.

“It's rough to take,” Jennison said. “Some of them will never kick a soccer ball again in their lives. But there are many teams in this position and many coaches. It's difficult to see our season end here.

“I want to give credit to this group of seniors,” Jennison said. “Every year, I've worked with talent. But I've never worked with leadership like they had. To see them walking away from this high school without getting more than a loss in the regional final, that's very tough to take because they're a very special group.”

Jennison discounted the idea of the difficulty in playing a team three times and attempting to win all three.

“To be honest, it's the regional final and you can be playing the U.S. National Team and you still have to get up for it,” he said. “I just thought, unfortunately, we weren't in our rhythm the first 40 minutes and that put us a goal down.”