Vikings pleased with defense in victory over Blackhawks

 

By Darryl Mellema

In a match that Geneva won 8-0 over West Aurora on Saturday, the area of the victor's lineup that deserves great praise is the defense.

Yes, no sarcasm or sense of disrespect to the players who created a stream of chances and peppered the Blackhawks net. But the defense shone brightly at times.

First is goalie Sam Hauser, who made a pair of superb saves – both on West Aurora's Reilly Kulakowski.

The first came eight minutes into the half and kept the match scoreless. The second, 12 minutes before halftime, was a diving stop with the score 3-0 and for a reaction save – it may not be topped this season.

“I expected us to get scored on twice today – they had two really good scoring opportunities,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said.

“The player of the game definitely goes to Sam Hauser. She's had two really strong showings for us, which is great, because that's an area where in the past we've struggled a little bit.”

Hauser's play this early season has been strong for the Vikings, and the junior is not only in her first season as a starter for Geneva, she's playing goal for the first time in her high school career.

“I'm really excited having her back there in goal,” Owens said. “It makes our defense even more solid. We've got such a strong, experienced defense.”

With Geneva (1-1) practicing indoors for much of the 2013 season, Hauser's talents have rarely been on display.

“It's so hard to tell indoors,” Owens said. “They can't dive or anything. I'm tremendously happy with what I've seen from her so far.”

Making Saturday's defensive performance better was the strong play just in front of Hauser by the central defensive partnership of junior Tory Herbst and sophomore Megan Kozlow.

Herbst has been a varsity starter both seasons in high school. But though Kozlow was a varsity player as a freshman, this is her first season as a starter.

“(Kozlow) was with us last year, so she can kind of saw what was going on,” Herbst said. “I think that helped her come in and know what her job is and how I play. I think we work very well together.”

In a way, the tandem are mirror images. Both are tall and both are aggressive moving for balls in the air.

“That's pretty much our job, why we're there,” Herbst said. “We're the backbone, we're the last people. We've talked outside of the games and we have the same mentality so it's easy to read.”

Geneva's formation this year is such that outside defenders such as Molly Stanfa or Maureen Kozlow had freedom to move forward into attack. That attacking pressure puts pressure on the central defenders.

“It's kind of different, but we're getting used to it,” Herbst said. “I think our team this year works better with that offensively. Our defense is pretty strong, so I think it's easiest for our offense to have that kind of support.”

And the Vikings did go forward smoothly on Saturday. They had the ball in the back of the net after five minutes but the goal was disallowed for offsides. It took another 12 minutes – and Hauser's heroics – before the scoring deadlock ended.

And when the goal was scored, it was thanks to a strong move. Amanda Lulek worked into the corner on the left wing and sent a cross to the penalty spot, where Molly Axen shot and scored.

Axen completed a hat trick for the Vikings. A four-year varsity player, she is in her first season as a starter.

“(Axen) did a great job for us today,” Owens said. “It was interesting to see her play up top with Amanda Lulek. I thought there was some good chemistry there. They do play club together, which has carried over into this.”

Lulek, Axen's attacking partner, scored a pair of goals. The passing moves leading to the goals were just as special as some of the goals themselves. In the run-up to Lulek's first goal, Axen, Maureen Kozlow and Molly Stanfa were involved.

Once they started moving the ball well, Geneva kept that passing motion solid through the entirety of the match.

“I think we came ready to play,” Herbst said. “I think everybody's ready to get outside and play games with our team and prove that we've worked so hard in practice.”

West Aurora (0-2) showed improvement in its first match in eight days.

“It's just finishing,” West Aurora coach Laura Wagley said. “We had chances in the first 20 minutes where, if we had finished, hopefully it would have been a different game.”

Geneva's scoring blitz knocked back the Blackhawks, who used halftime to regroup.

“It took us a while to figure out what they were doing offensively,” Wagley said. “We made some adjustments at the half and it helped a little bit.”

Despite having an artificial surface on which to train or compete – the Blackhawks have struggled to play matches like every other team in northern Illinois. Their next match isn't until Thursday.

“If they cancel the game, we're not allowed to be outside,” Wagley said.

West Aurora moved up a pair of junior-varsity players for Saturday's match, and the lack of practice time meant those players were fitting into the lineup while they were playing.

“It's one thing to practice inside,” Wagley said. “Then we get to a game and it's completely different.”

In two matches, West Aurora has created scoring chances, though the team has yet to connect in 2013.

“We're still getting chances and breakaways,” Wagley said. “We got two shots today off of (Sam O'Brien's) throw-ins. We've just got to finish.”

Geneva also plays on artificial turf and has similarly struggled to get onto its field to practice or play matches.

“It was so nice today,” Herbst said. “These past few weeks, have been indoor-outdoor, playing in the snow, trying to run around the field with all of our gear on. Today was beautiful.”

Geneva heads downstate for a pair of games over Spring Break. First is a Thursday match at Granite City followed by a Saturday match at O'Fallon.

In the eight days following their return from Spring Break, Geneva has five scheduled matches – Tuesday matches against St. Charles East and St. Charles North bookend the Vikings' annual participation in the St. Charles East Invitational.

“The season's here whether the weather's ready for it or not,” Owens said. “We're just trying to really work out the kinks and be ready to face some of our tough competition.”