Vikings battle in loss to St. Charles North
By Darryl Mellema

In the middle of a girls' soccer season marked by cold weather, the air at Geneva’s Burgess Field was so frosty on Tuesday that the watching Batavia girls’ soccer team bought all remaining hot chocolate in the concession stand at halftime while scouting the Geneva-St. Charles North match.

But just a few yards away on the artificial surface on which the Vikings play, the 80 minutes were as heated as always, though never boiling over, in what ended as a 2-0 St. Charles North victory.

The goals came within 10 minutes of each other early in the first half.

“I was pleased with the number of offensive opportunities that we had,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “I think we need to finish on a few more of them. But I was pleased with the number that we had.”

Kelly Manski got the first 10 minutes into the match when she moved to reach a loose ball just outside the top of the penalty area. Manski shot low and to the left post and scored.

“There was a lot of energy out there,” Manski said. “Everyone had it. We were just ready to play this game. We came out strong.”

Natalie Winkates scored the insurance goal 10 minutes later when she ran onto a loose ball and scored.

“She's one of those people who does a lot of the dirty work and has that second assist, that type of thing,” St. Charles North coach Ruth Vostal said. “But she's the kind of player who can dominate the midfield.”

The match featured many of the hallmarks of recent Geneva-St. Charles North matches. There were some very strong tackles and twice the referee showed the yellow card in the match. But the match still never tipped past the point of being incredibly spirited.

.Especially in the second half, St Charles North (8-1, 3-0 Upstate Eight River) squeezed the life from Geneva’s attacking efforts with a dominant midfield performance. The North Stars have only given up a single goal this season through nine games, and Tuesday marked their eighth shutout of the year.

“I feel like we're all working really well together and each game, we're improving," Manski said.

The North Stars are at almost exactly the midpoint of their season. The regular season remains in high gear for another three weeks and then teams prepare for the postseason.

“I think we're settling in,” Vostal said. “Today, I think there were some different players who stepped up. Kelly Manski, she's been playing great. But she was all over the field, so it might have looked different. We still have a lot of great offensive players we are trying to rotate through this formation so we have fresh legs all the time. I think roles are starting to be defined.”

One of the players who created offensive chances was sophomore Lizzie Parrilli. Twice in the final 10 minutes, she forced Geneva keeper Sam Hauser to make saves on solid long-range efforts.

“I think she’s a phenomenal player, very skilled,” Vostal said. “We’ve tried her in a couple of different roles, tried her in a couple of different places. I think she’s settling in, playing with the girls that are around her. We pulled her out and made some adjustments and I think the adjustments, she listened to. I think she played great in the second half.”

Parrilli’s shots came from her ability to create space for herself between the opposition’s defense and its midfield.

“She created those shots for herself,” Vostal said. “She had three or four open looks. She has a great shot and it’s nice for her to get those off. It’s nice to have another shooter from the outside.”

One of the players who got some extended time on Tuesday was junior Rachel Michieli, who impressed in a central midfield role.

“For us, Rachel coming off the bench in the last 15-18 minutes was great,” Vostal said. “I haven’t seen that physicality of pace from her.”

Tuesday’s match started a three-match series in which the North Stars face all three tri cities rivals in a row. Thursday, they face Batavia and on April 16, St. Charles North and St. Charles East meet in their annual showdown.

“A lot of them play (club soccer) together or they have in the past,” Vostal said. “We try to say to just look at them as another number and to not look at what it says on the jersey. We can’t get too overwhelmed on who we’re playing. We could see any of them again and we don’t want to get too high or too low and to maintain mental focus against each of them.”

This sequence will also help determine which team wins the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title. St. Charles North is the frontrunner, but St. Charles East also only has one loss this season while Batavia and Geneva are each dangerous teams.

“I look at the conference that there are great teams and it’s another measuring point for us for where we want to be at the end of the season,” Vostal said. “I think at this time of the year, we’re looking at Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles East – then we go to Wisconsin and we’re getting ready to go to Iowa. We’re in a great stretch for us to start to figure where we are and to start to fine tune.”

Overall, Vostal gave her team an encouraging mid-term grade.

“I’m pleased,” Vostal said. “I think our work rate is incredible. I think our team defense is good and that’s something that we hold really, really highly. I think our leadership and our experience with people on the field has helped us through some of the harder games. And I think that player changes all the time, which is great. I still have a lot of great players who aren’t getting a ton of minutes.”

Geneva (3-6, 0-2) fell for the fifth straight time, but as opposed to some recent losses, the mood was upbeat on the Vikings bench following the match.

“I loved what I saw out of everybody today across the board,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “We didn't get the result we wanted, but I felt we were more than competitive. To play a team like North's caliber the way we did, to keep the pressure on them as we did in the first half into the wind – I think it's the best we've played all season.”

The Vikings best chances to score came early in the match and the player with the most chances through the match was senior Amanda Lulek. Her run up the right wing which led to a shot that was saved by North Stars keeper Shelby Stitz was Geneva’s best effort of the evening.

“We had more chances with the wind because we have more speed up top,” Lulek said. “But we created chances and left it all out there. We played right up to the end.”

With the heated battles raging in midfield, forwards from both teams had to work to find time on the ball. For Lulek, this meant moving wider than her original central striking position.

“As a forward, we don’t really say ‘you have left and you have right,’” Lulek said. “We just switch off and try to rotate our runs to try to mix up the defense and get them confused.”
Lulek confirmed what her coach said about the quality of their play against the North Stars.

“What we talked about after is that we played the best game that we've played,” Lulek said. “We came out hard and we came out like we wanted this game. That's what we've been working on. The score doesn't show it, but we came out and played hard and left it all on the field.”

With the Naperville Invitational about to begin and a match with long-time rival Batavia still to come, the Vikings have plenty of difficult matches ahead on their schedule.

“It’s hard,” Lulek said. “But as a senior and as a captain, I know I need to keep that positive mentality going. In practice, we need to encourage each other and to keep strong and keep focusing on the positives. That’s our thing this year, positivity.”

The Vikings continue to play without senior forward Molly Axen who is on the sidelines with a sprained ankle. Her return is anticipated and imminent.

“We’re thinking it’s going to be another week or so,” Lulek said. “It’s hard not having another senior out there, an upperclassman to help us out. But Hope (Goodman) has stepped up and a lot of the other underclassmen have stepped up to help us. But we’re all looking for her to come back.”

With St. Charles North getting free chances to shoot in the final 20 minutes of the match, Geneva keeper Sam Hauser was called into action frequently.

“She had some nice saves,” Owens said. “We’ve got all the pieces we need and we’re going in the right direction.”