Vikings top Conant, advance to Invite quarterfinals
By Gary Larsen

One day after possessing well but losing 1-0 to Wheaton North on Friday night, on Saturday afternoon Geneva did what coach Megan Owens what has been hoping to see her Vikings begin to do.

They finished.

Geneva’s 3-1 win over Conant featured goals from Amanda Lulek, Megan Kozlow, and Mary Landry. The win, combined with Conant’s win over Wheaton North on Saturday night, effectively sent Geneva to the quarterfinal round of this year’s Naperville Invitational.

And the Vikings put three goals on the board against a team in Conant (6-3-2) that hasn’t given up many this year.

“Conant had only allowed three goals this season,” Owens said. “We played well. We’ve been competing with every team and I thought we had the majority of the possession today, and the majority of chances. They played outstanding today. It was a great team victory and we’re getting to where we need to be.”

The Vikings (6-7-0) went up 1-0 when a Megan Fitz shot hit the crossbar 9 minutes in and caromed hard to the turf, where Lulek was there to clean it up into net.

A Conant team that began the season defending and playing for the counter then answered the bell, finding feet and spending some time on Geneva’s side of the field.

“We weren’t getting good chances but at least we were getting into their half,” Conant coach Jason Franco said. “They punched in a corner in the second half and we gave up a late goal, and so far we’ve been pretty lucky not having mistakes like that. But better to do it in this game than in a conference game.”

At the 50-minute mark, Kozlow bent a corner kick about as well as you can bend one, which ultimately turned out to be a game-winning shot.

From the right corner, the left-footed sophomore teed it up and sent it over the outstretched arms of Conant keeper Haley Anderson and inside the side netting at the far post. It was the second time this season that Kozlow has scored on a corner kick.

Conant’s Bianca Madonia cut the Geneva lead to 2-1four minutes after Kozlow struck, racing up the right flank after a ball sent wide by Leah Celarek. “The ball kind of deflected off a (defender) and I just hit in the left corner," Madonia said.

At that point, rather than defending a one-goal lead, the Vikings pushed hard for another. Lulek sent a shot to the near post that Anderson saved at 59 minutes, and Anderson saved a Megan Newingham shot from distance at 62 minutes.

Geneva’s pressure paid off at 79 minutes when Lulek took a ball the endline on the left side and crossed to Landry at the far post.

“It’s less stressful if you get another goal, and once we got the third one we knew we could kind of relax. It’s good to get three goals in,” Kozlow said.

“The third goal was beautiful,” Owens said. “We’ve been working on finishing like that because we’ve struggled with it. To put three in the back of the net against a team like Conant, who has been playing so well, was great to see.”

The win also marked the sixth shutout this season for Geneva and keeper Sam Hauser, behind defenders Kozlow, Annie Waldoch, Molly Stanfa, Tory Herbst.. All six of the Vikings’ wins have come by shutout.

“They’re good. Most of the defenders back there have three years of experience. We’ve just been working on communicating and staying focused,” Owens said. “When they do that, they pretty much shut everybody out. Our goalie didn’t have to make too many saves today, which was great.”

Conant’s 2-1 overtime win over Wheaton North in Saturday’s late game effectively allowed Geneva to advance to the Invites’ quarterfinal round.

This year’s Invite features 12 of the Chicago Sun-Times’ top 20 ranked teams and the Vikings will play top-ranked defending 3A state champion Naperville North on Thursday for a chance to advance to the Invite’s semifinals.