Vikings continue recent success with shutout against Hawks

 

 

By Seth Hancock

Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference crossover match between Geneva and visiting Bartlett saw two teams headed in different directions in the win-loss column.

The game also gave both squads a chance to see their opening-round opponent of the Bartlett Regional as they will square off again next Tuesday with the Hawks seeded 12th and the Vikings 7th in the Hoffman Estates Sectional.

Those seeds held up as the Vikings won their fifth straight with a 4-0 victory over the Hawks who have now lost 10 in a row. Geneva has outscored its opponents 27-0 over the win streak.

“We’re right where we want to be,” said Viking coach Megan Owens whose team improved to 11-8-1 overall and has one final tune-up before the postseason when Geneva hosts Glenbard South on Thursday.

“We’ve had a really strong schedule which prepares us well. We played well, connected passes well and we’re hitting our stride right when we want to be hitting our stride. It was a solid all around showing, and I’m happy with the overall team effort.”

The loss dropped the Hawks to 8-14 overall, but Bartlett coach Heather Thomas still saw plenty of positives to take away from the game.

Geneva got goals from seniors Amanda Lulek and Molly Axen in the first half, but the Hawks held nearly even with Geneva in time of possession in that half.

The biggest difference was in shots on goal as Geneva held a 7-2 advantage by the break and 18-4 for the game. Freshman Kaitlin Brohan had both of Bartlett’s shots on goal before the break.

“We talked at halftime that it was a fairly evenly-matched half,” Thomas said. “We just didn’t create the opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. We need to work on those scoring opportunities to make sure we are getting shots off, but I was happy with the way we possessed the ball and with our passing.”

Lulek’s goal came with 25:19 left in the first half, and it came after she was denied twice by Bartlett junior goalkeeper Amanda Lozada on Geneva’s first two attempts on target.

She made some nice moves around Bartlett’s defense to take a shot from the top right of the box which found the lower left corner of the net.

With 16:12 before the break, Geneva made it 2-0 as junior Courtney Lardas made a nice cross to Axen who took her shot right in front of the net.

Geneva’s defense of juniors Tory Herbst and Molly Stanfa as well as sophomore Megan Kozlow did a nice job closing the gaps when Bartlett attacked.

Bartlett freshman Shelly Lyjak and sophomore Josie Dombrowski had some nice runs thwarted by the Geneva backline, and Junior Alba had a solid free kick in the final 10 minutes of the half which landed in the box but the Viking’s defense was able to clear.

“Our defense, most of them are three-year varsity players, and they did a good job adjusting to them,” Owens said.

The 2-0 lead didn’t feel safe for the Vikings who added a pair of goals thanks to corner kicks from Kozlow in the second half. Geneva created five of its six corner kicks of the game in the second half.

The third goal of the game came under two minutes into the second half as Kozlow’s kick from right corner was headed in by sophomore Mary Landry.

“We did make some adjustments at half, and we were just talking about stringing passes together,” Landry said. “Bartlett was tough in the first half, and we knew we had to step it up in the second half.”

The fourth goal came about five minutes later, but the official goal scorer was in question. Landry appeared to have again put away another Kozlow corner kick, but she said she didn’t touch it and thought junior Hanna Hudepohl got the goal.

Owens said that Landry provided the pressure to create that goal, and said Kozlow may receive the goal off her corner kick.

Whoever gets the goal in the books, the Vikings offensive depth came through with at least five if not six different players having a hand in the scoring.

“We really do switch it around a lot and make sure everyone gets their fair share of opportunities,” Landry said. “We’ve really improved from the start of the season to now, and we’re playing pretty good soccer right now.”

Lardas, Stanfa, senior Samantha Billek, junior Anna Tegge and freshman Taylor Williams each had at least one shot on goal in the game. Samantha Hauser (3 saves) and Herbst (1 save) shared time in the Geneva net to preserve the Vikings 10th shutout of the season.

The Hawk coach was happy with the play of Lozada (14 saves), the lone upperclassman and one of only five returning Hawks from last season, who constantly made big stops and had a couple diving saves in the effort.

Thomas was also happy with the play of her defense, including sophomores Shannon Brohan and Toria Tomasek, as well as Lyjak up front and Kaitlin Brohan and Dombrowski in the middle. Alba and Dombrowski had the Hawks' second half shots on goal.

“It’s been really fun to see not only (Lozada), but also the rest of the young girls really grow as the season has progressed,” Thomas said. “They work really hard, and they’re talented. They’ve struggled at times but they’re young, and they’re giving me everything they have.”