Bulldogs edged by rival Vikings in first UEC matchup

By Darryl Mellema

The final result aside, there was a lot to enjoy in the way Batavia tackled Geneva on Thursday night.

The Bulldogs recovered from a 1-0 halftime deficit, tied the match and created significant mayhem with a string of driven balls into the Vikings' penalty area.

What was lacking was a second goal, and when a team put a second goal into a net, it was host Geneva that did the scoring.

Andrew Walton putting the dagger into the Bulldogs' victory hopes with 2:34 to play in the match to give Geneva a 2-1 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory.

"I don't want to give them up at the end like that," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "But I think we had some opportunities in the second half.

"We just want to keep building and I think we did pretty well. That was one of the more complete matches we've played all year."

Batavia (7-6-2, 2-2) entered Thursday's match searching for some traction heading into the final portion of the regular season.

A run that saw a tie with Glenbard South and losses to Downers Grove North and Wheaton-Warrenville South ended with Tuesday's 7-2 win over Larkin.

And the Bulldogs took the field showing the resiliency of a team that not only won that match with Larkin, but came from 2-0 down to do it.

So when Batavia fell behind 1-0 through a Matthew Butz goal in the 16th minute of play, there wasn't any panic. That goal gave the Vikings (8-6-1, 2-1) the halftime lead.

"I just told them to pick up the intensity," Gianfrancesco said. "I felt we came out so-so and I think they picked up the intensity.

"We had more challenges and better runs and we had some services in the box that were pretty good."

Saying Batavia has started driving the ball long into team's penalty areas will lead some to say the Bulldogs play long-ball, and that isn't true. The forward passes aren't aimless.

Time and again, however, a driven ball from distance came into Geneva's penalty area near head-high for forwards and defenders, begging a glancing header on goal.

That contact was made a number of times, but never quite with enough force to score a goal, with one exception.

"Hopefully we start getting some of those touches on the ball a little later in the season," Gianfrancesco said. "If we get those coming toward playoff time, that'd be great.

"At least we're getting it in there. All we need to do now is connect and put it away. It'll happen."

That exception came 90 seconds into the second half when Lalo Cuautle sent the ball into the penalty area and Cody Balogh headed that ball into the net to tie the score.

"Great ball movement," Gianfrancesco said. "We found the weak side and Cody played a nice ball in (the net.) But it came from the left side all the way to the right. It's textbook, simple, and it should be that way."

Cuautle had an influential match. He cleared a Seamus Kaminski shot off the goal line in the dying seconds of the first half, which allowed the Bulldogs to still only be trailing by a single goal when Balogh struck.

With the match drifting toward a possible tie, Walton struck and sent this year's Bulldogs-Vikings encounter to host team.

Batavia vs. Geneva is a rivalry that has been played as long as the two schools have had boys soccer teams, though this was the first time the two long-time foes had met in the Upstate Eight Conference.

"I thought we played well," Batavia junior Cody Witkowski said. "I just hate losing to Geneva. We worked really hard but it's too bad we came up short."

Witkowski said the momentum from the Larkin match had definitely enthused the Bulldogs.

"It shows that we can come back when we're down," he said. "We can pick up games in the second half. We're a good team and I'm getting excited for playoffs."