Vikings win Wallner title, headed to Naperville Invite semi's

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By Mike Garofola

With an astounding nine underclassmen on its roster and six of them in its first-11, the best is yet to come for Geneva's soccer club.

Despite their youth, the Vikings find themselves among the elite when they meet No. 1 Neuqua Valley as the 14th annual Naperville Invite continues with semifinal play at host Naperville Central.

After an early setback in pool play following a shoot-out loss to Lake Zurich last week, Megan Owens' side fought back with a victory over Rockford-Boylan, and followed that by beating host Barrington (1-0) Thursday night to capture the team trophy at the annual Mairin Wallner Memorial tournament.

The Vikings (8-5-1) face unbeaten Neuqua (15-0) at 7 p.m on Friday night in Naperville.

"This team really wanted to win tonight," Geneva junior MF Kristin Rodriguez said proudly. "We've got a lot of young girls on the team but we proved we could play, and tonight we not only beat Barrington for the first time, but we’re also going further than we ever have in the Naperville Invite.”

The Fillies posed frequent problems throughout with their lively pair of strikers in Emily Hyde and Molly Pfeiffer, yet rarely tested Vikings (7-3-4) keeper Victoria Fortney, as Ryan Stengrens' club continues to find it difficult to get into back of the net.

"It's kind of a hard sometimes to watch a game like this where you control most of the play, and then see your opponent take advantage of one of the few chances they have and score," began the Fillies’ head coach.

"But that's the game of soccer, and you have to credit Geneva because they defended so well all night, and they stayed committed to defending as a team in order to get the win."

The reigning MSL champions, and 2010 Naperville Invite runners-up made frequent excursions into the Vikings' end and were a definite concern for Owen' outfit, which looked to counter with the speed and verve of Catherine Allon and sophomore Amanda Lulek up top.

But it was the Vikings' midfield and water-proof backline which would help frustrate the Fillies time after time with its stealth-like tackling and ability to track and defend when the home-side came forward in approaching Fortney.

"One of the things this team does so well is to defend, and even though our offense didn't really get going tonight very much, we still stayed pretty solid defending as a group," offered Rodriguez.

"Barrington is so dangerous with its three up top, and they gave us some trouble at times because they have a lot of speed, and they get numbers going forward pretty quick," added Owens.

Rodriguez was doing her best to disrupt the play in the middle of the park and her backline teammates in senior Demi Miller and freshmen Annie Waldoch and Molly Stanfa kept the Fillies in front of them and away from Fortney -- especially when Owens dropped Caitrin Griffin a little deeper from her spot in the middle to help protect the back four.

Fortney punched and persuaded a handful of corners from Mia Calamari out of her area in the first quarter hour, after Hyde and Pfeiffer got behind the defense to help create dead-ball opportunities for the freshmen Calamari.

Pfeiffer went just over the bar when she turned and fired from just outside the box at 22 minutes, and then the first of the Fillies three best chances was stopped by Fortney when sophomore Aimee Pierce ran onto a ball delivered by Hyde, in what was the best build-up of the first half by the home side.

Pfieffer would have a glorious opportunity just 2 minutes after the break, which was all made possible from a brilliant piece of individual work by Hyde, who corkscrewed her mark at the near flag - then sent a well-aimed low pass to the spot - where her teammate smashed just wide of Fortney.

Moments later Pierce would have a go off the post and later Emmelie Hirdes pushed her shot wide after a scrum erupted following another Calamari corner.

"Tonight was what we've seen all year long so far," said Stengren. "We just haven't been able to finish our chances, but tonight it wasn't for lack of effort."

"Both Sarah (Fox) and Catie (Curran) did a great job in the middle, and that might have been the best that Molly and Emily played collectively all season. So in the end, there wasn't really much to say from a negative standpoint of our play and effort - we just couldn't put one in, and Geneva scored a great goal to beat us."

During one of the brief stops in the Barrington end of the second half, Michaela Loebel threaded a wonderful ball as if it were on a string, to an unmarked Allon. Allon’s redirected header cleared the outstretched gloves of Fillies keeper Kelly Pedersen and into the back of the net to give the Vikings the lead at 70 minutes, which held up until the whistle brought an end to the match.

"It was just another typical finish for (Allon) tonight, who has scored in three straight tournament games for us,” Owens said. “On the other end, Victoria was just terrific in goal for us, making saves and sending dangerous balls out of our box.

"This was a very good win for us tonight, against a very good soccer team, and that was a big accomplishment for a really young team."