Chicagoland Soccer

Fortney shines despite loss to Lake Zurich

By Mike Garofola

Despite shivering from the frigid 'spring' temperatures out on the pitch at Barrington Wednesday night, Geneva head coach Megan Owens still felt the warmth of pride in her side’s effort against Lake Zurich.

Owens was especially proud of keeper Victoria Fortney, just minutes after Lake Zurich beat Geneva in a shoot-out, in the opening match for both clubs at the annual Mairin Wallner Memorial tournament.

Fortney, who was superb for 100 minutes and also stopped the Bears’ (5-4-1) Maisie Cox in the first round of the shootout, was given plenty of props from her bundled up coach as the Vikings' prepared for a long, late bus ride home from Barrington.

"Victoria is the reason we were able to get into overtime, and to have the chance to compete in PK's to win this match," began Owens.

"The thing about a shoot-out is that no matter what the result is, when you lose your keeper always wants to take the blame for your loss. But that's rarely fair, and tonight, Victoria was just tremendous for us, and when I look back real quick at this game, I have to say that although we are really young and inexperienced, we played a very good match, and I am very happy with the progress this group is making thus far."

Things could not have begun any better or worse - depending what club scarf you were wearing, when just 9 minutes in, the center official deemed Bears keeper Maggie Monson had taken a few extra liberties on her challenge of Amanda Lulek on a 50-50 ball just inside the box, and after sorting it all out, Monson was booked - while the Vikings' Annie Waldoch lined up for her spot-kick.

Waldoch easily converted past Anna Kurowska, brought on for Monson, and later would earn player-of-the-match for the Bears in shoot-out.

"I am not really sure that sequence deserved a PK opportunity for Geneva, but we always tell our players that a referee doesn't win or lose a match when it's all said and done, so after pleading our case, we moved on to the business of playing soccer," said Lake Zurich head coach, Meghan Kolze.

The work by Lulek to create a scoring opportunity for the Vikings' was indicative of the effort the talented sophomore put in throughout the middle of the park for Owens, while the same could be said for her mate alongside in Catherine Allon.

Between them, Lulek and Allon forced Kurowska into a handful of saves, with the most dangerous chance coming at 22 minutes when, on the turn, Lulek drove a well-aimed strike on frame at the Bears senior, after Allon stung the gloves of then-Bears keeper Monson during the early stages.

"Geneva had the better run of things in the first half, but I also thought we played a little tight and tentative," offered Kolze, who was a superb prep player at Lake Zurich, and later the same as a 3-year starter under coach Joyce Rayfield at the University of Illinois.

"We made a few changes at the break, and came out to play much better in the second half, to help gain back some of the run of play that we gave up in the first half."

The Bears' Brooke Sill, Molly Murrin and leading scorer Vanesa Abad began to turn up the pressure after intermission with plenty of pace and energy, but the combined work from the Vikings' backline of Demi Miller, Tory Herbst and Waldoch helped Geneva weather the storm just fine.

"Demi is our only senior back there along with the two freshmen, Tory and Annie, but you’re seeing them really come together as a unit," offered Owens.

The Bears drew level at 65 minutes when a loose ball inside the box saw Murrin hauled down. The senior finished a moment later with a blistering spot-kick into the upper corner.

Just before Rachel Hinschman helped create a corner, in which the Vikings' were unable to take advantage of, an early ball into the 6-yard box area from Lulek led to an alert tackle by the Bears' Catalina Abad to squelch potential danger.

A sensational point-blank save from Fortney just seconds from the shoot-out was easily a highlight reel event as she took a Jessica West cracker out of the air to preserve the match for the Vikings and send it along to PK's.

The Bears were nearly flawless in its spot-kicks, with Vanesa Abad, Sill and West steering their attempts well out of reach of Fortney with pace and power.

Waldoch would convert the lone Vikings' attempt in round No. 1, but on this cold night the heroics of Fortney wouldn't matter against the deadly accuracy of the Bears.

"Again, I told Victoria how much she meant to our effort tonight, and how anything that happened in shootout was something she had no control over," Owens said.

"We may have been somewhat tired in that second half, but we bounced back and played hard throughout both 10-minute overtime periods, so the effort was certainly there, and that's what matters most."