Young Dukes fall in overtime to Geneva

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By Gary Larsen

It was an outstanding season that ended too soon for York.

But while the Dukes’ 2-1 overtime loss to Geneva in a Class 3A regional final on Saturday ended their season, coach Rachael Shepherd had nothing but good things to say about her side.

“The girls had a great season. They outperformed the expectations we had at the start of the season,” she said. “It’s a young group and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re able to produce in the next few years.”

York will lose a pair of key seniors to graduation in Katie Gratzianna and Ashley Bowman, from a team that finished 17-5 and won the West Suburban Conference’s Silver Division title this season.

Both players will be missed.

“Katie Gratzianna has been a back for us for the last four years,” Shepherd said. “I’ll miss her tenacity out there. But you know what? She’ll continue her career at Valparaiso and she’s going to do a great job. And Ashley Bowman has been solid for us for the last four years and she’ll continue on at Trinity.”

Saturday’s game saw York take a 1-0 lead over Geneva (16-5-3) in the game’s 11th minute, when sophomore Christina Ordonez turned the corner at the end line on the left side and slid a ball to freshman sister Ellie Ordonez, who buried it.

The Dukes held the lead for the next 54 minutes of play, in a game of attacking momentum swings to the final buzzer. Geneva tied the game on a Catherine Allon goal in the second half, before the Vikings’ Sammi Hill ended the contest with a goal in the first overtime.

“You never want to lose in the playoffs and you definitely don’t want to lose when you have the lead for the majority of the game,” Shepherd said. “But I saw a lot of things that we made improvements on at the beginning of the year come back and creep up on us in the postseason.

That’s frustrating but at the same time, we had a great run.”

The play of freshman goalkeeper Anna Bell Lansdowne stood out on Saturday, punctuating the talented group of young players that will return next season. Lansdowne stopped a breakaway shot in the second half and showed throughout that any freshman jitters she may have had this year are a thing of the past.

“She played phenomenal,” Shepherd said. “At the beginning of the year we went with our youngest and most athletic (keeper), and by the end of the season she played like she had seniority. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

“York is a very good team, they’re very young, and they’ll be good for years to come," Geneva coach Megan Owens said.

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