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Geneva set pieces add up to victory vs. SCNorth By Darryl Mellema
But St. Charles North and Geneva have quite a rivalry too, one which has gotten particularly spicy in recent years. Monday, the North Stars and Vikings met again and between the hard tackles and resulting never-ending stream of lost possession by both teams, Geneva emerged a 3-1 victor. “Especially after last year with them knocking us out of the playoffs,” Geneva midfielder Brady Wahl said. “That was harsh and we definitely remembered that coming to the field tonight.” But while the match was as hardfought as you’ll see in high school soccer, the tensions never boiled over into mutual outright animosity. “I think any time you play Geneva, it’s a mutual respect,” St. Charles North coach Eric Willson said. “It’s a lot of guys who play club soccer together. So it’s a battle. This has become one of the biggest rivalries in the past few years. So when you’re on the losing end, it’s not fun. I enjoy playing these guys. I respect their coach a whole lot and I respect their players the same.” The Geneva-St. Charles North rivalry mirrors the situation Geneva had a few years ago with St. Charles East, where the bulk of the starting lineups for each team played for the same club. The key for the Vikings on Monday was their ability to convert set pieces, especially long free kicks into the box. Those people who track the manner in which soccer goals are scored always point to the impact set plays can have on a match. Corner kicks, free kicks, throw-ins – these plays account for a vast majority of the game’s goals. Geneva did its part to emphasize that point on Monday, when it scored 3 goals after set pieces in the second half and overturned an early St. Charles North (5-5) lead for a 3-1 nonconference victory. The ironic thing is that the Vikings have still yet to really work on patterns from set pieces. As raw as they were with that facet of the game, they certainly seemed comfortable on Monday night. “That’s something we’re going to focus on more as the season goes on,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “We’ve got guys who can hit those dead balls and guys who can get those served balls. It’s encouraging that when we put in some better set pieces, we should be pretty dangerous.” Seamus Kaminski got the Vikings (7-2-1) on the scoreboard 17 minutes into the second half when he turned and powered home a long free kick from midfield. The goal was Kaminski’s eighth of the young season and he leads the Vikings with that goal tally. “That was a typical Seamus Kaminski goal. It’s not going to be pretty. But he is very effective He’s a streaky scorer but I’ll take that from him.” That goal cancelled St. Charles North’s opener, scored after a fine dribble by Zack Matuszak in the 29th minute of the first half. Once they had the lead, however, St. Charles North’s fluid play began to disintegrate. “I thin that once we got (the lead), we started to serve it up and play too much long ball,” Willson said. “That’s really not our style. We play much better when we play to feet. But we got out of it and snuck out of the first half, 1-0.” Ironically, Geneva had more possession in the later stages of the first half, when it trailed. The second half was filled with more stoppages – which of course led to the opportunities from which the Vikings scored. “After a rough first half, I was happy with how the guys bounced back,” Geneva junior midfielder Brady Wahl said. “It was a good second half for our team to move forward this season.” The statistics concerning the impact of set pieces varies from league to league and season to season. A year ago in the English Premier League, 33 percent of goals came from set-piece play. Some teams scored half their goals following a stoppage in play. The numbers are less-easy to track in high school. But with narrower fields and sometimes uncertain defending, the impact of strong set-piece play cannot be understated. Brandon Sloan put away a loose ball with 11 minutes left while a Brady Wahl free kick was headed in by Robbie Johnson with just over 2 minutes to play. “(Johnson), I play club with him,” Wahl said. “We have a good connection. We have that chemistry down and I like to find him in the box.” The North Stars got a good chance to see how they defended against those set pieces, and Willson said there will some more work done in that regard in coming days. “We made a point of our set plays and the way we’re supposed to defend,” Willson said. “There’s three pretty huge mistakes that we made in the second half that all led to goals. That’s disappointing.”
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Man of the match: Brady Wahl By Darryl Mellama
“He hasn’t played in awhile,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “I think our chemistry is only going to improve when he’s out on the pitch more.” Wahl played in an inside-midfield role on Monday but also tucked outside at times as well. Wherever he was on the field, Wahl had a strong match. “They were jamming up the middle a lot,” Wahl said. “I was getting man-marked and I tried to go out wide on the left side a little more and that seemed to help a lot more.” Geneva starters
St. Charles North starters
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When listing rivalry games, you can be sure St. Charles North has plenty of anticipation of its annual tilt with crosstown rival St. Charles East. The same can be true of Geneva when it plays the city immediately to its south – Batavia. 