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Saint Viator's second half too much for Geneva By Darryl Mellema
And both times, the Lions found the answers. First after falling behind 1-0 in just over five minutes of play and then again when they found themselves tied 2-2. In each case, Saint Viator found another gear, one which Geneva lacked on Sunday, and won the Pepsi Showdown match 4-2. The match started with an absolute flurry of goalmouth activity, as the teams battled for immediate scoreboard dominance. Seamus Kaminski gave it to Geneva in the sixth minute when he converted following a free kick. Saint Viator (8-2) equalized just 23 seconds later when Billy Hamilton scored. With the game still only eight minutes old, Alan Aboona gave the Lions the lead. Geneva (7-3-1) equalized in the 21st minute of the opening half. Brady Wahl played the ball into the penalty area. A whistle on the adjacent field was blown and some of Saint Viator’s players relaxed briefly. Kaminski continued playing, scored, then found that his goal counted. The goals took Kaminski’s season tally to 10. “In the first half, he was putting himself in good spots to score goals,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “In the second half, he wasn’t so much of a factor. I don’t think we found him well and he didn’t find a way to make the game revolve around himself more. We need to work on that.” At 2-2, the match threatened to drift into a tie between two teams playing their fifth and final match of the Pepsi Showdown with nothing but pride at stake. “We knew if we could link we could get out players going,” Saint Viator coach Mike Taylor said. “We’ve controlled the ball and we’ve got some nice skilled players. They were just playing flat.” With 20 minutes of the match played, Saint Viator’s Trevor Wheeler started increasing his team’s pace of attack. The Lions rode their senior central midfielder’s energy and collectively they started to surge forward. “That’s what we were trying to get him to do,” Taylor said. “Then he did it and we said ‘you waited until two-thirds of the game to play. And then when he started to play, we took control of the game.” That increased pressure led almost immediately to a goal. A corner kick with 17 minutes left was headed off the underside of the crossbar and into the net by defender Brendan King, who had moved forward for the set piece. From Geneva’s perspective, the moments when St. Viator surged to change the 2-2 scoreline were also key, but in a different way. The Vikings needed to respond to the Lions increased tempo, but did not do so. "Good players expect good things to happen, but then also have to put forth the necessary effort to make those things happen,” Estabrook said. While Saint Viator continued to dominate possession, the Lions did not add to their lead until the final minute of play. With Geneva pressing for a goal, Billy Hamilton moved forward quickly, catching the Vikings on a breakaway. Hamilton fed Aboona for his second goal of the contest.
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Men of the match: By Darryl Mellema Wheeler’s not the largest physical presence on the field for Saint Viator. But when the senior increased the tempo three-quarters of the way through Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Geneva, his presence was gargantuan on the pitch at Lyons Township. “Once (Wheeler) stepped up and started making runs and creating things, then we started to gel and good things started to come,” Saint Viator coach Mike Taylor said. Surdan was key considering that Saint Viator’s defense on the whole struggled to contain Geneva’s attacking threats. “I thought Joe Surdan played very well on defense,” Taylor said. “He pushed up very well and intercepted a number of balls. I think that, out of the four defenders, he solidified and kept things going.” |
Twice on Saturday, Saint Viator needed to find some form of massive response to the challenges presented by Geneva.