Geneva's wild ride ends in victory

By Darryl Mellema

Season-opening boys soccer matches are rarely barometers for an entire season. Teams are not in mid-season shape, have yet to adapt to new teammates and possibly new formations and the weather is usually warm enough to make fatigue an issue.

What early matches do signal is the course of practices in the coming days as teams face outside competition for the first time. Flaws are revealed just as much as strong points are highlighted.

Geneva saw some very definite positives in Tuesday's 5-3 victory over Oswego at Burgess Field, the strongest being the number of goals the team scored. The team's defense was another matter as a 2-0 lead evaporated into a 3-2 deficit before the hosts rallied for three goals in the final 18 minutes for the nonconference victory.

"That was a crazy atmosphere tonight with the eight goals in the season opener," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "We scored two in a row, they scored three in a row and we scored three in a row. I think it shows we need to work on our consistency."

Another positive was the goal-scoring prowess of Seamus Kaminski, who scored three times including the team's fourth and fifth goals, which both came in the final 10 minutes of the match.

"I think we let down a little bit, but then we regained confidence when we tied it up at 3-3," Kaminski said. "It was good to be back playing and it was an exciting first game."

Geneva looked very comfortable in the early moments of the match. Kaminski put the Vikings ahead seven minutes into the match when he scored following a scramble after a throw-in deep in Oswego territory.

Robbie Johnson doubled the advantage late in the first half when he finished a fine passing move. Brandon Sloan provided the final pass of a team goal.

Oswego's best returning player, Sean Totsch gave the visitors life when he scored a long ground-hugging shot from the top right area of the penalty area to the left post. The ball crept in and the Panthers were within 2-1 at halftime.

Totsch tied the contest with a half-volley from 20 yards in the 10th minute of the second half. And when Totsch scored again with a long-range shot two minutes later, Oswego was ahead 3-2. Geneva's inability to close defensively to shut off those long-distance shots was one problem in Oswego's quick recovery.

"After (Wednesday's) practice, they'll not make that mistake again," Estabrook said.

Totsch, an all-state player in 2009, showed he has lost none of his abilities as he embarks on his senior season at Oswego.

"He's a phenomenal player," Estabrook said. "I don't know if we'll see a player of that caliber all year. Once he was on a roll, the other Oswego players fed off his emotion and his leadership. We didn't have an answer for that defensively until we started to play well offensively."

As quickly as Oswego had the advantage, Geneva regained that upper hand. Time and again, Craig Hancock created problems from his position on the outside right of the Vikings four-man midfield.

"We gave up the goals and then we realized we had to keep playing hard. We came back and won the game,” Hancock said.
Hancock also took a number of corner kicks which troubled the Oswego defense, despite the Panthers throwing nine or 10 players into the penalty area.

"I've been playing outside mid for a long time," Hancock said. "My focus is to get the ball into the box and let someone else score. That's basically my job."

Ultimately, however, a Brady Wahl corner kick unlocked Oswego's defense with just under 18 minutes to play. Defender Andrew Walton scored from Wahl's cross and the teams were tied, 3-3.

"He's a defender who knows how to find the net," Estabrook said of Walton.

Kaminski applied the finishing touches for the victory. His second goal of the night came with 6:06 to play and the junior completed his hat trick when his shot with 2:12 to play was deflected into the net by an Oswego defender.

"We're good going forward," Kaminski said. "We need to work defensively, but we'll get there. It was a relief when we got the last goal. We could relax after that with two minutes left. It was nice to score those three."

Player of the match: Seamus Kaminski

By Darryl Mellema

Tag a hat-trick onto the home scoreboard and odds are you've produced a game-MVP performance. Do it in a comeback win duriing your squad's season opener and it becomes a lock.

Seamus Kaminski did just that in Geneva's 5-3 victory over Oswego.

"The kid scored two goals last year in our opener against Oswego," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "He was the recipient of some great Shawn Sloan passes last year.

“Tonight, he showed that he was a power up top. He slugged some of those goals out. They weren't exactly things of beauty. But Seamus' style lends itself to some effective goals."

Kaminski's goals were needed as well on Tuesday. Geneva had a 2-0 lead but then fell 3-2 behind.

The junior's final two goals took the match from a 3-3 tie to the ultimate two-goal Vikings victory.

"We have an extremely difficult logjam with our forwards and midfielders," Estabrook said. "We're trying to figure who's going to play well and who's going to play where. It seemed like (Kaminski) has assumed to role of goalscorer."