Batavia's DaSilva forces tie with Wheaton North

By Gary Larsen

The annual draw between Batavia and Wheaton North went off without a hitch on Saturday.

“Every year, it’s the same thing,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “They score late or we score late, and we end up tied. We always have a pretty good game against each other.”

Wheaton North’s Pat Langan sent a shot tearing inside the post in the first half, and Batavia’s Hyrum DaSilva answered him in the second by sending a corner kick into net to force a 1-1 tie.

In a late-season game devoid of any real meaning, with coaches around Illinois resting starters in preparation for the postseason, and on a frigid Saturday afternoon, the Falcons and Bulldogs got after each other nonetheless.

“I thought it was a good day,” said Batavia senior Ty McCoy. “It’s a turf field, we played together, and we just need to put more shots on goal.”

In fact, if you asked a thousand players what their squads needs to focus on in practice with the postseason looming, you’d likely most often get the answer that McCoy gave after Saturday’s tie.

“Finishing,” he said. “We’re all putting the effort out there, we all get along with each, and we just need to finish a little better.”

“We’ve had a lot of opportunities. We just need to be a little more confident,” DaSilva said.

After Wheaton North’s Pat Langan gave his side a 1-0 halftime lead, Batavia (7-7-4) lined up a corner kick in the game’s 53rd minute.

DaSilva bent the corner towards the far post, and it went over goalkeeper Nick Barry and in off a defender attempting to head it away.

“The attempt was just to get it to the post,” DaSilva said. “But one of their defenders tried to flick it and it went in, so I’m happy with it.”

Batavia’s Anthony Torres played his usual steady game in back, and Gianfrancesco got a solid performance in net from sophomore Ben Steskal, filling in for absent starting keeper Ty Witkowski.

“I’m always happy with Torres, and I was real happy with Steskal,” Gianfrancesco said. “I had no other keeper and he got the job done for us today.”

“We knew it would be a struggle for us to score this year, and Wheaton North had four or five back every time today. We knew this would be a low-scoring game.”

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