Rivals Batavia, Geneva settle for storm-shortened tie

By Darryl Mellema
 
The sequence at Geneva’s Burgess Field on Thursday night was much like a popular Pat Travers song in the mid-70s.

“Boom, boom – out go the lights!”

The host Vikings played nearly 56 minutes of their annual tilt with ancient rival Batavia. At that point, the evening’s non-stop rain was joined by lightning and the teams left the field.

After a half-hour of continued lightning flashes in the air, the referee consulted with both teams and brought the match to a close.

With no date on which the teams can meet to finish the match before the state playoffs begin, the 1-1 score when the lightning delay began is the final score.

“I think the game had to end when it did,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “The lightning wasn’t letting up and we both have full schedules next week. The lightning wasn’t letting up for quite a while. Even though we don’t like the call, we realize this was the right decision to make.”

The result puts a dent in Geneva’s hopes of winning the final Western Sun Conference boys soccer title. The Vikings (11-3-2, 3-0-1) play at Glenbard South on Tuesday in a match which will likely decide the destination of the title.

Batavia (6-6-1, 2-1-1) fell behind but rallied to tie the match before halftime. Then the Bulldogs played their best soccer of the match just before the lightning delay ended the match.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s got to end like this,” Gianfrancesco said. “But (Geneva’s) got four games next week and I do too. Then we’ve got two games the next week and it’s rolling right into the state series.”

Over the years, there have been some very exciting matches between these rivals. Thursday’s won’t rank highly on that list.

Geneva took the lead 18 minutes into the match. Craig Hancock played the ball forward to Brady Wahl, who moved up the right wing toward the end line. Wahl sent a cross to the center of the goal. Kevin Hilgart was first to the ball and shot the Vikings (11-3-2, 3-0-1) into the lead.

“Brady Wahl did a good job of getting to the end line,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “He put it right on (Hilgart’s) boot and Kevin did a great job of putting it into the net. That’s how we normally score and how we generally like to play. Unfortunately, those opportunities were few and far between.”

Six minutes after Hilgart scored, Geneva unlocked Batavia’s defense again with Wahl finding Seamus Kaminski, who slipped and was unable to get off a shot on goal.

Shortly after, Batavia (6-6-1, 2-1-1) equalized when Martin Viereckl took advantage of some Geneva defensive confusion. Viereckl found Mitch Albrecht with only the Vikings goalie to beat, and Albrecht did the rest to tie the match.

“I liked our composure,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “We kept plugging away and got that equalizing goal and didn’t let them score again in the first half. Then in the second half, we came out with a nice focus.”

Batavia opened the second half brightly and was enjoying its best spell of possession and attacking chances when the lightning delay was called.

Batavia’s results are improving as this busy week progresses. After a 5-1 loss on Monday to Wheaton-Warrenville South and a 2-1 defeat on Tuesday to Glenbard South, the Bulldogs take a day off before battling Kaneland on Saturday.

“Glenbard South’s much improved and Wheaton South’s obviously a very good team,” Gianfrancesco said. “To come in here and go 1-1 on (Geneva’s) field on their homecoming, I’ll take it.”

Thursday, the Bulldogs moved from their 4-5-1 formation to a more standard 4-4-2. Ty McCoy, who has been the team’s lone front-runner, moved into central midfield while Mitch Albrecht and Hyrum DaSilva formed the twin strikeforce.

“We’ll stick with it, probably, on Saturday,” Gianfrancesco said. “It looked pretty good tonight.”

The conditions hurt both team’s style of play. While Burgess Field is relatively well-covered by grass, there are bare spots and there was standing water before the match began.

“I think both teams were hampered by their inability to gain any traction out there,” Estabrook said. “The ball played pretty nicely. But I think we had a hard time with our footing out there.”

After a half-hour waiting for the weather to improve, the referee consulted with both coaches and ended the match.

While the teams could attempt to play the final 24 minutes at another date, finding such an open date with two weeks to play in the season is impossible. So the result as contested on Thursday is final.

Batavia Man of the Match:
Ty McCoy
 


McCoy moved from a role as the point man in a 4-5-1 formation into a central midfield position in a 4-4-2 setup. McCoy seemed more than comfortable in the role, holding up the ball, distributing it and generally linking the midfield line with the attack tandem of Mitch Albrecht and Hyrum DaSilva.

“He was very physical, winning balls,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “He was winning some 50-50s in the midfield. We changed a few things and hopefully it will benefit us.”

McCoy had played well as a long attacker for the Bulldogs. But in matches such as Monday’s 5-1 loss to Wheaton-Warrenville South, the service dried up and he was unable to impact the match.

“He scored some goals for us early in the year,” Gianfrancesco said. “But it was really a struggle.”

Geneva Man of the Match:
Brady Wahl

Wahl provided a killer right wing cross from which Geneva scored its goal in the match. He was also the most threatening player from the middle of the formation.

“I think he did a nice job marshalling the middle of the field,” Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. “It was sloppy out there but I thought he did a decent job it out there tonight.”

Wahl nearly sent Seamus Kaminski free into the penalty area shortly after Wahl’s goal and was generally the most effective of the Vikings midfield quartet on Thursday.