Falcons learn plenty during rough stretch

By Eddie Burns

When the season began, Wheaton North circled a 10-day stretch that would give them an indication of how they stacked up against quality competition with the postseason on the horizon.

That period came to a head with Saturday's match against Geneva, where the Vikings emerged with a 2-1 victory.

The Falcons concluded their tough stretch with a win against Wheaton Academy, a tie against West Aurora and losses against Wheaton Warrenville South, Naperville Central and Geneva.

"We can compete with anybody, no matter who it is," Falcons forward Mike Lenzi said. "We can play hard for stretches against good teams, but the thing is we can't sustain it.

"If we could learn to put a goal away early or put forth a full 80 minutes, we'd be a different team."

The Vikings put the Falcons on the defensive early by taking a 1-0 lead in the 5th minute.

Wheaton North coach Bryce Cann juggled his lineup because the Falcons celebrated senior day festivities, but that was not used as an excuse for allowing the early goal.

"I think what we are struggling to do is getting ourselves in a rhythm," Cann said.

"We were playing some good soccer, but we seem to have hit a couple of road blocks or a couple of hurdles (Naperville Central and Geneva). We are just trying to get ourselves through that right now."

Wheaton North (4-6-4) continued to sporadically apply pressure on Vikings' goalie Ryan Ward throughout the duration of the first half.

Meanwhile, Falcons junior goalie Nick Barry did his best to keep Wheaton North in the match. Barry finished with 11 saves and helped thwart several other Geneva scoring opportunities.

Barry has played the past few weeks while starting goalie Mat Bauer recovers from an injury.

"Nick has done well holding things for us," Cann said. "He's really had a good year. He may not have the goals against average, right now, that would show that, but he’s really made some plays and snuffed out some chances.

"He's very aggressive and is still learning. I don't think he has hit his full potential yet. I think he is going to keep getting better."

Thanks in large part to Barry's efforts, the Falcons kept the Geneva lead to 1-0 at intermission.

Wheaton North began to increase its offensive attack in the second half, but it was the Vikings who were able to use the Falcons' aggressiveness to their advantage.

Geneva (12-3-2) countered a Wheaton North attack and managed to increase its lead to 2-0 in the 67th minute.

The Vikings' goal was created by midfielder Craig Hancock who was unmarked and raced along the sidelines up field before sending a cross to teammate Andrew Walton, who put home Geneva's second goal.

"We have to make sure, especially in transition, that we are prioritizing our marks correctly," Cann said.

"We got away with it a few times, but (Geneva) had a couple of guys they ran up top who are very talented and you can't give them that space, but we should know better because that is like every team on our schedule."

The Falcons came right back and cut the deficit in half less than a minute later when Pat Langan managed to poke Zak Gudanik's corner attempt past Ward.

"We're never going to give up," Lenzi said. "We are a team that likes to fight no matter what the score is in the end."

Langan almost tied it in the 74th minute, but his free kick sailed wide of the net.

"You can't get down on things and must be able to continue to look forward," Cann said. "We didn't lose to a bad team. Geneva did some things real well and gave us some problems and we solved most of them, but you can't make mistakes against good teams and we made a few mistakes today."

The match grew increasingly intense as the second half went along.

The players and coaches both grew frustrated with the officiating as play was stopped for a variety of warnings, yellow cards and because of injuries.

"We talk about learning and finding a way to overcome (the officials) because it still doesn't change the fact that you have to make a good defensive play or you have to do things the right way and you still have to make those plays in order to be successful," Cann said.

"It comes down to you. You can either make the excuse of a bad call, but bottom line is that you didn't have to defend when had to defend."

Falcons starters vs. Vikings

Falcons Schedule