Geneva stays in control vs. Batavia
Barwiolek’s 1st prep goal a highlight in 4-0 DKC victory
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – Geneva still doesn’t know what it feels like to lose a close game.
Meanwhile Batavia has struggled to find its form,
The annual DuKane Conference meeting between the big rivals was subdued as the Bulldogs continued a non-soccer-relatd struggle. They are in the midst of the extremely difficult task of trying to discover a way to move forward while grieving the tragic death of junior teammate Kyle Nicely.
The loss of their teammate and friend has been a life-altering moment; success in soccer games, while still a goal, is secondary for these Bulldogs.
Thursday there was an escape in the form of a game. In it Geneva seized control and concluded with a 4-0 win.
Batavia dropped to 1-9-0, 0-3-0, while Geneva improved to 9-3-2, 3-0-0. The teams battled to a scoreless draw last fall.
“It’s been a tough year for them and then to lose Nicely,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “I can only imagine what (Batavia coach) Mark (Gianfrancesco) and that team are going through. We wanted to get out and play hard and represent our school well.”
Prior to the National Anthem, former Geneva boys soccer coach Ryan Estabrook requested a 30-second moment of silence in remembrance of Nicely, who passed away on Sept. 13.
Estabrook read, “At this time will everyone please stand for a moment of silence to remember Kyle Nicely. Kyle was a junior on the Batavia boys soccer team who recently passed away this past month after he suffered a brain aneurysm. We will be honoring Kyle tonight as well as on the annual Tri-Cities Night on October 10 where all Tri-City schools will be playing matches here at Geneva to raise money for the Nicely family during this incredibly difficult time. Thank you.”
After the opening passages of the game, Geneva senior Shun Yonehara made a penalty kick with 30:05 remaining in the opening half to provide the Vikings with a 1-0 advantage. He went on to earn the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Yonehara is new to his high school team after playing exclusively for the club Eclipse.
“Most of my team was going to play high school soccer anyway,” he explained. “And I had been thinking about it since I started high school, so I figured I’d give it a try.”
Bhatta also figured it didn’t hurt to try asking Yonehara if he was interested in joining the team. It can’t be forgotten that Bhatta teaches at Geneva too and had Yonehara in a class last spring.
“Right at the end of the year I asked if he was going to try high school,” Bhatta said. “And he came out in the summer and then I saw his real qualities while getting him minutes. He does a great job in that no. 6 holding mid position breaking everything up, getting tackles and can have good service and distribution. He does a lot for us.”
It does make Bhatta quietly wonder what it would’ve been like to have him the prior three seasons.
“If we would’ve had him in past years, he would’ve been a good piece to have,” he said. “But he’s a good piece for us now so it’s nice to have him senior year and be able to slot into a place where he can make a big impact.”
Yonehara has fit in well with the squad and that’s been one of the reasons why Geneva went from cellar-dweller to one of the better teams in the area and then some.
“The guys love having him on the team,” Bhatta said. “They played against him when he played at Eclipse. He’s a quiet guy, but we have a lot of big personalities on the team.”
The Vikings extended their lead with 23:45 still remaining in the first half when Dominick Peri scored.
Ethan Hipp had a shot saved by Batavia keeper Logan Saenz late in the first half that kept the game at 2-0, but shortly thereafter Yonehara found Christian Diaz on a corner kick to make the score 3-0 with 6:46 remaining before halftime.
Batavia’s Mark Lillig and Troy Avila had shot attempts for the Bulldogs in the final two minutes of the first half but neither found paydirt.
Offense in the second half was of the non-scoring variety until Dominik Barwiolek recorded the final goal of the game with 10:18. It was Barwiolek’s first high school goal.
“It’s been unlucky for me so it felt really good to score,” he said. “I made a diagonal run. Josh (Eiss) played a great ball through, and luckily I scored.”
Barwiolek, a 5-foot-7 junior, said he had been close to scoring previously and opened himself up to some ribbing from his teammates for his inability to finish. But getting close isn’t anything like getting it done.
“I heard some jokes,” he laughed. “It’s all right. We have a really good team and good chemistry. We’re all good friends.”
Geneva has already proven that it can beat a great team like Naperville North (2-1 on Sept. 15), but the Vikings have also looked not-so-good, namely in their three losses where they were outscored by a combined 13-1 by Benet, Oswego and Jacobs. In their other 11 games they’ve allowed only five goals. The Vikings looked like that team Thursday.
“Defensively we were really good again, and we’ve given up just one goal in our last six games,” Bhatta said. “It starts with our center backs and working the way up. They work so hard from our forwards up. To work that hard in the middle of the field to get the ball back, it’s unique to see. Usually forwards don’t work that hard. Everyone has bought into our defensive shape and being defensively sound.”
One of the positives Batavia can take out of this game as it preserves through a difficult season is that the Bulldogs were able to hold the Vikings to a single goal in the second half while continuing to fight to break the shutout.
“We’ve giving up a lot of goals,” Batavia senior Isaac Hager said. “Once we start getting our defense down I think the offense will start coming on, and we’ll start creating some goals.”
Last year, Batavia stunned the soccer area by winning a regional despite only winning three games in the regular season, finishing 5-11-4 while ending Oswego East’s hopes of winning its first regional title. The Wolves finished 14-6-2 last year so the upset was a big accomplishment. That senior-heavy group had 16 graduates, and the team was recognized as the winner of the 2018 Chicagoland Soccer Sportsmanship Award.
This year’s Batavia team is comprised of many new players, but they know about the cohesiveness of last year’s squad. This team is trying to latch on to some of the things that made that group click.
“We’re all friends, and we stick close to each other,” Hager said. “Everyone feeds off of each other’s energy. So it’s easy to bedemoralized after big losses, but fortunately we have a good group of guys to keep pushing each other.”
Hager said that push carried over into a better effort in the second half.
“We rallied after halftime,” he said. “We knew what we needed to do, and we got it done a little bit better in the second half.”
The Bulldogs haven't stopped working and look for better outcomes.
“There’s always a chance,” Hager said. “Last year we only had five wins but came through in the playoffs and won a regional. There’s always a chance. We’re always improving so we feel like we’re never out of it. We can still get something done at the end of the season.”
Geneva hopes to keep its strong run alive.
“I just think it’s a different attitude from last year,” Geneva senior Stuart Turnbull said. “We also have a lot of new guys on the team bringing a lot of energy and experience and kids who know how the game works at the varsity level. We’ve done a great job of coming together with the right team mindset and the intensity to go out and so something special this season.”
Although they were unavailable to comment afterward, Diaz and Batavia senior defender Hector Rosales had the unique opportunity of battling against each other on the field as cousins. Since the Vikings won convincingly and Diaz scored a goal, he’ll certainly have something to talk about at the next family function that the two both attend.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Quinn Carlson
D Will Chandler
D Hector Rosales
D Ethan Wright
MF Connor Kelly
MF Rodrigo Maldonado
F Isaac Hager
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
F Austin Saenz
Geneva
GK Osten Lockner
D Jack Cannon
D Evan Horvath
D Braeden McPheron
D Stuart Turnbull
MF Ethan Hipp
MF Joe Carli
MF Shun Yonehara
MF Dominick Peri
F Christian Diaz
F Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Shun Yonehara, sr., MF, Geneva
Scoring summary
Geneva 4, Batavia 0
Batavia 0 0 – 0
Geneva 3 1 – 4
First half
Geneva – Shun Yonehara PK 30:05
Geneva – Dominick Peri (u/a) 23:45
Geneva – Christian Diaz (Yonehara) 6:46
Second half
Geneva - Dominik Barwiolek (Josh Eiss) 10:18
Barwiolek’s 1st prep goal a highlight in 4-0 DKC victory
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – Geneva still doesn’t know what it feels like to lose a close game.
Meanwhile Batavia has struggled to find its form,
The annual DuKane Conference meeting between the big rivals was subdued as the Bulldogs continued a non-soccer-relatd struggle. They are in the midst of the extremely difficult task of trying to discover a way to move forward while grieving the tragic death of junior teammate Kyle Nicely.
The loss of their teammate and friend has been a life-altering moment; success in soccer games, while still a goal, is secondary for these Bulldogs.
Thursday there was an escape in the form of a game. In it Geneva seized control and concluded with a 4-0 win.
Batavia dropped to 1-9-0, 0-3-0, while Geneva improved to 9-3-2, 3-0-0. The teams battled to a scoreless draw last fall.
“It’s been a tough year for them and then to lose Nicely,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “I can only imagine what (Batavia coach) Mark (Gianfrancesco) and that team are going through. We wanted to get out and play hard and represent our school well.”
Prior to the National Anthem, former Geneva boys soccer coach Ryan Estabrook requested a 30-second moment of silence in remembrance of Nicely, who passed away on Sept. 13.
Estabrook read, “At this time will everyone please stand for a moment of silence to remember Kyle Nicely. Kyle was a junior on the Batavia boys soccer team who recently passed away this past month after he suffered a brain aneurysm. We will be honoring Kyle tonight as well as on the annual Tri-Cities Night on October 10 where all Tri-City schools will be playing matches here at Geneva to raise money for the Nicely family during this incredibly difficult time. Thank you.”
After the opening passages of the game, Geneva senior Shun Yonehara made a penalty kick with 30:05 remaining in the opening half to provide the Vikings with a 1-0 advantage. He went on to earn the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor.
Yonehara is new to his high school team after playing exclusively for the club Eclipse.
“Most of my team was going to play high school soccer anyway,” he explained. “And I had been thinking about it since I started high school, so I figured I’d give it a try.”
Bhatta also figured it didn’t hurt to try asking Yonehara if he was interested in joining the team. It can’t be forgotten that Bhatta teaches at Geneva too and had Yonehara in a class last spring.
“Right at the end of the year I asked if he was going to try high school,” Bhatta said. “And he came out in the summer and then I saw his real qualities while getting him minutes. He does a great job in that no. 6 holding mid position breaking everything up, getting tackles and can have good service and distribution. He does a lot for us.”
It does make Bhatta quietly wonder what it would’ve been like to have him the prior three seasons.
“If we would’ve had him in past years, he would’ve been a good piece to have,” he said. “But he’s a good piece for us now so it’s nice to have him senior year and be able to slot into a place where he can make a big impact.”
Yonehara has fit in well with the squad and that’s been one of the reasons why Geneva went from cellar-dweller to one of the better teams in the area and then some.
“The guys love having him on the team,” Bhatta said. “They played against him when he played at Eclipse. He’s a quiet guy, but we have a lot of big personalities on the team.”
The Vikings extended their lead with 23:45 still remaining in the first half when Dominick Peri scored.
Ethan Hipp had a shot saved by Batavia keeper Logan Saenz late in the first half that kept the game at 2-0, but shortly thereafter Yonehara found Christian Diaz on a corner kick to make the score 3-0 with 6:46 remaining before halftime.
Batavia’s Mark Lillig and Troy Avila had shot attempts for the Bulldogs in the final two minutes of the first half but neither found paydirt.
Offense in the second half was of the non-scoring variety until Dominik Barwiolek recorded the final goal of the game with 10:18. It was Barwiolek’s first high school goal.
“It’s been unlucky for me so it felt really good to score,” he said. “I made a diagonal run. Josh (Eiss) played a great ball through, and luckily I scored.”
Barwiolek, a 5-foot-7 junior, said he had been close to scoring previously and opened himself up to some ribbing from his teammates for his inability to finish. But getting close isn’t anything like getting it done.
“I heard some jokes,” he laughed. “It’s all right. We have a really good team and good chemistry. We’re all good friends.”
Geneva has already proven that it can beat a great team like Naperville North (2-1 on Sept. 15), but the Vikings have also looked not-so-good, namely in their three losses where they were outscored by a combined 13-1 by Benet, Oswego and Jacobs. In their other 11 games they’ve allowed only five goals. The Vikings looked like that team Thursday.
“Defensively we were really good again, and we’ve given up just one goal in our last six games,” Bhatta said. “It starts with our center backs and working the way up. They work so hard from our forwards up. To work that hard in the middle of the field to get the ball back, it’s unique to see. Usually forwards don’t work that hard. Everyone has bought into our defensive shape and being defensively sound.”
One of the positives Batavia can take out of this game as it preserves through a difficult season is that the Bulldogs were able to hold the Vikings to a single goal in the second half while continuing to fight to break the shutout.
“We’ve giving up a lot of goals,” Batavia senior Isaac Hager said. “Once we start getting our defense down I think the offense will start coming on, and we’ll start creating some goals.”
Last year, Batavia stunned the soccer area by winning a regional despite only winning three games in the regular season, finishing 5-11-4 while ending Oswego East’s hopes of winning its first regional title. The Wolves finished 14-6-2 last year so the upset was a big accomplishment. That senior-heavy group had 16 graduates, and the team was recognized as the winner of the 2018 Chicagoland Soccer Sportsmanship Award.
This year’s Batavia team is comprised of many new players, but they know about the cohesiveness of last year’s squad. This team is trying to latch on to some of the things that made that group click.
“We’re all friends, and we stick close to each other,” Hager said. “Everyone feeds off of each other’s energy. So it’s easy to bedemoralized after big losses, but fortunately we have a good group of guys to keep pushing each other.”
Hager said that push carried over into a better effort in the second half.
“We rallied after halftime,” he said. “We knew what we needed to do, and we got it done a little bit better in the second half.”
The Bulldogs haven't stopped working and look for better outcomes.
“There’s always a chance,” Hager said. “Last year we only had five wins but came through in the playoffs and won a regional. There’s always a chance. We’re always improving so we feel like we’re never out of it. We can still get something done at the end of the season.”
Geneva hopes to keep its strong run alive.
“I just think it’s a different attitude from last year,” Geneva senior Stuart Turnbull said. “We also have a lot of new guys on the team bringing a lot of energy and experience and kids who know how the game works at the varsity level. We’ve done a great job of coming together with the right team mindset and the intensity to go out and so something special this season.”
Although they were unavailable to comment afterward, Diaz and Batavia senior defender Hector Rosales had the unique opportunity of battling against each other on the field as cousins. Since the Vikings won convincingly and Diaz scored a goal, he’ll certainly have something to talk about at the next family function that the two both attend.
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Logan Saenz
D Quinn Carlson
D Will Chandler
D Hector Rosales
D Ethan Wright
MF Connor Kelly
MF Rodrigo Maldonado
F Isaac Hager
F Dylan Knapp
F Mark Lillig
F Austin Saenz
Geneva
GK Osten Lockner
D Jack Cannon
D Evan Horvath
D Braeden McPheron
D Stuart Turnbull
MF Ethan Hipp
MF Joe Carli
MF Shun Yonehara
MF Dominick Peri
F Christian Diaz
F Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Shun Yonehara, sr., MF, Geneva
Scoring summary
Geneva 4, Batavia 0
Batavia 0 0 – 0
Geneva 3 1 – 4
First half
Geneva – Shun Yonehara PK 30:05
Geneva – Dominick Peri (u/a) 23:45
Geneva – Christian Diaz (Yonehara) 6:46
Second half
Geneva - Dominik Barwiolek (Josh Eiss) 10:18