Geneva, Batavia slip-slide away to draw
O’Donoghue's late midfield send saves league point for Geneva
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA—Batavia’s defense withstood relentless Geneva attacks to earn a 1-1 tie with its DuKane Conference and tri-city rival on a wet and windy Tuesday night.
The tie hurt Geneva, ranked 10th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in the DuKane Conference race. St. Charles North gained two points on the Vikings after their 4-2 win over St. Charles East on Tuesday night.
Most of the action took place on the Bulldog’s side of the pitch. All but one of Geneva’s shots were off the mark or stopped by Batavia defenders.
The Bulldogs initiated the scoring with Manasas Monarrez’ first strike of the season with 2:41 left in the first half.
The junior scored after connecting on a through-ball from Will Bardol.
“It was a beautiful ball,” Monarrez said.
The host’s lead held until the 74th minute when Geneva’s Landon O’Donoghue tallied the equalizer on a free kick from midfield.
“I don’t know how many shots on goal Geneva had but our defense was blocking shots, winning balls in the air, tracking marks and running through,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I thought we slowed them down a little bit, made them work a little bit more, and we were able to counter off some of the turnovers and catch them in certain situations or movements.”
“Not the outcome we were looking for, coming into a conference game,” said Geneva assistant coach Dan Miller, who was filling in for absent head coach Jason Bhatta. “It’s a tough one for us. I felt like we had quite a few chances.
“We blasted quite a few over the crossbar in both the first half and the second half. We never like to make excuses, but between the wind and the rain, it evens things out a little bit more, in my opinion, with the ball being slick.
“Tonight, we played extremely direct. Usually, we like to give width more and use our wing backs in the attack quite a bit more. Today it felt like we were playing the ball from our midfielders directly through to the forwards who were running in on top. With the wind and how slick the ball gets on the turf, those balls were carrying out of bounds on us.”
Miller had hoped for a clean-sheet.
“We are always looking for the shutout, but it was a tough one,” he said. “Credit to our defense for only giving up only one tonight.”
Batavia goalkeeper Logan Saenz stopped several of O’Donoghue’s free kicks. In the second half, the junior fielded a kick from 55 yards out and punched away a 53-yarder.
But O’Donoghue’s boot from the midfield line found the back of the net with 6:28 to play.
“I’ve done it a lot of times. I just tried to hit the ball up to my teammate and try to get a flick,” said O’Donoghue. “It got in, and that is all that matters.”
The junior was disappointed with the tie.
“Overall, I thought our team had a lot of chances” the junior said. “It is a very frustrating game when you only get one, but what can you do? It was a frustrating one tonight, but I think we will get back on track.”
The home team’s coach was pleased with how his team responded to the goal.
“Of course, you get one like that, it’s unfortunate, it kind of slips right in,” Gianfrancesco said. “I thought they stuck with it. We could have folded there, and we didn’t.”
Batavia had a chance to go ahead in the closing minutes of the game. A point-blank shot in the penalty box went wide left.
“It would have been nice to get that second one that rolled across in the second half.,” said Gianfrancesco. “I think that would have changed the game, but I think the wind had a little bit of an effect.”
Geneva mounted one more attack in the closing seconds of the game but was not able to get off a shot.
“Once we got that first (goal), I loved how the team responded,” said Miller. “I would’ve liked a couple of more minutes there at the end to play but 80 minutes is all we get.”
As in past matches, senior Cal Parise patrolled the Geneva net for the first half while freshman Hayden Vostal defended it in the second half.
“We’re blessed with a senior and a freshman this year, so we are trying to do what’s best for both of them,” Miller said.
Geneva’s offense pressure proved to be a problem for Batavia.
“I thought, second half the boys were very resilient. We were struggling, we were tired, and we weren’t winning any 50-50 balls,” Gianfrancesco said. “(Geneva) was doing a nice job of keeping us in our own end, but we found a couple of spurts there.
“But really for the most part, we were in our own end 40 minutes. I thought the boys did a nice job of staying together, communicating with each other and forcing them to have to make a shot. I was pleased with that.”
Batavia midfielder Rodrigo Maldonado covered a lot of ground.
“They had those wings back there. (Maldonado) did a nice job, up and back. He’s kind of the little energizer bunny. He’s always has some energy, and he goes hard,” Gianfrancesco said. “It doesn’t matter how big the opponent is, he goes hard on a tackle so that kind of gives us a little spark. And being a captain, he kind of leads the way for us.”
Batavia’s backs played a crucial role in the game.
“Playing on the outside with their formation, our outside guys had to be really up and back. In the first half, that was everybody defending” Gianfrancesco said. “We did a pretty nice job in the middle with Quint Salyers, Riley Miller and Will Bardol. Also with Ben Hanson and Connor Kelly who subbed in there later. So those guys kind of hunkered down a little bit in the middle.”.
Geneva (3-1-3, 2-1-2) holds the current advantage in its rivalry with the Bulldogs. The last time Batavia topped the Vikings was in 2014. Batavia (0-4-2, 0-3-2) will have another chance to break that skid when the two teams meet again on April 8 in Geneva.
Both teams return to league action on Thursday. Geneva hosts Wheaton North, while Batavia travels to St. Charles East. Tuesday, in another tri-city rivalry, St. Charles North beat East 4-2, snapping a Saints’ three-year regular season winning streak over the North Stars.
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Cal Parise
D: Grant Havertine
D: Jack Cannon
D: Landon O’Donoghue
M: Evan Horvath
M: Joe Carli
M: Nic Plata
M: Dominick Peri
F: Trent Giansanti
F: Christian Diaz
F: Ryan Leake
Batavia
GK: Logan Saenz
M: Rodrigo Maldonado
M: Will Bardol
F: Luke Bianco
M: Ben Hanson
M: Dylan Knapp
F: Ryan Kahley
D: Josh Denault
D: Riley Miller
D: Quinn Salyers
M: Emir Haskovic
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Rodrigo Maldonado, sr, M, Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia: Monarrez (Bardol) 38 minute
Second half
Geneva: Landon O’Donoghue (UA) 74 minute
O’Donoghue's late midfield send saves league point for Geneva
By Jared Birchfield
BATAVIA—Batavia’s defense withstood relentless Geneva attacks to earn a 1-1 tie with its DuKane Conference and tri-city rival on a wet and windy Tuesday night.
The tie hurt Geneva, ranked 10th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, in the DuKane Conference race. St. Charles North gained two points on the Vikings after their 4-2 win over St. Charles East on Tuesday night.
Most of the action took place on the Bulldog’s side of the pitch. All but one of Geneva’s shots were off the mark or stopped by Batavia defenders.
The Bulldogs initiated the scoring with Manasas Monarrez’ first strike of the season with 2:41 left in the first half.
The junior scored after connecting on a through-ball from Will Bardol.
“It was a beautiful ball,” Monarrez said.
The host’s lead held until the 74th minute when Geneva’s Landon O’Donoghue tallied the equalizer on a free kick from midfield.
“I don’t know how many shots on goal Geneva had but our defense was blocking shots, winning balls in the air, tracking marks and running through,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. “I thought we slowed them down a little bit, made them work a little bit more, and we were able to counter off some of the turnovers and catch them in certain situations or movements.”
“Not the outcome we were looking for, coming into a conference game,” said Geneva assistant coach Dan Miller, who was filling in for absent head coach Jason Bhatta. “It’s a tough one for us. I felt like we had quite a few chances.
“We blasted quite a few over the crossbar in both the first half and the second half. We never like to make excuses, but between the wind and the rain, it evens things out a little bit more, in my opinion, with the ball being slick.
“Tonight, we played extremely direct. Usually, we like to give width more and use our wing backs in the attack quite a bit more. Today it felt like we were playing the ball from our midfielders directly through to the forwards who were running in on top. With the wind and how slick the ball gets on the turf, those balls were carrying out of bounds on us.”
Miller had hoped for a clean-sheet.
“We are always looking for the shutout, but it was a tough one,” he said. “Credit to our defense for only giving up only one tonight.”
Batavia goalkeeper Logan Saenz stopped several of O’Donoghue’s free kicks. In the second half, the junior fielded a kick from 55 yards out and punched away a 53-yarder.
But O’Donoghue’s boot from the midfield line found the back of the net with 6:28 to play.
“I’ve done it a lot of times. I just tried to hit the ball up to my teammate and try to get a flick,” said O’Donoghue. “It got in, and that is all that matters.”
The junior was disappointed with the tie.
“Overall, I thought our team had a lot of chances” the junior said. “It is a very frustrating game when you only get one, but what can you do? It was a frustrating one tonight, but I think we will get back on track.”
The home team’s coach was pleased with how his team responded to the goal.
“Of course, you get one like that, it’s unfortunate, it kind of slips right in,” Gianfrancesco said. “I thought they stuck with it. We could have folded there, and we didn’t.”
Batavia had a chance to go ahead in the closing minutes of the game. A point-blank shot in the penalty box went wide left.
“It would have been nice to get that second one that rolled across in the second half.,” said Gianfrancesco. “I think that would have changed the game, but I think the wind had a little bit of an effect.”
Geneva mounted one more attack in the closing seconds of the game but was not able to get off a shot.
“Once we got that first (goal), I loved how the team responded,” said Miller. “I would’ve liked a couple of more minutes there at the end to play but 80 minutes is all we get.”
As in past matches, senior Cal Parise patrolled the Geneva net for the first half while freshman Hayden Vostal defended it in the second half.
“We’re blessed with a senior and a freshman this year, so we are trying to do what’s best for both of them,” Miller said.
Geneva’s offense pressure proved to be a problem for Batavia.
“I thought, second half the boys were very resilient. We were struggling, we were tired, and we weren’t winning any 50-50 balls,” Gianfrancesco said. “(Geneva) was doing a nice job of keeping us in our own end, but we found a couple of spurts there.
“But really for the most part, we were in our own end 40 minutes. I thought the boys did a nice job of staying together, communicating with each other and forcing them to have to make a shot. I was pleased with that.”
Batavia midfielder Rodrigo Maldonado covered a lot of ground.
“They had those wings back there. (Maldonado) did a nice job, up and back. He’s kind of the little energizer bunny. He’s always has some energy, and he goes hard,” Gianfrancesco said. “It doesn’t matter how big the opponent is, he goes hard on a tackle so that kind of gives us a little spark. And being a captain, he kind of leads the way for us.”
Batavia’s backs played a crucial role in the game.
“Playing on the outside with their formation, our outside guys had to be really up and back. In the first half, that was everybody defending” Gianfrancesco said. “We did a pretty nice job in the middle with Quint Salyers, Riley Miller and Will Bardol. Also with Ben Hanson and Connor Kelly who subbed in there later. So those guys kind of hunkered down a little bit in the middle.”.
Geneva (3-1-3, 2-1-2) holds the current advantage in its rivalry with the Bulldogs. The last time Batavia topped the Vikings was in 2014. Batavia (0-4-2, 0-3-2) will have another chance to break that skid when the two teams meet again on April 8 in Geneva.
Both teams return to league action on Thursday. Geneva hosts Wheaton North, while Batavia travels to St. Charles East. Tuesday, in another tri-city rivalry, St. Charles North beat East 4-2, snapping a Saints’ three-year regular season winning streak over the North Stars.
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Cal Parise
D: Grant Havertine
D: Jack Cannon
D: Landon O’Donoghue
M: Evan Horvath
M: Joe Carli
M: Nic Plata
M: Dominick Peri
F: Trent Giansanti
F: Christian Diaz
F: Ryan Leake
Batavia
GK: Logan Saenz
M: Rodrigo Maldonado
M: Will Bardol
F: Luke Bianco
M: Ben Hanson
M: Dylan Knapp
F: Ryan Kahley
D: Josh Denault
D: Riley Miller
D: Quinn Salyers
M: Emir Haskovic
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Rodrigo Maldonado, sr, M, Batavia
Scoring summary
First half
Batavia: Monarrez (Bardol) 38 minute
Second half
Geneva: Landon O’Donoghue (UA) 74 minute