Batavia and Geneva tie U8 River showdown
Holcombe, Brolly score 2nd half goals in 1-1 deadlock
By Gary Larsen
BATAVIA -- Geneva had five losses in 13 games and went into Tuesday’s rivalry game at Batavia on a two-game losing streak. Those numbers weren’t fooling anybody, especially not Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco.
“Geneva’s a tough squad, and we knew it would be a tough game,” Gianfrancesco said. “And the records are out the window, because this game is always going to be a dogfight.”
The Bulldogs and Vikings tied 1-1 in their Upstate Eight Conference River Division game, an annual meeting that always features intense and physical play. This year’s chapter saw Anna Holcombe score for Batavia in the second half, and Geneva’s Annie Brolly tie the game just six minutes later.
The game proved that Batavia (10-1-2, 3-0-1) warrants its no. 10 ranking in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and that nobody better sleep on Geneva (7-5-2, 2-1-1).
Three of Geneva’s losses have come in close games to ranked teams: no 1 St. Charles North, no. 20 Waubonsie Valley and always tough Naperville Central. It’s two previous games were overtime losses to Waubonsie Valley and Downers Grove South in the Naperville Invitational, the state’s most formidable in-season tournament .
The Vikings are listed as a team to look out for in this week’s rankings for a reason.
“Some people might look at our record and wonder about it, but we’ve played a tough schedule,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “We stacked our early schedule this year to make sure we’re ready for the postseason, and we’ve shown that we can hang with anybody.”
Batavia's Holcombe was happy with her side’s play against their visitors, especially in light of 2017’s rivalry game.
“Last year we lost (2-0) to them. We got a red card in the first five minutes and played a player down the whole game,” Holcombe said. “I wish we could have won tonight, but it was a pretty good game. We played physical. We stayed with them the whole game, and I thought we fought pretty well.”
Batavia’s Zaira Solis and Anna Rakos each sent shots from distance wide through 12 minutes before Holcombe got a good look on net at 16 minutes and blistered a shot right at Geneva keeper Katie Montgomery.
Solis and Holcombe sent long shots in on Montgomery to the 27th minute but she handled them easily. Geneva’s sophomore keeper stayed in good position and was solid between the pipes all night.
The first inkling of true danger from Geneva’s attack came at 28 minutes when Olivia Tegge crossed a ball from the right side that bounced near the far post. The Vikings’ best scoring chances of the first half came next, set up by a flurry of corner kicks taken by Lauren Albrecht.
At 31 minutes, an Albrecht corner from the left side reached the far post where the Vikings found a shot in a crowd near the goalmouth. Batavia’s Abby Zipse bodied the shot away at the goal line to keep the game scoreless.
One minute later, Geneva’s Jenna Dominguez broke in up the heart of the Batavia defense, only to have a good chance from 14 yards deflected over the crossbar by a defender.
Two more Geneva corner kicks resulted in a pair of wide headers from the Vikings’ Annaliese Lockner to the 35th minute, and Solis cleared another ball off the line to cap a wild 10 minutes of pressure from Geneva.
“We had a lot of opportunities, and we could have walked away with the victory if we buried some of those opportunities,” Owens said.
Batavia’s CeCe Hamann sent a good look wide at 37 minutes from 16 yards on the right side, and Batavia’s Grace Salyers slid a ball across the box from the left side that teammate Bella Zink shot hard but directly at Montgomery from 14 yards. Montgomery handled the shot and the final dangerous chance of the first half was in the books.
Solis opened the second half with another hard-hit shot from the right side but Montgomery was again in perfect position at the post to field it cleanly.
Taking shots that find the keeper’s hands has been a habit Batavia is trying to break.
“A lot of our scoring chances were right at the keeper, and unfortunately that's kind of been the story for us this year,” Gianfrancesco said. “We do all that work to break them down and create that opportunity, and then it's right at the keeper.
“We shot a couple wide though, too, so we were shooting for that far post. I thought we did some nice things with the pressure, but there are obviously things we need to shore up a little bit. A couple times we could have slotted it to the middle. We had people that were open, but we decided to shoot it instead.”
Holcombe’s goal was a dandy. The junior midfielder took a pass from Salyers near the top of the Geneva penalty area at 47 minutes and cut the ball three or four times in tight space against a pair of defenders.
The final cut gave Holcombe a seam and her right-footed shot whizzed inside the left post to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Batavia played without the prominent all-around services of senior Gracey DiBiase, who’s slated to return from injury for weekend play. Holcombe stepped up her game with DiBiase out and earned Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“That was probably the best game I've seen her play. She wanted this one,” Gianfrancesco said of Holcombe. “Her movement was great, she was trying to win balls back when we lost them, and she was very physical. She was looking for teammates, and she scored a great goal.”
Montgomery stopped Holcombe from a two-goal game with a point-blank save at 49 minutes before outside back Brolly grabbed the spotlight for Geneva.
Brolly received a pass on the left side sent over by fellow defender Jaden Ciesielski at 53 minutes, took a touch, and buried it from 12 yards.
“I always focus on getting up the field and supporting the midfield,” Brolly said. “Then I just saw the back of the net, in the corner.”
Outside backs are hugely important to the attack in today’s game and the freshman Brolly made a great run up the field to score her goal.
“Freshmen listen the best, right?” Owens joked.
Geneva sent in a few freekicks from distance down the stretch but Batavia keeper Haley Flanagan left her line to snare them. Flanagan took over in net in the second half for Batavia starting keeper Katelyn Turnquist. Flannagan’s save at the post of a Dominguez shot at 77 minutes marked the final stop of the game.
Dominguez sent a final scoring chance wide of net with less than a minute remaining.
Owens was pleased with the way her girls attacked on Tuesday, and applauded the work of her backline players Ciesielski, Lockner, Brolly, and Rachel Lawrence.
“I think my defense played great tonight, communicating, and Katie Montgomery was very solid in net for us.
“Offensively, what we’ve been stressing in practice finally started clicking,” Owen said. “The combinations tonight were great to see. Batavia’s a nice team, and they’ve got a great record, but we showed that we’re right there with them. I’m excited for the postseason based on what I saw tonight. I saw a lot of positives with a lot of intensity.”
Batavia central defender Jenna Nichols played yet another solid game.
“There’s pressure on her with us playing with three in the back,” Gianfrancesco said. “But we trust her a lot. She’s a great player and that helps us to do what we do.
“Bella Zink also did a great today of holding the ball for us, kind of how (DiBiase) does it in that role, which allowed people to get up and then we can knock the ball around.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Katelyn Turnquist
D Jenna Nichols
D Amy TenHaken
D Claire Stack
M Abby Zipse
M Anna Rakos
M Grace Salyers
M Zaira Solis
M Anna Bross
F Anna Holcombe
F CeCe Hamann
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Rachel Lawrence
D Annaliese Lockner
D Jaden Ciesielski
D Kaitlyn Cannon
M Olivia Tegge
M Lauren Albrecht
M Sydney Gratz
M Ava Geen
F Stephanie Howe
F Jenna Dominguez
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Anna Holcombe, jr., F, Batavia
Scoring summary
Second half
Batavia — Holcombe (Salyers) 47th minute
Geneva — Brolly (Ciesielski) 53rd minute
Holcombe, Brolly score 2nd half goals in 1-1 deadlock
By Gary Larsen
BATAVIA -- Geneva had five losses in 13 games and went into Tuesday’s rivalry game at Batavia on a two-game losing streak. Those numbers weren’t fooling anybody, especially not Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco.
“Geneva’s a tough squad, and we knew it would be a tough game,” Gianfrancesco said. “And the records are out the window, because this game is always going to be a dogfight.”
The Bulldogs and Vikings tied 1-1 in their Upstate Eight Conference River Division game, an annual meeting that always features intense and physical play. This year’s chapter saw Anna Holcombe score for Batavia in the second half, and Geneva’s Annie Brolly tie the game just six minutes later.
The game proved that Batavia (10-1-2, 3-0-1) warrants its no. 10 ranking in this week’s Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 and that nobody better sleep on Geneva (7-5-2, 2-1-1).
Three of Geneva’s losses have come in close games to ranked teams: no 1 St. Charles North, no. 20 Waubonsie Valley and always tough Naperville Central. It’s two previous games were overtime losses to Waubonsie Valley and Downers Grove South in the Naperville Invitational, the state’s most formidable in-season tournament .
The Vikings are listed as a team to look out for in this week’s rankings for a reason.
“Some people might look at our record and wonder about it, but we’ve played a tough schedule,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “We stacked our early schedule this year to make sure we’re ready for the postseason, and we’ve shown that we can hang with anybody.”
Batavia's Holcombe was happy with her side’s play against their visitors, especially in light of 2017’s rivalry game.
“Last year we lost (2-0) to them. We got a red card in the first five minutes and played a player down the whole game,” Holcombe said. “I wish we could have won tonight, but it was a pretty good game. We played physical. We stayed with them the whole game, and I thought we fought pretty well.”
Batavia’s Zaira Solis and Anna Rakos each sent shots from distance wide through 12 minutes before Holcombe got a good look on net at 16 minutes and blistered a shot right at Geneva keeper Katie Montgomery.
Solis and Holcombe sent long shots in on Montgomery to the 27th minute but she handled them easily. Geneva’s sophomore keeper stayed in good position and was solid between the pipes all night.
The first inkling of true danger from Geneva’s attack came at 28 minutes when Olivia Tegge crossed a ball from the right side that bounced near the far post. The Vikings’ best scoring chances of the first half came next, set up by a flurry of corner kicks taken by Lauren Albrecht.
At 31 minutes, an Albrecht corner from the left side reached the far post where the Vikings found a shot in a crowd near the goalmouth. Batavia’s Abby Zipse bodied the shot away at the goal line to keep the game scoreless.
One minute later, Geneva’s Jenna Dominguez broke in up the heart of the Batavia defense, only to have a good chance from 14 yards deflected over the crossbar by a defender.
Two more Geneva corner kicks resulted in a pair of wide headers from the Vikings’ Annaliese Lockner to the 35th minute, and Solis cleared another ball off the line to cap a wild 10 minutes of pressure from Geneva.
“We had a lot of opportunities, and we could have walked away with the victory if we buried some of those opportunities,” Owens said.
Batavia’s CeCe Hamann sent a good look wide at 37 minutes from 16 yards on the right side, and Batavia’s Grace Salyers slid a ball across the box from the left side that teammate Bella Zink shot hard but directly at Montgomery from 14 yards. Montgomery handled the shot and the final dangerous chance of the first half was in the books.
Solis opened the second half with another hard-hit shot from the right side but Montgomery was again in perfect position at the post to field it cleanly.
Taking shots that find the keeper’s hands has been a habit Batavia is trying to break.
“A lot of our scoring chances were right at the keeper, and unfortunately that's kind of been the story for us this year,” Gianfrancesco said. “We do all that work to break them down and create that opportunity, and then it's right at the keeper.
“We shot a couple wide though, too, so we were shooting for that far post. I thought we did some nice things with the pressure, but there are obviously things we need to shore up a little bit. A couple times we could have slotted it to the middle. We had people that were open, but we decided to shoot it instead.”
Holcombe’s goal was a dandy. The junior midfielder took a pass from Salyers near the top of the Geneva penalty area at 47 minutes and cut the ball three or four times in tight space against a pair of defenders.
The final cut gave Holcombe a seam and her right-footed shot whizzed inside the left post to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.
Batavia played without the prominent all-around services of senior Gracey DiBiase, who’s slated to return from injury for weekend play. Holcombe stepped up her game with DiBiase out and earned Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“That was probably the best game I've seen her play. She wanted this one,” Gianfrancesco said of Holcombe. “Her movement was great, she was trying to win balls back when we lost them, and she was very physical. She was looking for teammates, and she scored a great goal.”
Montgomery stopped Holcombe from a two-goal game with a point-blank save at 49 minutes before outside back Brolly grabbed the spotlight for Geneva.
Brolly received a pass on the left side sent over by fellow defender Jaden Ciesielski at 53 minutes, took a touch, and buried it from 12 yards.
“I always focus on getting up the field and supporting the midfield,” Brolly said. “Then I just saw the back of the net, in the corner.”
Outside backs are hugely important to the attack in today’s game and the freshman Brolly made a great run up the field to score her goal.
“Freshmen listen the best, right?” Owens joked.
Geneva sent in a few freekicks from distance down the stretch but Batavia keeper Haley Flanagan left her line to snare them. Flanagan took over in net in the second half for Batavia starting keeper Katelyn Turnquist. Flannagan’s save at the post of a Dominguez shot at 77 minutes marked the final stop of the game.
Dominguez sent a final scoring chance wide of net with less than a minute remaining.
Owens was pleased with the way her girls attacked on Tuesday, and applauded the work of her backline players Ciesielski, Lockner, Brolly, and Rachel Lawrence.
“I think my defense played great tonight, communicating, and Katie Montgomery was very solid in net for us.
“Offensively, what we’ve been stressing in practice finally started clicking,” Owen said. “The combinations tonight were great to see. Batavia’s a nice team, and they’ve got a great record, but we showed that we’re right there with them. I’m excited for the postseason based on what I saw tonight. I saw a lot of positives with a lot of intensity.”
Batavia central defender Jenna Nichols played yet another solid game.
“There’s pressure on her with us playing with three in the back,” Gianfrancesco said. “But we trust her a lot. She’s a great player and that helps us to do what we do.
“Bella Zink also did a great today of holding the ball for us, kind of how (DiBiase) does it in that role, which allowed people to get up and then we can knock the ball around.”
Starting lineups
Batavia
GK Katelyn Turnquist
D Jenna Nichols
D Amy TenHaken
D Claire Stack
M Abby Zipse
M Anna Rakos
M Grace Salyers
M Zaira Solis
M Anna Bross
F Anna Holcombe
F CeCe Hamann
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Rachel Lawrence
D Annaliese Lockner
D Jaden Ciesielski
D Kaitlyn Cannon
M Olivia Tegge
M Lauren Albrecht
M Sydney Gratz
M Ava Geen
F Stephanie Howe
F Jenna Dominguez
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Anna Holcombe, jr., F, Batavia
Scoring summary
Second half
Batavia — Holcombe (Salyers) 47th minute
Geneva — Brolly (Ciesielski) 53rd minute