Giansanti hat-trick lifts
Geneva over rival Batavia
Vikings continue to find goals in 4-1 DuKane win
By Curt Herron
BATAVIA -- When a team scores more goals in its last two matches than it had in its previous 12, there's reason to take notice.
Geneva and sophomore forward Trent Giansanti are excited after seeing their season turn around in the span of just four days thanks to two decisive wins.
After claiming a 6-0 victory over Bartlett on Saturday, the Vikings continued their offensive prowess Tuesday against Batavia to capture a 4-1 DuKane
Conference victory over their longtime rivals on Tri-Cities Night at Bulldogs Stadium.
Leading the way in the two victories was Giansanti, who had two goals heading into the two matches but now has seven. He bagged his first half hat-trick against the Bulldogs after having a two-goal, three-assist effort against Bartlett.
The Vikings (4-7-3, 2-1-2) are now in second place in the conference while the Bulldogs (6-7-0, 2-2-0), who were the early league leaders, fell into fourth place. St. Charles East (3-1-0) took over the top spot with its 4-0 victory over rival St. Charles North
in the first of the two matches played in the Tri-Cities Night doubleheader.
"In the two games I've had a pretty good performance with five goals and three assists," said Giansanti, the Chicagoland Soccer Man
of the Match. "As we got a formation change and fixed our mindset, our team has started to come together. We started putting more in the middle … with two up-top and having less wide players.
"Having three in the back and having our two wing backs giving us the width with our two up-top, has been crucial for us to put those goals in the net. It was awesome to beat our rival Batavia because last year we had pretty rough games against them and tied them twice. So, it was a good comeback game for us, especially on Tri-Cities Night.
"I like how when each of us are down, we lift each other’s head up, and we always want the best for each other and are always positive. So that's what really brought us into a good mindset at the beginning of the game and how we ended it."
Geneva scored nine goals in its first 12 matches. It’s previous high in goals in a game was two, which it produced in wins over Oswego and Wheaton Warrenville South and in a loss to Benet. The Vikings scored just once in the four matches preceding their recent 10-goal outburst.
"Saturday when we played Bartlett, we got off to a quick start as well. Today, we had two goals in the first 10 minutes," Vikings coach Jason Bhatta said. "In the first half of the year, we weren't taking
our chances. But if we take our chances, we have goal scorers like Chris (Diaz) and Trent. They can score goals, and they're coming into form now.
"It definitely helps if you can get early goals and kind of knock them in the face and let the defense take care of the game from there. It's confidence, and they just have more confidence.
“We knew that we were good in the first half of the season but now we're a different team. We have a little more solidarity in the back, and we're putting away chances now. I told them if we can get a nice run in the last six games and keep the momentum going into the playoffs, that's the time to get hot.
"So hopefully we just keep that going and getting the results. Tonight I'm happy since it was Tri-Cities Night. It was fun."
Giansanti started the scoring in the third minute when he headed in a ball following a pass from senior Ryan Leake. After Vikings sophomore
keeper Hayden Vostal stopped an attempt from Batavia’s Alec Crum, junior Grant Havertine sent a pass inside to Giansanti who put his team up 2-0 in
the ninth minute.
There weren't a lot of great opportunities over the next 20 minutes. Senior co-captain Braeden McPheron sent in a long free kick for the visitors before Brody Seitzinger countered with a pair of good chances for the hosts.
In the 37th minute, Giansanti completed his hat-trick when he scored from about 10 yards off a pass from senior co-captain Chris Diaz.
Batavia threatened again as the opening half entered its final minutes. Josh Denault and Luke Petersen both had sent shots toward the net. But a foul in the box with three seconds left before the break led to the hosts only score. Senior co-captain Ryan Kahley fired in the penalty to make it 3-1.
"We've marked up well all year, but we just didn't do it tonight," Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "Other teams maybe didn't make us pay, but they made us pay every time that we didn't mark up.
"It's just communication and not ball-watching and stuff like that, and they made us pay every time on it. You have those games, and you move forward, that's all that you can do. They played well."
Geneva was back at it to start the final half with Diaz sending in a pair of dangerous tries and Nathan Branstad and Giansanti also applying pressure.
Geneva concluded the scoring in the 54th minute when Clayton Williams sent a throw-in into the box and McPheron was there to put it away.
"Last year we tied them twice so we knew that we had to get something this year right away, because we didn't want to tie them again," McPheron said.
“We wanted this win badly. We had to keep up the tempo that we were going, and we did that. What we've been doing in the past few games has really helped.
"I feel like the formation change that we had has really helped us and just the way that we've been able to build with each other. Before we were just
kind of doing kick and run and now we're actually possessing. I like our persistence and how we don't give up and keep going. That's the best thing about this team."
The squads return to play again on Thursday. Geneva hosts East Aurora in a nonconference match, while Batavia plays at Lake Park in conference action.
Starting lineups
Geneva
G Hayden Vostal
D Braeden McPheron
D Grant Havertine
D Colin Hasty
M Clayton Williams
M Nathan Branstad
M Ryan Leake
M Billy Grossklag
M Aiden Leonard
F Chris Diaz
F Trent Giansanti
Batavia
G Ryan Horlock
D Grant LeRette-Kauffman
D Brody Seitzinger
D Quinn Salyers
D Owen Stahl
M Will Bardol
M Ben Hanson
M Ryan Kahley
M Alec Crum
F Josh Denault
F Mana Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trent Giansanti, so., F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
G: Giansanti (Leake), 3rd minute
G: Giansanti (Havertine), 9th minute
G: Giansanti (Diaz), 37th minute
B: Kahley (PK), 40th minute
Second half
G: McPheron (unassisted), 54th minute
Geneva over rival Batavia
Vikings continue to find goals in 4-1 DuKane win
By Curt Herron
BATAVIA -- When a team scores more goals in its last two matches than it had in its previous 12, there's reason to take notice.
Geneva and sophomore forward Trent Giansanti are excited after seeing their season turn around in the span of just four days thanks to two decisive wins.
After claiming a 6-0 victory over Bartlett on Saturday, the Vikings continued their offensive prowess Tuesday against Batavia to capture a 4-1 DuKane
Conference victory over their longtime rivals on Tri-Cities Night at Bulldogs Stadium.
Leading the way in the two victories was Giansanti, who had two goals heading into the two matches but now has seven. He bagged his first half hat-trick against the Bulldogs after having a two-goal, three-assist effort against Bartlett.
The Vikings (4-7-3, 2-1-2) are now in second place in the conference while the Bulldogs (6-7-0, 2-2-0), who were the early league leaders, fell into fourth place. St. Charles East (3-1-0) took over the top spot with its 4-0 victory over rival St. Charles North
in the first of the two matches played in the Tri-Cities Night doubleheader.
"In the two games I've had a pretty good performance with five goals and three assists," said Giansanti, the Chicagoland Soccer Man
of the Match. "As we got a formation change and fixed our mindset, our team has started to come together. We started putting more in the middle … with two up-top and having less wide players.
"Having three in the back and having our two wing backs giving us the width with our two up-top, has been crucial for us to put those goals in the net. It was awesome to beat our rival Batavia because last year we had pretty rough games against them and tied them twice. So, it was a good comeback game for us, especially on Tri-Cities Night.
"I like how when each of us are down, we lift each other’s head up, and we always want the best for each other and are always positive. So that's what really brought us into a good mindset at the beginning of the game and how we ended it."
Geneva scored nine goals in its first 12 matches. It’s previous high in goals in a game was two, which it produced in wins over Oswego and Wheaton Warrenville South and in a loss to Benet. The Vikings scored just once in the four matches preceding their recent 10-goal outburst.
"Saturday when we played Bartlett, we got off to a quick start as well. Today, we had two goals in the first 10 minutes," Vikings coach Jason Bhatta said. "In the first half of the year, we weren't taking
our chances. But if we take our chances, we have goal scorers like Chris (Diaz) and Trent. They can score goals, and they're coming into form now.
"It definitely helps if you can get early goals and kind of knock them in the face and let the defense take care of the game from there. It's confidence, and they just have more confidence.
“We knew that we were good in the first half of the season but now we're a different team. We have a little more solidarity in the back, and we're putting away chances now. I told them if we can get a nice run in the last six games and keep the momentum going into the playoffs, that's the time to get hot.
"So hopefully we just keep that going and getting the results. Tonight I'm happy since it was Tri-Cities Night. It was fun."
Giansanti started the scoring in the third minute when he headed in a ball following a pass from senior Ryan Leake. After Vikings sophomore
keeper Hayden Vostal stopped an attempt from Batavia’s Alec Crum, junior Grant Havertine sent a pass inside to Giansanti who put his team up 2-0 in
the ninth minute.
There weren't a lot of great opportunities over the next 20 minutes. Senior co-captain Braeden McPheron sent in a long free kick for the visitors before Brody Seitzinger countered with a pair of good chances for the hosts.
In the 37th minute, Giansanti completed his hat-trick when he scored from about 10 yards off a pass from senior co-captain Chris Diaz.
Batavia threatened again as the opening half entered its final minutes. Josh Denault and Luke Petersen both had sent shots toward the net. But a foul in the box with three seconds left before the break led to the hosts only score. Senior co-captain Ryan Kahley fired in the penalty to make it 3-1.
"We've marked up well all year, but we just didn't do it tonight," Bulldogs coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "Other teams maybe didn't make us pay, but they made us pay every time that we didn't mark up.
"It's just communication and not ball-watching and stuff like that, and they made us pay every time on it. You have those games, and you move forward, that's all that you can do. They played well."
Geneva was back at it to start the final half with Diaz sending in a pair of dangerous tries and Nathan Branstad and Giansanti also applying pressure.
Geneva concluded the scoring in the 54th minute when Clayton Williams sent a throw-in into the box and McPheron was there to put it away.
"Last year we tied them twice so we knew that we had to get something this year right away, because we didn't want to tie them again," McPheron said.
“We wanted this win badly. We had to keep up the tempo that we were going, and we did that. What we've been doing in the past few games has really helped.
"I feel like the formation change that we had has really helped us and just the way that we've been able to build with each other. Before we were just
kind of doing kick and run and now we're actually possessing. I like our persistence and how we don't give up and keep going. That's the best thing about this team."
The squads return to play again on Thursday. Geneva hosts East Aurora in a nonconference match, while Batavia plays at Lake Park in conference action.
Starting lineups
Geneva
G Hayden Vostal
D Braeden McPheron
D Grant Havertine
D Colin Hasty
M Clayton Williams
M Nathan Branstad
M Ryan Leake
M Billy Grossklag
M Aiden Leonard
F Chris Diaz
F Trent Giansanti
Batavia
G Ryan Horlock
D Grant LeRette-Kauffman
D Brody Seitzinger
D Quinn Salyers
D Owen Stahl
M Will Bardol
M Ben Hanson
M Ryan Kahley
M Alec Crum
F Josh Denault
F Mana Monarrez
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trent Giansanti, so., F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
G: Giansanti (Leake), 3rd minute
G: Giansanti (Havertine), 9th minute
G: Giansanti (Diaz), 37th minute
B: Kahley (PK), 40th minute
Second half
G: McPheron (unassisted), 54th minute