Déjà vu for Geneva, SCE in DuKane draw
Vikings, Fighting Saints settle for 2-2 tie
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – Thursday was unofficially Bounce Back Night at Norris Stadium as host St. Charles East and visiting Geneva were both looking to rebound from tough DuKane Conference losses Tuesday.
The Fighting Saints bounced back with a strong first half to jump to a 2-0 lead, but Geneva bounced back in the second half and scored twice so the teams went home with a 2-2 tie and mixed feelings.
Coincidentally, the teams also tied 2-2 when they last played on Oct. 10, 2019.
“It was good to see them bounce back,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “Even down 2-0 it helped that we had some chances early, that we knew that we could get at them a little bit. Then we knew we would have the wind in the second half. So credit to the boys for having a good response, and not just from Tuesday, but from going down 2-0 and being willing to fight it out.”
Geneva (2-1-2, 2-1-1), ranked 20th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, tied the game for the final time with 27:40 remaining. After the Saints failed to clear, and the ball ended up at the feet of freshman Trent Giansanti. Realizing that the gift of the loose ball was his for the taking, Giansanti scored what Bhatti hopes is the first of many goals that the newcomer will score for the Vikings, especially since is just the start for the youngster who could easily pass for a senior by his size and demeanor.
“He’s got an exciting four years hopefully,” Bhatta said. “We’ll see where he goes from here. It’s a good start.”
Those who have watched enough high school soccer games have inevitably seen kids react impatiently and struggle with their poise when afforded with key scoring opportunities or when being asked to step up and make a crucial play with the game on the line. How many times has an aggressive offensive threat hurried a shot and skied it so high that the goalkeeper looks more like a baseball outfielder?
When Giansanti suddenly was given possession, he saw his chance and pounced on it. For netting the game-tying goal on his first score as a Viking, Giansanti was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I was kind of confused in the moment, because it all went by really fast,” he said. “I saw one of the defenders had a bad touch, so I just took it as an advantage and hit it. I didn’t really look at the net and lucky for me it went in. We’ll take it for the team.”
Previously, Geneva cut its deficit in half when St. Charles East goalkeeper Jordan Rolan pushed a long ball from going out, but it ended up in the path of Diaz, who made it a 2-1 game with 35:12 still left to play.
“2-0 is the worst lead in soccer, that’s the cliché, so I said to them to just worry about getting the first one, don’t worry about getting two,” Bhatta said. “Just worry about the first one and then we get some momentum and we keep going. Credit to them. It was definitely a better response than Tuesday so hopefully we can build on that. This week is tough. We’ve got Naperville North (which suffered its first loss, a 2-1 decision to Wheaton Academy on Thursday) on Saturday. So we’ll try to build on this and keep building.”
The Vikings lost energy and stopped playing in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to St. Charles North according to Bhatta. The fourth-year head coach got the kind of response he was looking for from his lads after giving up four-unanswered goals in the aforementioned loss.
“I told them that all I’m looking for is a response from Tuesday because Tuesday we didn’t even go down in that game, and we gave up,’ he said. “After (the North Stars) tied the game at 1-1 the energy just shut off, and I said that wasn’t acceptable.”
Diaz said that “after a devastating loss against North, this was a huge bounce back and gave us the confidence that we need to look forward to for our next games.”
On Thursday, the Vikings looked forward to having the wind at their backs in the second half, and it paid off as the conditions played a significant factor.
“In the first half we had some chances with the wind against us,” Diaz said. “Coming into the second half we knew we’d have to take advantage of the wind. We knew what we had to do to get the result we were looking for, and didn’t get the result we were looking for unfortunately, but we got the tie. Against the wind we were attacking the goal and forcing them to make mistakes and couldn’t capitalize on those, but we look forward to our next game and the next opportunity we have.”
St. Charles East (3-1-0, 2-1-0), ranked No. 6 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 poll, appeared to bounce back nicely from Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South after 40 minutes.
“After we scored that second one I don’t think we got complacent,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “In that scenario that first goal (from Diaz) changed the momentum of the game.”
While the Saints are extremely talented, they’ve got areas on the field where varsity experience is lacking, and in a truncated season like this one, and one in which the Saints are playing arguably as busy a schedule as any soccer team in the state, they recognize the kind of challenges that lie ahead. They also know the target remains on their backs after last year’s 18-2-3 season. Therefore without a doubt, DiNuzzo is looking for a few of his kids to step up and take on leadership responsibilities.
“We need some leadership out there,” he said. “We need someone to get us going after a mistake, because when they’re making these obvious mistakes the kids are pointing out the mistakes, and it’s tough on these kids. So we need them to be leaders.”
Some credit deserves to go to the Vikings. They made a few big defensive plays in the first half that allowed them to remain within striking distance at just 2-nil at the break. Senior defender Jack Cannon protected the goal on one occasion with senior goalkeeper Cal Parise out and exposed. He booting a rolling ball that appeared destined to find the back of the net. Later, it was Parise diving to stop a ball with a lot of English on the artificial turf that looked like it was heading toward the opposite post with about a minute left before halftime.
“No excuses. We’ll just sort it out, and we’ll get to where we need to be,” DiNuzzo said. “We’re creating chances, and we’re just not finishing. I think that’s the bigger problem for us.”
Junior Sebastian Carranza and seniors Jake Maslowski, Sam Wade and Alex Mancera provide a seriously potent attack for the Saints -- they combined for 32 goals and 32 assists last season.
Carranza broke the ice for the Saints after lining in his shot from about 25 yards away for a 1-0 advantage at the 23:21 mark of the opening half.
One of the Saints’ missed opportunities followed shortly thereafter. Geneva sophomore Landon O’Donoghue cleaned up a dangerous situation with Parise exposed up high in the penalty area. O’Donoghue was able to boot the ball away and give the Vikings time to regroup and keep it at 1-0.
“We had a lot of chances that we missed out on. Defensively we just weren’t good enough, so it feels like a loss,” Wade said. “It kind of is.”
It remained 1-0 until Luca Avendano connected with 16:05 left before halftime. He gained possession from Sebastian Carranza.
“I think we did a good job of creating those chances, but we just couldn’t finish (all of) them,” Wade said. “I felt like we were carrying a lot of momentum going into the Wheaton Warrenville South game and then we just had a setback that we just really didn’t recover well from in this game. I don’t know. We have a lot of games every week so we have a lot of opportunities to come back.”
Despite losing the 2-0 lead, the Saints still had a great chance of pulling ahead and getting the game-winning goal with 20:19 left to play, but senior Gaetano D’Argento’s PK missed its mark.
One of the positives for the Saints was the opportunity it provided for some of its less experienced players to step up and perform in a big conference rivalry game. That included freshmen goalkeepers Tyler Benhart, who played the first half, and Rolan, who took over in the second half.
“We’re just going through some growing pains in the back with some young kids and once we sort that out, I’m very confident,” DiNuzzo said. “It’s a year that I’m not saying we’re preparing for next year, but trying to get some reps in for some kids who are going to be in some rough spots next year. Getting two freshmen 40 minutes each against Geneva is going to help them in the long-term. And sophomore (Elia Desario) and junior (Connor King) started at center back and never played together before now.”
And they’ll likely continue to learn on the job, so to speak.
“We get the Naperville Norths, the Benets, the Streamwoods, the teams that are challenging in the area,” DiNuzzo said. “But every time we step on the field we tell the kids that people circle St. Charles East (on the schedule). We saw it on Tuesday when we lost to Wheaton Warrenville South and credit to them, they got a great result.”
Senior Ryan Champine acknowledged that he and his fellow Saints still have a lot to learn, but one thing they already know is that playing as a team first delivers the best results in more ways than the win column.
“We still have a lot to learn, you know, so we’ll get back on the field and keep training, try to fix our mistakes and play out of the back simple and improve our chances,” he said. “We’re just trying to have fun as team. When together, we’re together; and we’re there for each other playing together as a team.”
Who will lead the Saints these next few weeks?
“After missing some chances we brought out heads down and it went down from there,” Champine said. “We need some leadership out there. We need to talk to bring each other together and pick up people and play together as a team.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Cal Parise
D: Grant Havertine
D: Jack Cannon
D: Clayton Williams
D: Evan Horvath
M: Joe Carli
M: Trent Giansanti
M: Dominick Peri
F: Dominik Barwiolek
F: Christian Diaz
F: Ryan Leake
St. Charles East
GK: Tyler Benhart
D: Aaron Frost
D: Ryan Champine
D: Elia Desario
D: Connor King
M: Luca Avendano
M: Alex Mancera
M: Gaetano D’Argento
F: Sebastian Carranza
F: Jake Maslowski
F: Sam Wade
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trent Giansanti, fr., M/F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Ryan Champine), 23:21
St. Charles East – Luca Avendano (Sebastian Carranza), 16:05
Second half
Geneva – Christian Diaz (U/A), 35:12
Geneva – Trent Giansanti (U/A), 27:40
Vikings, Fighting Saints settle for 2-2 tie
By Chris Walker
ST. CHARLES – Thursday was unofficially Bounce Back Night at Norris Stadium as host St. Charles East and visiting Geneva were both looking to rebound from tough DuKane Conference losses Tuesday.
The Fighting Saints bounced back with a strong first half to jump to a 2-0 lead, but Geneva bounced back in the second half and scored twice so the teams went home with a 2-2 tie and mixed feelings.
Coincidentally, the teams also tied 2-2 when they last played on Oct. 10, 2019.
“It was good to see them bounce back,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “Even down 2-0 it helped that we had some chances early, that we knew that we could get at them a little bit. Then we knew we would have the wind in the second half. So credit to the boys for having a good response, and not just from Tuesday, but from going down 2-0 and being willing to fight it out.”
Geneva (2-1-2, 2-1-1), ranked 20th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, tied the game for the final time with 27:40 remaining. After the Saints failed to clear, and the ball ended up at the feet of freshman Trent Giansanti. Realizing that the gift of the loose ball was his for the taking, Giansanti scored what Bhatti hopes is the first of many goals that the newcomer will score for the Vikings, especially since is just the start for the youngster who could easily pass for a senior by his size and demeanor.
“He’s got an exciting four years hopefully,” Bhatta said. “We’ll see where he goes from here. It’s a good start.”
Those who have watched enough high school soccer games have inevitably seen kids react impatiently and struggle with their poise when afforded with key scoring opportunities or when being asked to step up and make a crucial play with the game on the line. How many times has an aggressive offensive threat hurried a shot and skied it so high that the goalkeeper looks more like a baseball outfielder?
When Giansanti suddenly was given possession, he saw his chance and pounced on it. For netting the game-tying goal on his first score as a Viking, Giansanti was named the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match.
“I was kind of confused in the moment, because it all went by really fast,” he said. “I saw one of the defenders had a bad touch, so I just took it as an advantage and hit it. I didn’t really look at the net and lucky for me it went in. We’ll take it for the team.”
Previously, Geneva cut its deficit in half when St. Charles East goalkeeper Jordan Rolan pushed a long ball from going out, but it ended up in the path of Diaz, who made it a 2-1 game with 35:12 still left to play.
“2-0 is the worst lead in soccer, that’s the cliché, so I said to them to just worry about getting the first one, don’t worry about getting two,” Bhatta said. “Just worry about the first one and then we get some momentum and we keep going. Credit to them. It was definitely a better response than Tuesday so hopefully we can build on that. This week is tough. We’ve got Naperville North (which suffered its first loss, a 2-1 decision to Wheaton Academy on Thursday) on Saturday. So we’ll try to build on this and keep building.”
The Vikings lost energy and stopped playing in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to St. Charles North according to Bhatta. The fourth-year head coach got the kind of response he was looking for from his lads after giving up four-unanswered goals in the aforementioned loss.
“I told them that all I’m looking for is a response from Tuesday because Tuesday we didn’t even go down in that game, and we gave up,’ he said. “After (the North Stars) tied the game at 1-1 the energy just shut off, and I said that wasn’t acceptable.”
Diaz said that “after a devastating loss against North, this was a huge bounce back and gave us the confidence that we need to look forward to for our next games.”
On Thursday, the Vikings looked forward to having the wind at their backs in the second half, and it paid off as the conditions played a significant factor.
“In the first half we had some chances with the wind against us,” Diaz said. “Coming into the second half we knew we’d have to take advantage of the wind. We knew what we had to do to get the result we were looking for, and didn’t get the result we were looking for unfortunately, but we got the tie. Against the wind we were attacking the goal and forcing them to make mistakes and couldn’t capitalize on those, but we look forward to our next game and the next opportunity we have.”
St. Charles East (3-1-0, 2-1-0), ranked No. 6 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 poll, appeared to bounce back nicely from Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South after 40 minutes.
“After we scored that second one I don’t think we got complacent,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “In that scenario that first goal (from Diaz) changed the momentum of the game.”
While the Saints are extremely talented, they’ve got areas on the field where varsity experience is lacking, and in a truncated season like this one, and one in which the Saints are playing arguably as busy a schedule as any soccer team in the state, they recognize the kind of challenges that lie ahead. They also know the target remains on their backs after last year’s 18-2-3 season. Therefore without a doubt, DiNuzzo is looking for a few of his kids to step up and take on leadership responsibilities.
“We need some leadership out there,” he said. “We need someone to get us going after a mistake, because when they’re making these obvious mistakes the kids are pointing out the mistakes, and it’s tough on these kids. So we need them to be leaders.”
Some credit deserves to go to the Vikings. They made a few big defensive plays in the first half that allowed them to remain within striking distance at just 2-nil at the break. Senior defender Jack Cannon protected the goal on one occasion with senior goalkeeper Cal Parise out and exposed. He booting a rolling ball that appeared destined to find the back of the net. Later, it was Parise diving to stop a ball with a lot of English on the artificial turf that looked like it was heading toward the opposite post with about a minute left before halftime.
“No excuses. We’ll just sort it out, and we’ll get to where we need to be,” DiNuzzo said. “We’re creating chances, and we’re just not finishing. I think that’s the bigger problem for us.”
Junior Sebastian Carranza and seniors Jake Maslowski, Sam Wade and Alex Mancera provide a seriously potent attack for the Saints -- they combined for 32 goals and 32 assists last season.
Carranza broke the ice for the Saints after lining in his shot from about 25 yards away for a 1-0 advantage at the 23:21 mark of the opening half.
One of the Saints’ missed opportunities followed shortly thereafter. Geneva sophomore Landon O’Donoghue cleaned up a dangerous situation with Parise exposed up high in the penalty area. O’Donoghue was able to boot the ball away and give the Vikings time to regroup and keep it at 1-0.
“We had a lot of chances that we missed out on. Defensively we just weren’t good enough, so it feels like a loss,” Wade said. “It kind of is.”
It remained 1-0 until Luca Avendano connected with 16:05 left before halftime. He gained possession from Sebastian Carranza.
“I think we did a good job of creating those chances, but we just couldn’t finish (all of) them,” Wade said. “I felt like we were carrying a lot of momentum going into the Wheaton Warrenville South game and then we just had a setback that we just really didn’t recover well from in this game. I don’t know. We have a lot of games every week so we have a lot of opportunities to come back.”
Despite losing the 2-0 lead, the Saints still had a great chance of pulling ahead and getting the game-winning goal with 20:19 left to play, but senior Gaetano D’Argento’s PK missed its mark.
One of the positives for the Saints was the opportunity it provided for some of its less experienced players to step up and perform in a big conference rivalry game. That included freshmen goalkeepers Tyler Benhart, who played the first half, and Rolan, who took over in the second half.
“We’re just going through some growing pains in the back with some young kids and once we sort that out, I’m very confident,” DiNuzzo said. “It’s a year that I’m not saying we’re preparing for next year, but trying to get some reps in for some kids who are going to be in some rough spots next year. Getting two freshmen 40 minutes each against Geneva is going to help them in the long-term. And sophomore (Elia Desario) and junior (Connor King) started at center back and never played together before now.”
And they’ll likely continue to learn on the job, so to speak.
“We get the Naperville Norths, the Benets, the Streamwoods, the teams that are challenging in the area,” DiNuzzo said. “But every time we step on the field we tell the kids that people circle St. Charles East (on the schedule). We saw it on Tuesday when we lost to Wheaton Warrenville South and credit to them, they got a great result.”
Senior Ryan Champine acknowledged that he and his fellow Saints still have a lot to learn, but one thing they already know is that playing as a team first delivers the best results in more ways than the win column.
“We still have a lot to learn, you know, so we’ll get back on the field and keep training, try to fix our mistakes and play out of the back simple and improve our chances,” he said. “We’re just trying to have fun as team. When together, we’re together; and we’re there for each other playing together as a team.”
Who will lead the Saints these next few weeks?
“After missing some chances we brought out heads down and it went down from there,” Champine said. “We need some leadership out there. We need to talk to bring each other together and pick up people and play together as a team.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Cal Parise
D: Grant Havertine
D: Jack Cannon
D: Clayton Williams
D: Evan Horvath
M: Joe Carli
M: Trent Giansanti
M: Dominick Peri
F: Dominik Barwiolek
F: Christian Diaz
F: Ryan Leake
St. Charles East
GK: Tyler Benhart
D: Aaron Frost
D: Ryan Champine
D: Elia Desario
D: Connor King
M: Luca Avendano
M: Alex Mancera
M: Gaetano D’Argento
F: Sebastian Carranza
F: Jake Maslowski
F: Sam Wade
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Trent Giansanti, fr., M/F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
St. Charles East – Sebastian Carranza (Ryan Champine), 23:21
St. Charles East – Luca Avendano (Sebastian Carranza), 16:05
Second half
Geneva – Christian Diaz (U/A), 35:12
Geneva – Trent Giansanti (U/A), 27:40