Geneva, South Elgin not cowed in draw
Host Storm have winning goal waved off in frantic final minutes
By Jared Birchfield
SOUTH ELGIN -- From the press box, there is a commanding view of a farm on the east side of South Elgin’s stadium. A pasture dotted with Holsteins is the most prominent feature.
The tranquil view of cattle grazing was quite a contrast to the frantic activity on the pitch in the waning minutes of Saturday’s nonconference match between the Storm and Geneva as the squads tried to break a 1-1 deadlock.
South Elgin thought it had taken the lead after Lucas McMillian hit paydirt after a feed from Kendall Andrewin with 1:49 left on the scoreboard. But the officials waived off the goal due to an offsides call.
With 30 ticks left on the clock, Geneva’s Genel Jaffer took a shot on goal that was save by Storm goalkeeper Luke Bondi (five saves).
As a result, the result was a 1-1 draw.
South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron was not completely convinced of the offsides call.
“I’m anxious to watch the videos,” the Storm coach said. “As soon as I get in my car, I’m going to double check.”
South Elgin scored first at the 24:13 mark of the first half. Andrewin booted the ball in from 20 yards on the right side of the goal.
“Ethan Diem got the ball. He kind of held the ball up, and I saw a chance to make a near-post run,” Andrewin said “He found me, and I was able to score on the cross.”
Andrewin’s goal and near-miss assist earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
The Storm’s lead held up until the 46th minute, when Ben Schuemer was fouled in the penalty box. Afterward Trent Giansanti’s penalty kick was twice as nice as normal. The junior had to retake the shot. His first attempt, which was good, was nullified when the referee realized the clock, which should had been stopped, was running. Giasanti’s do-over was dead-on.
“Obviously, it was kind of annoying. The ref blew his whistle, I kicked it in, and he called it back,” Giansanti said. “Something like that messes with your mind. I had to repick how I was going to hit it. I stayed composed, and luckily it went in.”
Geneva (4-1-7) controlled the run of play throughout the contest.
“It wasn’t good enough today. We gave them one chance they got a goal. We gave them one more chance in the second half, and they almost scored a goal,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said.
“You can’t control the game for 99% of the time and give away two chances. We got bailed out on an offsides call.”
The decision was the seventh draw for Geneva.
“We’ve had too many draws this year. We had clear control of the game, we had chances on the
goal line,” said Bhatta. “But we’re not desperate enough for goals, and if you’re not desperate enough for goals it’s hard to get them.”
Giasanti agreed the Vikings need to work on scoring.
“This game obviously wasn’t the result that we wanted. We’ve had seven ties and most of them should have been wins,” the junior said. “We’ve been having trouble putting some in the net.
“We’re going to continue to practice and work hard as a team to get our results.”
Skowron also was not pleased with a tie for his team.
“We should have won. It felt like a loss, unfortunately. It was the tale of two halves. We’ve done this way too many times this year and it’s part of the reason why we’re 1-6-3 now,” the Storm coach said. “If you take away 15 or 20 minutes of each game we have played, we could very easily be 9-1 right now.
“The only team that, for 80 minutes beat us was Oswego. We’re just trying to find ways to identify the mental blockages get rid of them and get it out of our DNA,” he continued.
“Hopefully, we can rectify all those issues and start putting up Ws.”
Andrewin agreed that inconsistent play hurt the Storm.
“I think we had a good start to the second half. We could have closed out the game. We just needed to play the same way we played in the first half,” the senior said. “That’s kind of been the issue in the past few matches. We just either start well and end poorly or we start poorly and end well.”
Even the second half return of one of South Elgin’s four absent starters did not reverse the Storm’s fortunes.
“We didn’t have Justin (Defensor) to start, because he was going through his confirmation. We had three other guys being confirmed today. Justin still showed up for the second half. We put him in, and we were completely different,” Skowron said.
“But the way we were playing that second half, we went away from all the strengths that Justin could do for us. Still with all those inefficiencies, we had a chance to win.”
Bhatta was pleased with the Geneva defense.
“The defense did fine except for two errors. They won a lot of balls out of the air, and they kept the pressure on their half for 98% of the game,” he said. “I thought Ryan Marquardt did well. He was our wingback. He played well getting forward for us.
“We got a penalty kick which helped. That was Ben (Schuemer) another wingback.”
Skowron thought his team benefitted from the addition of a new name on the Storm roster.
“The midfield was solid. We pulled up Pablo (Correa), a freshman. This is the second game with us. He did a fantastic job,” the Storm coach said. “Guido Gonzalez-Ortiz played well too. He’s always very solid for us.”
The South Elgin head sees a lot of potential in the offense when it gets on track.
“We’ve got some dynamic players on offense. Ryan Nguyen and guys like Kendall (Andrewin), and Ethan Diem have done a lot of good things for us,” Skowron said. “Ryan is probably one of
the most talented attacking players in the area. We just can’t seem to get him on the scoreboard.
“When we’re scoring one goal a game it’s not going to help him get recognized, but we’re getting there. We’re putting the pieces together.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Matt Towler
D: Carter Konkey
D: Colin Hasty
D: Ben Schuemer
D: Luke Easter
M: Nathan Branstad
M: Peyton Friedman
M: Gabe Boivin
M: Bennet Nippert
F: Trent Giansanti
F: Genel Jaffer
South Elgin
GK: Luke Bondi
D: Vito DiVietro
D: Jose Oritz-Gavina
D: Johan Stueck
D: Robert Pawlik
M: Brandon Pina
M: Quentin Albert
M: Guido Gonzalez-Ortiz
M: Pablo Correa
F: Kendall Andrewin
F: Yahir Carrillo
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Kendall Andrewin, sr., MF, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
SE: Kendall Andrewin (Ethan Scholl) 16’
Second half
G: Trent Giansanti (PK) 46’
Host Storm have winning goal waved off in frantic final minutes
By Jared Birchfield
SOUTH ELGIN -- From the press box, there is a commanding view of a farm on the east side of South Elgin’s stadium. A pasture dotted with Holsteins is the most prominent feature.
The tranquil view of cattle grazing was quite a contrast to the frantic activity on the pitch in the waning minutes of Saturday’s nonconference match between the Storm and Geneva as the squads tried to break a 1-1 deadlock.
South Elgin thought it had taken the lead after Lucas McMillian hit paydirt after a feed from Kendall Andrewin with 1:49 left on the scoreboard. But the officials waived off the goal due to an offsides call.
With 30 ticks left on the clock, Geneva’s Genel Jaffer took a shot on goal that was save by Storm goalkeeper Luke Bondi (five saves).
As a result, the result was a 1-1 draw.
South Elgin coach Jerzy Skowron was not completely convinced of the offsides call.
“I’m anxious to watch the videos,” the Storm coach said. “As soon as I get in my car, I’m going to double check.”
South Elgin scored first at the 24:13 mark of the first half. Andrewin booted the ball in from 20 yards on the right side of the goal.
“Ethan Diem got the ball. He kind of held the ball up, and I saw a chance to make a near-post run,” Andrewin said “He found me, and I was able to score on the cross.”
Andrewin’s goal and near-miss assist earned Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honors.
The Storm’s lead held up until the 46th minute, when Ben Schuemer was fouled in the penalty box. Afterward Trent Giansanti’s penalty kick was twice as nice as normal. The junior had to retake the shot. His first attempt, which was good, was nullified when the referee realized the clock, which should had been stopped, was running. Giasanti’s do-over was dead-on.
“Obviously, it was kind of annoying. The ref blew his whistle, I kicked it in, and he called it back,” Giansanti said. “Something like that messes with your mind. I had to repick how I was going to hit it. I stayed composed, and luckily it went in.”
Geneva (4-1-7) controlled the run of play throughout the contest.
“It wasn’t good enough today. We gave them one chance they got a goal. We gave them one more chance in the second half, and they almost scored a goal,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said.
“You can’t control the game for 99% of the time and give away two chances. We got bailed out on an offsides call.”
The decision was the seventh draw for Geneva.
“We’ve had too many draws this year. We had clear control of the game, we had chances on the
goal line,” said Bhatta. “But we’re not desperate enough for goals, and if you’re not desperate enough for goals it’s hard to get them.”
Giasanti agreed the Vikings need to work on scoring.
“This game obviously wasn’t the result that we wanted. We’ve had seven ties and most of them should have been wins,” the junior said. “We’ve been having trouble putting some in the net.
“We’re going to continue to practice and work hard as a team to get our results.”
Skowron also was not pleased with a tie for his team.
“We should have won. It felt like a loss, unfortunately. It was the tale of two halves. We’ve done this way too many times this year and it’s part of the reason why we’re 1-6-3 now,” the Storm coach said. “If you take away 15 or 20 minutes of each game we have played, we could very easily be 9-1 right now.
“The only team that, for 80 minutes beat us was Oswego. We’re just trying to find ways to identify the mental blockages get rid of them and get it out of our DNA,” he continued.
“Hopefully, we can rectify all those issues and start putting up Ws.”
Andrewin agreed that inconsistent play hurt the Storm.
“I think we had a good start to the second half. We could have closed out the game. We just needed to play the same way we played in the first half,” the senior said. “That’s kind of been the issue in the past few matches. We just either start well and end poorly or we start poorly and end well.”
Even the second half return of one of South Elgin’s four absent starters did not reverse the Storm’s fortunes.
“We didn’t have Justin (Defensor) to start, because he was going through his confirmation. We had three other guys being confirmed today. Justin still showed up for the second half. We put him in, and we were completely different,” Skowron said.
“But the way we were playing that second half, we went away from all the strengths that Justin could do for us. Still with all those inefficiencies, we had a chance to win.”
Bhatta was pleased with the Geneva defense.
“The defense did fine except for two errors. They won a lot of balls out of the air, and they kept the pressure on their half for 98% of the game,” he said. “I thought Ryan Marquardt did well. He was our wingback. He played well getting forward for us.
“We got a penalty kick which helped. That was Ben (Schuemer) another wingback.”
Skowron thought his team benefitted from the addition of a new name on the Storm roster.
“The midfield was solid. We pulled up Pablo (Correa), a freshman. This is the second game with us. He did a fantastic job,” the Storm coach said. “Guido Gonzalez-Ortiz played well too. He’s always very solid for us.”
The South Elgin head sees a lot of potential in the offense when it gets on track.
“We’ve got some dynamic players on offense. Ryan Nguyen and guys like Kendall (Andrewin), and Ethan Diem have done a lot of good things for us,” Skowron said. “Ryan is probably one of
the most talented attacking players in the area. We just can’t seem to get him on the scoreboard.
“When we’re scoring one goal a game it’s not going to help him get recognized, but we’re getting there. We’re putting the pieces together.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK: Matt Towler
D: Carter Konkey
D: Colin Hasty
D: Ben Schuemer
D: Luke Easter
M: Nathan Branstad
M: Peyton Friedman
M: Gabe Boivin
M: Bennet Nippert
F: Trent Giansanti
F: Genel Jaffer
South Elgin
GK: Luke Bondi
D: Vito DiVietro
D: Jose Oritz-Gavina
D: Johan Stueck
D: Robert Pawlik
M: Brandon Pina
M: Quentin Albert
M: Guido Gonzalez-Ortiz
M: Pablo Correa
F: Kendall Andrewin
F: Yahir Carrillo
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match:
Kendall Andrewin, sr., MF, South Elgin
Scoring summary
First half
SE: Kendall Andrewin (Ethan Scholl) 16’
Second half
G: Trent Giansanti (PK) 46’