Geneva comes up short vs. Plainfield East
Vikings season ends after 3-2 loss in valiant comeback effort
By Gary Larsen
GENEVA -- Disappointment was stamped clearly on the face of Geneva’s Colin Fromm after his Vikings’ season-ending 3-2 regional quarterfinal loss to Plainfield East on Saturday. And for anyone curious about what high school sports can mean to a teen-aged athlete, Fromm had an answer.
“Everything,” Fromm said. “I played here for four years, and I loved every minute of it.”
Plainfield East advanced to a regional semifinal against West Aurora at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bolingbrook High School.
By seeding, Saturday’s game was an upset. Plainfield East was seeded no. 18 while Geneva was the no. 14 seed of the Geneva Sectional.
“I think Geneva was kind of surprised with us. We were very disciplined,” Plainfield East coach Cosimo Patano said. “I’ve seen them play, and they’re a very good team.
Luckily we were able to score early on and manage the game from there.”
The Bengals benefited from an early own-goal by Geneva. Plainfield East’s Mateusz Sak was credited with the goal as a spirited Plainfield East attack struck first.
“(Patano) told us to go at them right off the bat, no hesitation,” Sak said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. It’s do-or-die, so we just had to give it our all.”
The Bengals went up 2-0 on a Charlie Stutler goal and the lead held to halftime. Patano was pleased with the way his side came out to play.
“They had some spark,” Patano said. “We were winning every first and second ball. And the activity off the ball is what I’ve been stressing: movement; pass; support the play. They responded well.”
Geneva knew it was in a tough spot.
“Going down 2-0 is always hard, especially in such a big game,” Fromm said. “But we didn’t give up.”
Plainfield East’s offsides trap worked to perfection through the first 40 minutes, and Geneva fell into a pattern of playing long balls. At halftime, coach Jason Bhatta had a simple message.
“I just told them to try to get back to us playing like we can play,” Bhatta said. “Let’s move the ball around, and chances will come. Then we had to move guys up, and we threw numbers at it, which worked. We definitely had chances at it.”
You can’t teach guts but if you could, Geneva’s second half effort provided an honors class. Bhatta added a third forward after intermission and his boys responded.
Fromm streaked up the left side and centered a pass that Alex Marquardt sent wide at 45 minutes, and one minute later Geneva’s Daniel Belzer couldn’t quite get a foot on a deflection near the goalmouth.
Plainfield East keeper Ryan Sidman came well off his line at 47 minutes and Geneva’s Josh Eiss took a ball around him on the left side with a defender in hot pursuit, but Eiss sent his shot wide of an empty net.
Eiss and Ethan Hipp sent a pair of shots wide to 51 minutes. When Fromm fired from 12 yards past Sidman, Plainfield East’s Oscar Cruz cleared it off the goal line.
In a 10-minute span after halftime, Geneva threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Plainfield East but came up empty.
“We switched up our formation and came back and really fought,” Fromm said. “We talked at halftime about the fact that we could come back and beat this team. We needed to keep working and not give up. That was the main thing.”
Sidman settled in, consistently and aggressively charging out to cut off potential danger from there. Through the game’s next 15 minutes, Sidman saved a Marquardt offering, and both Belzer and Sak sent shots just wide.
Plainfield East went up 3-0 at 68 minutes on a Tyler Pearson goal set up by a Colin Nicoski corner kick.
“We found that third goal, and I thought the game would be sealed,” Patano said.
It wasn’t. Geneva continued to fight the good fight. The Vikings made it 3-1 at 72 minutes when Fromm was tripped in the box and converted a penalty kick.
Another trip in the box at 76 minutes saw Geneva’s Jack Belloli bury another penalty kick to make it a one-goal game.
“They should be proud because they never stopped fighting,” Bhatta said of his team. “Even after their third goal, we didn’t give up.”
The game’s final four minutes were wild and intense. Eiss sent the game’s final quality chance wide of frame at 79 minutes. In the end, Plainfield Central fought through for the win.
“Our seniors stepped up — Colin Nicoski, Oscar Cruz, Mateusz Sak. Those players took the initiative and rolled up their sleeves,” Patano said. “The boys kept their cool, stayed disciplined, and it was an exciting game to watch.”
Plainfield East earned a shot at third-seeded West Aurora.
“I heard that they’re good,” Sak said of West Aurora. “We’ll have to show up like we did today. And anything is possible.”
Bhatta will bid farewell to 10 seniors, including tri-captains Fromm, Belloli, and Joel Peruba.
“The three of them was a good mix,” Bhatta said. “Joel was the glue in the team, getting guys together and keeping the energy up. Jack is just what you think of in a leader: stoic; able to rally the troops; a rock that guys can depend on.”
Fromm was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his effort in his final game in a Geneva uniform.
“Colin just busted hit butt, every game,” Bhatta said. “He worked so hard. He was the example of how to work hard. He played maybe 70 minutes every single game, and he was always willing to put the work in.”
Geneva will also say goodbye to seniors Belzer, Chris Morales, Brandt Miller, Will Lew, Charlie Peterson, Grant Giansanti, and Tom Lotspeich.
Two minutes into Saturday's second half, Lew slipped on the track at Geneva and landed on his back. Paramedics were called and Lew eventually rose to his feet and got into an ambulance under his own power. Play resumed after a 20-minute delay.
Lew was snakebit in his senior year. He broke his ankle in the preseason and was out for ten weeks. He returned for Geneva’s final three games of the season.
“Losing Will was huge,” Bhatta said. “He would have been a starting center back for us so that was a key loss, right at the start of the year.”
Hipp will return to lead a solid core from the Class of 2020 that includes Eiss, Marquardt, Mark Migliazzo, and Stuart Turnbull. A pair of sophomores who started on Saturday, Evan Horvath and Jack Cannon, will also return.
“We’ve got a good young group that got good experience -- a couple sophomores and a big junior class,” Bhatta said. “So we’ll be excited to get back and put in the work next year.”
Fromm’s answer was short and to the point, when asked what advice he would leave next year’s Vikings as he departs the program.
“Never give up,” Fromm said. “Always fight.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield East
GK: Ryan Sidman
D: Tyler Pearson
D: Jason Mennett
D: Oscar Cruz
D: Colin Nicoski
MF: Andrew Dennis
MF: Ricardo Medina
MF: Alan Saldivar
MF: Mateusz Sak
F: Abel Godinez
F: Jacob Majovski
Geneva
GK: Chris Morales
D: Evan Horvath
D: Will Lew
D: Jack Cannon
D: Stuart Turnbull
MF: Jack Belloli
MF: Alex Marquardt
MF: Brandt Miller
MF: Josh Eiss
F: Ethan Hipp
F: Colin Fromm
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Colin Fromm, sr., F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
Plainfield East - Sak (UA-own goal)
Plainfield East - Stutler (UA)
Second half
Plainfield East - Pearson (Nicoski)
Geneva - Fromm (PK)
Geneva - Belloli (PK)
Vikings season ends after 3-2 loss in valiant comeback effort
By Gary Larsen
GENEVA -- Disappointment was stamped clearly on the face of Geneva’s Colin Fromm after his Vikings’ season-ending 3-2 regional quarterfinal loss to Plainfield East on Saturday. And for anyone curious about what high school sports can mean to a teen-aged athlete, Fromm had an answer.
“Everything,” Fromm said. “I played here for four years, and I loved every minute of it.”
Plainfield East advanced to a regional semifinal against West Aurora at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bolingbrook High School.
By seeding, Saturday’s game was an upset. Plainfield East was seeded no. 18 while Geneva was the no. 14 seed of the Geneva Sectional.
“I think Geneva was kind of surprised with us. We were very disciplined,” Plainfield East coach Cosimo Patano said. “I’ve seen them play, and they’re a very good team.
Luckily we were able to score early on and manage the game from there.”
The Bengals benefited from an early own-goal by Geneva. Plainfield East’s Mateusz Sak was credited with the goal as a spirited Plainfield East attack struck first.
“(Patano) told us to go at them right off the bat, no hesitation,” Sak said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. It’s do-or-die, so we just had to give it our all.”
The Bengals went up 2-0 on a Charlie Stutler goal and the lead held to halftime. Patano was pleased with the way his side came out to play.
“They had some spark,” Patano said. “We were winning every first and second ball. And the activity off the ball is what I’ve been stressing: movement; pass; support the play. They responded well.”
Geneva knew it was in a tough spot.
“Going down 2-0 is always hard, especially in such a big game,” Fromm said. “But we didn’t give up.”
Plainfield East’s offsides trap worked to perfection through the first 40 minutes, and Geneva fell into a pattern of playing long balls. At halftime, coach Jason Bhatta had a simple message.
“I just told them to try to get back to us playing like we can play,” Bhatta said. “Let’s move the ball around, and chances will come. Then we had to move guys up, and we threw numbers at it, which worked. We definitely had chances at it.”
You can’t teach guts but if you could, Geneva’s second half effort provided an honors class. Bhatta added a third forward after intermission and his boys responded.
Fromm streaked up the left side and centered a pass that Alex Marquardt sent wide at 45 minutes, and one minute later Geneva’s Daniel Belzer couldn’t quite get a foot on a deflection near the goalmouth.
Plainfield East keeper Ryan Sidman came well off his line at 47 minutes and Geneva’s Josh Eiss took a ball around him on the left side with a defender in hot pursuit, but Eiss sent his shot wide of an empty net.
Eiss and Ethan Hipp sent a pair of shots wide to 51 minutes. When Fromm fired from 12 yards past Sidman, Plainfield East’s Oscar Cruz cleared it off the goal line.
In a 10-minute span after halftime, Geneva threw the proverbial kitchen sink at Plainfield East but came up empty.
“We switched up our formation and came back and really fought,” Fromm said. “We talked at halftime about the fact that we could come back and beat this team. We needed to keep working and not give up. That was the main thing.”
Sidman settled in, consistently and aggressively charging out to cut off potential danger from there. Through the game’s next 15 minutes, Sidman saved a Marquardt offering, and both Belzer and Sak sent shots just wide.
Plainfield East went up 3-0 at 68 minutes on a Tyler Pearson goal set up by a Colin Nicoski corner kick.
“We found that third goal, and I thought the game would be sealed,” Patano said.
It wasn’t. Geneva continued to fight the good fight. The Vikings made it 3-1 at 72 minutes when Fromm was tripped in the box and converted a penalty kick.
Another trip in the box at 76 minutes saw Geneva’s Jack Belloli bury another penalty kick to make it a one-goal game.
“They should be proud because they never stopped fighting,” Bhatta said of his team. “Even after their third goal, we didn’t give up.”
The game’s final four minutes were wild and intense. Eiss sent the game’s final quality chance wide of frame at 79 minutes. In the end, Plainfield Central fought through for the win.
“Our seniors stepped up — Colin Nicoski, Oscar Cruz, Mateusz Sak. Those players took the initiative and rolled up their sleeves,” Patano said. “The boys kept their cool, stayed disciplined, and it was an exciting game to watch.”
Plainfield East earned a shot at third-seeded West Aurora.
“I heard that they’re good,” Sak said of West Aurora. “We’ll have to show up like we did today. And anything is possible.”
Bhatta will bid farewell to 10 seniors, including tri-captains Fromm, Belloli, and Joel Peruba.
“The three of them was a good mix,” Bhatta said. “Joel was the glue in the team, getting guys together and keeping the energy up. Jack is just what you think of in a leader: stoic; able to rally the troops; a rock that guys can depend on.”
Fromm was named Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match for his effort in his final game in a Geneva uniform.
“Colin just busted hit butt, every game,” Bhatta said. “He worked so hard. He was the example of how to work hard. He played maybe 70 minutes every single game, and he was always willing to put the work in.”
Geneva will also say goodbye to seniors Belzer, Chris Morales, Brandt Miller, Will Lew, Charlie Peterson, Grant Giansanti, and Tom Lotspeich.
Two minutes into Saturday's second half, Lew slipped on the track at Geneva and landed on his back. Paramedics were called and Lew eventually rose to his feet and got into an ambulance under his own power. Play resumed after a 20-minute delay.
Lew was snakebit in his senior year. He broke his ankle in the preseason and was out for ten weeks. He returned for Geneva’s final three games of the season.
“Losing Will was huge,” Bhatta said. “He would have been a starting center back for us so that was a key loss, right at the start of the year.”
Hipp will return to lead a solid core from the Class of 2020 that includes Eiss, Marquardt, Mark Migliazzo, and Stuart Turnbull. A pair of sophomores who started on Saturday, Evan Horvath and Jack Cannon, will also return.
“We’ve got a good young group that got good experience -- a couple sophomores and a big junior class,” Bhatta said. “So we’ll be excited to get back and put in the work next year.”
Fromm’s answer was short and to the point, when asked what advice he would leave next year’s Vikings as he departs the program.
“Never give up,” Fromm said. “Always fight.”
Starting lineups
Plainfield East
GK: Ryan Sidman
D: Tyler Pearson
D: Jason Mennett
D: Oscar Cruz
D: Colin Nicoski
MF: Andrew Dennis
MF: Ricardo Medina
MF: Alan Saldivar
MF: Mateusz Sak
F: Abel Godinez
F: Jacob Majovski
Geneva
GK: Chris Morales
D: Evan Horvath
D: Will Lew
D: Jack Cannon
D: Stuart Turnbull
MF: Jack Belloli
MF: Alex Marquardt
MF: Brandt Miller
MF: Josh Eiss
F: Ethan Hipp
F: Colin Fromm
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Colin Fromm, sr., F, Geneva
Scoring summary
First half
Plainfield East - Sak (UA-own goal)
Plainfield East - Stutler (UA)
Second half
Plainfield East - Pearson (Nicoski)
Geneva - Fromm (PK)
Geneva - Belloli (PK)