SCE, Geneva provide
big highlights on Tri-Cities Night
DuKane leaders battle to 2-2 draw on festive, emotional night
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – In high school football, you play five home games a season if you’re lucky and only more if you’re better than lucky.
Basketball has premium evenings, particularly conference games on Fridays. Team gets a nice handful of those games each hoops season.
With baseball, teams get a lot of home games, but not many show up except for the players, coaches, parents, grandparents, maybe a girlfriend or two, and the occasional older gentleman who walks to each game and sits quietly to watch and relive his prep days.
That brings us to soccer. If you’ve been around the high school soccer scene you know that outside of an occasional big draw, generally a small but enthusiastic group of attendees are spread through the stands.
Thursday night at Burgess Field was one of rare big nights. And it was a special one.
As stated in the complimentary program, “Tri-Cities Night is a special event where the four Tri-City Soccer Programs get together for a good cause. Over the past few years, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, Geneva and Batavia have helped local families in need. This year is no different as Geneva will play host to a night that will raise money to help a player from Batavia, Kyle Nicely, and his family.”
Nicely, a junior forward, passed away due to an aneurysm Oct. 13.
“What happened to Kyle is a terrible thing and all our condolences go out to all of his friends and family,” Geneva senior Josh Eiss said. “It’s so great that all these Tri-Cities people come together to support them in a time like that. It’s great.”
Tri-Cities soccer is indeed a special thing.
“The whole area soccer thing these last four years of my life have been so amazing,” Eiss said. “It’s a bummer being my last home game at Burgess Field. I’m going to miss it. It’s been a really good experience these last four years, playing St. Charles and Batavia, all these great teams.”
With lots of students packed into the stands along with the usual parents and soccer supporters, Thursday night had rare big-night feel. A lot of people showed up to support the Nicely family and see two teams ranked in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 battle for ownership of the Fox trophy and try to leapfrog each other in the DuKane Conference race for first.
“Both teams came ready to play and it was just great competition with a great atmosphere,” Geneva senior Matthew Fuller said. “This was the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in by far, and it’s been great the whole season. Others sports teams and kids have come out and backed us. It’s been a great year.”
A physical battle was anticipated, and it was delivered.
“I was happy with how everyone played hard,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “The refs let us play. It made for a good, physical and intense game, and that’s all you can ask for in this game.”
No. 15 St. Charles East (14-1-3, 4-0-1) broke the scoreless battle with 13:11 to go in the first half. Alex Mancera delivered his first of a pair of assists on the night, and Brendan Adams finished for the 1-0 advantage.
Geneva received a big throw-in from Ethan Hipp in the final minute of the half and Eiss was able to use his speed to run it down and tie the game at 1-1 with 37 seconds left before halftime.
No. 25 Geneva (11-4-3, 4-1-1) took the lead on a play that St. Charles East believed their keeper Jack Settle had stopped. Fuller ran onto Settle and the ball and fired it into the back of the net with 33:46 to go in the game.
“I saw the ball and just had to chase it down,” Fuller said. “I was going to keep kicking that thing until the whistle blew.”
Fuller was pumped up.
“After he scored and came out he said it was some of the most fun he’s ever had,” Bhatta said.” A lot of good memories were made here tonight.”
Settle thought he had possession.
“I mean, they ruled that I didn’t have possession of the ball, but why would I have the ball against my chest like this,” Settle demonstrated. “It can’t be kicked out of my hands.”
Some teams can disagree with a call, and it signals the start of them falling apart. That wasn’t the case with these Saints who came right back to bury the equalizer from Jacob Maslowski just 48 seconds later. Mancera was somehow able to find his teammate in a crowded box populated by players in both uniform colors.
“You can’t let the officials impact how you play,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “Whether it was a good or bad call is neither here nor there. How they responded is what I’m looking for, and we’ve faced some adversity before.”
DiNuzzo turned to some of his younger players on the bench and explained.
“If that’s going to be your most disappointing call in your high school career, you have a long road ahead of you,” he said. “We’ve had plenty that could happen in a playoff game.”
Despite the call and settling for a draw, DiNuzzo praised Tri-Cities Night, and the overall competiveness of the DuKane Conference, which seems to have blossomed into a great conference in only its second year.
“This was a good experience, and that’s why I love this DuKane Conference,” he said. “You get these games against Geneva, (St. Charles) North and Batavia, the Wheatons have been great and Glenbard (North) and Lake Park.
“And we’re not done. We’ve still got Lake Park and Wheaton Warrenville South to play. We control our own destiny, which I love, but we’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got too many kids with nagging injuries so our focus has now got to be the playoffs.”
Geneva senior defender and captain Stuart Turnbull hobbled off the field prior to the Saints equalizer.
“They’re a very good team, and it was great to have that lead. Unfortunately I just got hurt right before their free kick, but there’s nothing you can do about that,” he said. “It’s tough to lose the lead, especially because we fought so hard for that.”
The Vikings were upset by Lake Park earlier in the week. Did they look too far ahead? Possibly, but earning wins against anyone in the DuKane are tough.
“I feel like we had a great bounce-back game,” Turnbull said. “It was a tough one (the loss), but Lake Park came out strong. Wwe came out strong today.”
Realizing that this was the final game at Burgess Field for him and his his senior teammates hit Turnbull hard. They are glad that their high school soccer experience is not finished.
“Obviously we knew this was going to be a tough game and huge for conference,” Turnbull said. “We did our best and hopefully we’ll get another shot at them in the playoffs. I think we have a great chance to do something special in the playoffs this year. It’s obviously sad being my last game here at Burgess, but we’ve got a good chance to make a good postseason run. So we’ll see what happens.”
Since 2009, the four Tri-Cities teams have battled for the traveling trophy, a statue of a Fox that the winner decorated in the school colors. The Saints thought they would maintain possession, but Geneva took the prize in a tiebreaker.
“Goals conceded was the tiebreaker, and we had less goals allowed,” Bhatta said. “Maybe we’ll postpone it and hopefully see them again in a sectional semifinal and then see who gets it.”
Bhatta acknowledged that Turnbull departing and the Saints scoring immediately after he left was unfortunate.
“I thought we had a lot of the run of the play throughout the game and unfortunately Stu went down with a knee injury,” he said. “And I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. A draw was probably a fair result with that one, and we just have to keep winning our games. We’ll see what happens.”
If both teams were to win their respective regionals they would meet in a St. Charles East Sectional semifinal on Oct. 29.
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK Jack Settle
D Ryan Champine
D Zach Gamster
D Geoff Unterberg
M Renato Avendano
M Brendan Adams
M Tyler Filbert
M Alex Mancera
M Sam Wade
F Sebastian Carranza
F Jake Maslowski
Geneva
GK Osten Lockner
D Jack Cannon
D Evan Horvath
D Braeden McPheron
D Stuart Turnbull
M Ethan Hipp
M Joe Carli
M Shun Yonehara
M Dominick Perl
F Christian Diaz
F Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Mancera, jr., MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
St. Charles East 2, Geneva 2
St. Charles East 1 1 – 2
Geneva 1 1 - 2
First half
St. Charles East – Brendan Adams (Alex Mancera) 13:11
Geneva – Josh Eiss (u/a) 0:37
Second half
Geneva – Matthew Fuller (u/a) 33:46
St. Charles East – Jake Maslowski (Alex Mancera) 32:58
big highlights on Tri-Cities Night
DuKane leaders battle to 2-2 draw on festive, emotional night
By Chris Walker
GENEVA – In high school football, you play five home games a season if you’re lucky and only more if you’re better than lucky.
Basketball has premium evenings, particularly conference games on Fridays. Team gets a nice handful of those games each hoops season.
With baseball, teams get a lot of home games, but not many show up except for the players, coaches, parents, grandparents, maybe a girlfriend or two, and the occasional older gentleman who walks to each game and sits quietly to watch and relive his prep days.
That brings us to soccer. If you’ve been around the high school soccer scene you know that outside of an occasional big draw, generally a small but enthusiastic group of attendees are spread through the stands.
Thursday night at Burgess Field was one of rare big nights. And it was a special one.
As stated in the complimentary program, “Tri-Cities Night is a special event where the four Tri-City Soccer Programs get together for a good cause. Over the past few years, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, Geneva and Batavia have helped local families in need. This year is no different as Geneva will play host to a night that will raise money to help a player from Batavia, Kyle Nicely, and his family.”
Nicely, a junior forward, passed away due to an aneurysm Oct. 13.
“What happened to Kyle is a terrible thing and all our condolences go out to all of his friends and family,” Geneva senior Josh Eiss said. “It’s so great that all these Tri-Cities people come together to support them in a time like that. It’s great.”
Tri-Cities soccer is indeed a special thing.
“The whole area soccer thing these last four years of my life have been so amazing,” Eiss said. “It’s a bummer being my last home game at Burgess Field. I’m going to miss it. It’s been a really good experience these last four years, playing St. Charles and Batavia, all these great teams.”
With lots of students packed into the stands along with the usual parents and soccer supporters, Thursday night had rare big-night feel. A lot of people showed up to support the Nicely family and see two teams ranked in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 battle for ownership of the Fox trophy and try to leapfrog each other in the DuKane Conference race for first.
“Both teams came ready to play and it was just great competition with a great atmosphere,” Geneva senior Matthew Fuller said. “This was the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in by far, and it’s been great the whole season. Others sports teams and kids have come out and backed us. It’s been a great year.”
A physical battle was anticipated, and it was delivered.
“I was happy with how everyone played hard,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “The refs let us play. It made for a good, physical and intense game, and that’s all you can ask for in this game.”
No. 15 St. Charles East (14-1-3, 4-0-1) broke the scoreless battle with 13:11 to go in the first half. Alex Mancera delivered his first of a pair of assists on the night, and Brendan Adams finished for the 1-0 advantage.
Geneva received a big throw-in from Ethan Hipp in the final minute of the half and Eiss was able to use his speed to run it down and tie the game at 1-1 with 37 seconds left before halftime.
No. 25 Geneva (11-4-3, 4-1-1) took the lead on a play that St. Charles East believed their keeper Jack Settle had stopped. Fuller ran onto Settle and the ball and fired it into the back of the net with 33:46 to go in the game.
“I saw the ball and just had to chase it down,” Fuller said. “I was going to keep kicking that thing until the whistle blew.”
Fuller was pumped up.
“After he scored and came out he said it was some of the most fun he’s ever had,” Bhatta said.” A lot of good memories were made here tonight.”
Settle thought he had possession.
“I mean, they ruled that I didn’t have possession of the ball, but why would I have the ball against my chest like this,” Settle demonstrated. “It can’t be kicked out of my hands.”
Some teams can disagree with a call, and it signals the start of them falling apart. That wasn’t the case with these Saints who came right back to bury the equalizer from Jacob Maslowski just 48 seconds later. Mancera was somehow able to find his teammate in a crowded box populated by players in both uniform colors.
“You can’t let the officials impact how you play,” Saints coach Vince DiNuzzo said. “Whether it was a good or bad call is neither here nor there. How they responded is what I’m looking for, and we’ve faced some adversity before.”
DiNuzzo turned to some of his younger players on the bench and explained.
“If that’s going to be your most disappointing call in your high school career, you have a long road ahead of you,” he said. “We’ve had plenty that could happen in a playoff game.”
Despite the call and settling for a draw, DiNuzzo praised Tri-Cities Night, and the overall competiveness of the DuKane Conference, which seems to have blossomed into a great conference in only its second year.
“This was a good experience, and that’s why I love this DuKane Conference,” he said. “You get these games against Geneva, (St. Charles) North and Batavia, the Wheatons have been great and Glenbard (North) and Lake Park.
“And we’re not done. We’ve still got Lake Park and Wheaton Warrenville South to play. We control our own destiny, which I love, but we’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got too many kids with nagging injuries so our focus has now got to be the playoffs.”
Geneva senior defender and captain Stuart Turnbull hobbled off the field prior to the Saints equalizer.
“They’re a very good team, and it was great to have that lead. Unfortunately I just got hurt right before their free kick, but there’s nothing you can do about that,” he said. “It’s tough to lose the lead, especially because we fought so hard for that.”
The Vikings were upset by Lake Park earlier in the week. Did they look too far ahead? Possibly, but earning wins against anyone in the DuKane are tough.
“I feel like we had a great bounce-back game,” Turnbull said. “It was a tough one (the loss), but Lake Park came out strong. Wwe came out strong today.”
Realizing that this was the final game at Burgess Field for him and his his senior teammates hit Turnbull hard. They are glad that their high school soccer experience is not finished.
“Obviously we knew this was going to be a tough game and huge for conference,” Turnbull said. “We did our best and hopefully we’ll get another shot at them in the playoffs. I think we have a great chance to do something special in the playoffs this year. It’s obviously sad being my last game here at Burgess, but we’ve got a good chance to make a good postseason run. So we’ll see what happens.”
Since 2009, the four Tri-Cities teams have battled for the traveling trophy, a statue of a Fox that the winner decorated in the school colors. The Saints thought they would maintain possession, but Geneva took the prize in a tiebreaker.
“Goals conceded was the tiebreaker, and we had less goals allowed,” Bhatta said. “Maybe we’ll postpone it and hopefully see them again in a sectional semifinal and then see who gets it.”
Bhatta acknowledged that Turnbull departing and the Saints scoring immediately after he left was unfortunate.
“I thought we had a lot of the run of the play throughout the game and unfortunately Stu went down with a knee injury,” he said. “And I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that. A draw was probably a fair result with that one, and we just have to keep winning our games. We’ll see what happens.”
If both teams were to win their respective regionals they would meet in a St. Charles East Sectional semifinal on Oct. 29.
Starting lineups
St. Charles East
GK Jack Settle
D Ryan Champine
D Zach Gamster
D Geoff Unterberg
M Renato Avendano
M Brendan Adams
M Tyler Filbert
M Alex Mancera
M Sam Wade
F Sebastian Carranza
F Jake Maslowski
Geneva
GK Osten Lockner
D Jack Cannon
D Evan Horvath
D Braeden McPheron
D Stuart Turnbull
M Ethan Hipp
M Joe Carli
M Shun Yonehara
M Dominick Perl
F Christian Diaz
F Matthew Fuller
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Alex Mancera, jr., MF, St. Charles East
Scoring summary
St. Charles East 2, Geneva 2
St. Charles East 1 1 – 2
Geneva 1 1 - 2
First half
St. Charles East – Brendan Adams (Alex Mancera) 13:11
Geneva – Josh Eiss (u/a) 0:37
Second half
Geneva – Matthew Fuller (u/a) 33:46
St. Charles East – Jake Maslowski (Alex Mancera) 32:58