Geneva shifts gears vs. Wheaton North
Intensity keys Vikings’ 3-1 DKC win over the Falcons
By Gary Larsen
GENEVA — After Geneva overcame a one-goal deficit on its way to a 3-1 win over Wheaton North on Tuesday, Geneva’s Anna Spindle gave the universal reason responsible for most comebacks.
“We picked up our intensity,” Spindle said.
Forty minutes of evenly-played soccer gave way to Geneva (7-4-2, 2-2-0) putting its stamp on Tuesday’s DuKane Conference game against Wheaton North (7-8-1, 2-3-0).
After Geneva keeper Katie Montgomery made a fine stop of an initial shot at 18 minutes, Wheaton North’s Sarah Brcka followed it up to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
Eight minutes later Geneva, ranked 19th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, tied the game on a Caitlin Farrell goal, as the Vikings’ first uptick of intensity gave coach Megan Owens something she was curious to see.
“I was glad to see how we responded,” Owens said. “We made a pretty big mistake after Katie made a beautiful save, and they just didn’t track back with their marks, so it was great to see us respond and come back.
“In a lot of games we’ve been up this season, we haven’t been down, and you want to see how your team is going to respond to that.”
The path to Farrell’s goal began with a Stephanie Howe corner kick. Howe’s serve was headed down by Geneva’s Alana Rawls over to Farrell, who had a clean look from prime real estate.
“That second goal was just one of those poor goals that you can’t give up against a quality team,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “You can’t give somebody free space off a corner on a rebound. (Farrell) was marked and then kids didn’t follow their marks, and then she’s got a shot from six yards.
“We played a really nice 40 minutes, and I thought the first half was even throughout the entirety of the forty minutes. I thought we kind of deserved to go up 1-0.”
The tie held to the 39th minute, with Howe again in the thick of things when she sent a ball ahead up the right flank to a streaking Jenna Dominguez.
Dominguez hit a shot from 18 yards on the right side that tore a path inside the far post.
“That just kind of changed momentum,” McEvilly said of Dominguez’s goal. “Then they played much better in the second half, and we didn’t adjust to their adjustments.”
Spindle liked what she saw from her side after halftime.
“We adjusted our formation and picked up our intensity, and our passing helped us create more opportunities,” Spindle said.
“As we go through the season we’re able to play with intensity for longer periods of time towards a full 80 minutes. We’re getting there. We’re progressing as the season goes along.”
Spindle scored Geneva’s final goal at 54 minutes, blistering a ball inside the post from 25 yards. The goal came on the second assist of the day from Howe, whose role as the Vikings’ chief catalyst earned her Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“They were finding (Howe) in the center of the field and we weren’t adjusting to their changes, and they just had too much possession,” McEvilly said. “Then we lost the confidence we had due to the possession they had to start the second half.”
Wheaton North’s Anna Warfield bemoaned the way the game shifted after halftime.
“We were certainly in the game in the first half. In the second half it took us too long to adjust to their change in formation,” Warfield said. “We were still mentally there, but it just became harder for us to get the ball up.”
Wheaton North keeper Hanley Elftmann made a diving stop on a Sydney Gratz shot at 59 minutes, and the Falcons’ Riley Winckler sent a hard shot just wide from distance at 68 minutes, but quality chances from there were hard to come by.
Geneva opens the postseason as the no. 4 seed of this year’s Class 3A Schaumburg Sectional. The Vikings will play no. 12 Lake Park in a regional semifinal on May 14 at Batavia.
“I’ve seen growth throughout our season,” Spindle said. “Today our passing and our movement off the ball got better throughout the game, and that helped us create more opportunities and get more shots.”
Owens is looking forward to the postseason.
“I’m excited to see what the playoffs bring because this is a pretty talented group that I've coached for four years,” she said. “I’m excited to see how the seniors step up.”
“Our goal is to play a complete 80-minute game, because that's something we've struggled with. We've had some mental lapses and given up leads a couple times. So it was good to see us play this well as the playoffs approach.
“We were solid across the board tonight. We created a lot offensively, and in the second half we made some adjustments and kind of dominated the run of play."
Wheaton North opens regional play on May 14 as the no. 7 seed of the Schaumburg sectional. The Falcons play no. 10 Rolling Meadows in a regional semifinal at Conant.
Warfield likes her side’s chances.
“We all know where we’re supposed to be, we know that on the outside we have speed, and playing those corner flags is definitely going to work for us,” Warfield said. “The communication is there, too. Since we switched to five in back, it just took us some time to get there. And now in the back we’re definitely gelling together.
“We’ve got size in some places, in others we don’t, but we’re always going to play to the end.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Kaitlyn Cannon
D Amanda Rose
D Annie Brolly
M Ava Green
M Annalise Spindle
M Sydney Gratz
M Stephanie Howe
M Alana Rawls
F Jenna Dominguez
F Caitlin Farrell
WN
GK Hanley Elftmann
D Anna Warfield
D Rachel Brady
D Heidi Atkinson
D Amanda Tegart
D Kristen Szumski
M Claudia Kim
M Sarah Brcka
M Riley Winckler
F Kayla Shebar
F Olivia Moreno
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Stephanie Howe, sr. M, Geneva
Scoring summery
First half
Wheaton North — Brcka (UA) 18 minutes
Geneva — Farrell (Rawls) 25 minutes
Geneva — Dominguez (Howe) 39 minutes
Second half
Geneva — Spindle (Howe) 54 minutes
Intensity keys Vikings’ 3-1 DKC win over the Falcons
By Gary Larsen
GENEVA — After Geneva overcame a one-goal deficit on its way to a 3-1 win over Wheaton North on Tuesday, Geneva’s Anna Spindle gave the universal reason responsible for most comebacks.
“We picked up our intensity,” Spindle said.
Forty minutes of evenly-played soccer gave way to Geneva (7-4-2, 2-2-0) putting its stamp on Tuesday’s DuKane Conference game against Wheaton North (7-8-1, 2-3-0).
After Geneva keeper Katie Montgomery made a fine stop of an initial shot at 18 minutes, Wheaton North’s Sarah Brcka followed it up to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
Eight minutes later Geneva, ranked 19th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, tied the game on a Caitlin Farrell goal, as the Vikings’ first uptick of intensity gave coach Megan Owens something she was curious to see.
“I was glad to see how we responded,” Owens said. “We made a pretty big mistake after Katie made a beautiful save, and they just didn’t track back with their marks, so it was great to see us respond and come back.
“In a lot of games we’ve been up this season, we haven’t been down, and you want to see how your team is going to respond to that.”
The path to Farrell’s goal began with a Stephanie Howe corner kick. Howe’s serve was headed down by Geneva’s Alana Rawls over to Farrell, who had a clean look from prime real estate.
“That second goal was just one of those poor goals that you can’t give up against a quality team,” Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said. “You can’t give somebody free space off a corner on a rebound. (Farrell) was marked and then kids didn’t follow their marks, and then she’s got a shot from six yards.
“We played a really nice 40 minutes, and I thought the first half was even throughout the entirety of the forty minutes. I thought we kind of deserved to go up 1-0.”
The tie held to the 39th minute, with Howe again in the thick of things when she sent a ball ahead up the right flank to a streaking Jenna Dominguez.
Dominguez hit a shot from 18 yards on the right side that tore a path inside the far post.
“That just kind of changed momentum,” McEvilly said of Dominguez’s goal. “Then they played much better in the second half, and we didn’t adjust to their adjustments.”
Spindle liked what she saw from her side after halftime.
“We adjusted our formation and picked up our intensity, and our passing helped us create more opportunities,” Spindle said.
“As we go through the season we’re able to play with intensity for longer periods of time towards a full 80 minutes. We’re getting there. We’re progressing as the season goes along.”
Spindle scored Geneva’s final goal at 54 minutes, blistering a ball inside the post from 25 yards. The goal came on the second assist of the day from Howe, whose role as the Vikings’ chief catalyst earned her Chicagoland Soccer’s MVP of the Match honor.
“They were finding (Howe) in the center of the field and we weren’t adjusting to their changes, and they just had too much possession,” McEvilly said. “Then we lost the confidence we had due to the possession they had to start the second half.”
Wheaton North’s Anna Warfield bemoaned the way the game shifted after halftime.
“We were certainly in the game in the first half. In the second half it took us too long to adjust to their change in formation,” Warfield said. “We were still mentally there, but it just became harder for us to get the ball up.”
Wheaton North keeper Hanley Elftmann made a diving stop on a Sydney Gratz shot at 59 minutes, and the Falcons’ Riley Winckler sent a hard shot just wide from distance at 68 minutes, but quality chances from there were hard to come by.
Geneva opens the postseason as the no. 4 seed of this year’s Class 3A Schaumburg Sectional. The Vikings will play no. 12 Lake Park in a regional semifinal on May 14 at Batavia.
“I’ve seen growth throughout our season,” Spindle said. “Today our passing and our movement off the ball got better throughout the game, and that helped us create more opportunities and get more shots.”
Owens is looking forward to the postseason.
“I’m excited to see what the playoffs bring because this is a pretty talented group that I've coached for four years,” she said. “I’m excited to see how the seniors step up.”
“Our goal is to play a complete 80-minute game, because that's something we've struggled with. We've had some mental lapses and given up leads a couple times. So it was good to see us play this well as the playoffs approach.
“We were solid across the board tonight. We created a lot offensively, and in the second half we made some adjustments and kind of dominated the run of play."
Wheaton North opens regional play on May 14 as the no. 7 seed of the Schaumburg sectional. The Falcons play no. 10 Rolling Meadows in a regional semifinal at Conant.
Warfield likes her side’s chances.
“We all know where we’re supposed to be, we know that on the outside we have speed, and playing those corner flags is definitely going to work for us,” Warfield said. “The communication is there, too. Since we switched to five in back, it just took us some time to get there. And now in the back we’re definitely gelling together.
“We’ve got size in some places, in others we don’t, but we’re always going to play to the end.”
Starting lineups
Geneva
GK Katie Montgomery
D Kaitlyn Cannon
D Amanda Rose
D Annie Brolly
M Ava Green
M Annalise Spindle
M Sydney Gratz
M Stephanie Howe
M Alana Rawls
F Jenna Dominguez
F Caitlin Farrell
WN
GK Hanley Elftmann
D Anna Warfield
D Rachel Brady
D Heidi Atkinson
D Amanda Tegart
D Kristen Szumski
M Claudia Kim
M Sarah Brcka
M Riley Winckler
F Kayla Shebar
F Olivia Moreno
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Stephanie Howe, sr. M, Geneva
Scoring summery
First half
Wheaton North — Brcka (UA) 18 minutes
Geneva — Farrell (Rawls) 25 minutes
Geneva — Dominguez (Howe) 39 minutes
Second half
Geneva — Spindle (Howe) 54 minutes