Batavia, Geneva prep for rivalry game
By Jared Birchfield
After two good outcomes over ranked teams, Geneva hopes to continue its good fortune when it travels to tri-city rival Batavia this Tuesday night for a DuKane Conference match.
By contrast, the Bulldogs hope the contest will start a turnaround run as they face the Murderers' Row of tri-cities foes this week which includes St. Charles East and St. Charles North.
Geneva, after dropping a 4-1 decision to St. Charles North (ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25) to start last week, tied no. 9 St. Charles East, 2-2 Thursday and defeated former no. 1 Naperville North 2-0 Saturday on Senior Day.
As a result, Geneva (3-1-2) jumped from 20th to 10th in the poll.
“I talked about how the week was only going to get harder. I think the boys responded well to that defeat that we had on Tuesday with the tie against East,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “Naperville North is not an easy opponent to have on Senior Night. It was great to play all the seniors for a good amount of time and still come away with a 2 -0 victory. I know the boys loved it, and it was fun. Being able to beat them two years in a row is quite the accomplishment – all credit to the team.”
Although, from Bhatta’s perspective, his squad does not need any additional incentives for the upcoming contest.
“We always try to win those games because Batavia is our biggest rival. Anytime we play the teams in the tri-state cities, those are big games. The boys know those players the most. They've grown up with those players,” Bhatta said. “They are definitely grudge matches and bragging-right matches. The boys are excited for those games. They have a little more invested in those games.”
The Geneva coach does not plan any strategy changes.
“I think we try to stay the same. We're building on how we want play. We have a couple of games under our belt, and each day the boys have grown more and more confident in how we play and where their teammates are supposed to be and things like that,” Bhatta said. “If we focus on what we're trying to do, and we play how we want to play, then we can play against anyone. We'll go with that mindset against Batavia.”
Batavia coach Mark Giafrancesco downplayed the rivalry.
“That's what they tell me” Giafrancesco said when asked if Geneva is a top opponent. “I think with anybody in the tri-cities area, it's a rivalry and Geneva would be up there.”
He plans to build on the positives from last Thursday’s 1-1 tie with Wheaton Warrenville South.
“I hope for some of the same we saw on Thursday - a lot better ball movement. We were moving the ball really well and looking up the field, connected on some pretty good passes and we switched the ball much better than we did in prior games,” Giafrancesco said “I'm hoping that will continue.”
The Batavia (0-3-1) coach conceded it will be harder for his squad to score on Geneva.
“Obviously, we want to create more chances or finish more chances,” he said. “As you play better teams, your chances are obviously going to be smaller. You've got to take advantage of those opportunities when they pop up because you not going to get a ton of them.”
Defensively, Giafrancesco hopes to interrupt the flow of Geneva’s attack.
“We’ll be seeing what we can do they kind of slow them down. Geneva seems to be having a pretty solid start to this season. We’ll try to do something to kind of disrupt them a little, so maybe we can have some success against them.”
By Jared Birchfield
After two good outcomes over ranked teams, Geneva hopes to continue its good fortune when it travels to tri-city rival Batavia this Tuesday night for a DuKane Conference match.
By contrast, the Bulldogs hope the contest will start a turnaround run as they face the Murderers' Row of tri-cities foes this week which includes St. Charles East and St. Charles North.
Geneva, after dropping a 4-1 decision to St. Charles North (ranked eighth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25) to start last week, tied no. 9 St. Charles East, 2-2 Thursday and defeated former no. 1 Naperville North 2-0 Saturday on Senior Day.
As a result, Geneva (3-1-2) jumped from 20th to 10th in the poll.
“I talked about how the week was only going to get harder. I think the boys responded well to that defeat that we had on Tuesday with the tie against East,” Geneva coach Jason Bhatta said. “Naperville North is not an easy opponent to have on Senior Night. It was great to play all the seniors for a good amount of time and still come away with a 2 -0 victory. I know the boys loved it, and it was fun. Being able to beat them two years in a row is quite the accomplishment – all credit to the team.”
Although, from Bhatta’s perspective, his squad does not need any additional incentives for the upcoming contest.
“We always try to win those games because Batavia is our biggest rival. Anytime we play the teams in the tri-state cities, those are big games. The boys know those players the most. They've grown up with those players,” Bhatta said. “They are definitely grudge matches and bragging-right matches. The boys are excited for those games. They have a little more invested in those games.”
The Geneva coach does not plan any strategy changes.
“I think we try to stay the same. We're building on how we want play. We have a couple of games under our belt, and each day the boys have grown more and more confident in how we play and where their teammates are supposed to be and things like that,” Bhatta said. “If we focus on what we're trying to do, and we play how we want to play, then we can play against anyone. We'll go with that mindset against Batavia.”
Batavia coach Mark Giafrancesco downplayed the rivalry.
“That's what they tell me” Giafrancesco said when asked if Geneva is a top opponent. “I think with anybody in the tri-cities area, it's a rivalry and Geneva would be up there.”
He plans to build on the positives from last Thursday’s 1-1 tie with Wheaton Warrenville South.
“I hope for some of the same we saw on Thursday - a lot better ball movement. We were moving the ball really well and looking up the field, connected on some pretty good passes and we switched the ball much better than we did in prior games,” Giafrancesco said “I'm hoping that will continue.”
The Batavia (0-3-1) coach conceded it will be harder for his squad to score on Geneva.
“Obviously, we want to create more chances or finish more chances,” he said. “As you play better teams, your chances are obviously going to be smaller. You've got to take advantage of those opportunities when they pop up because you not going to get a ton of them.”
Defensively, Giafrancesco hopes to interrupt the flow of Geneva’s attack.
“We’ll be seeing what we can do they kind of slow them down. Geneva seems to be having a pretty solid start to this season. We’ll try to do something to kind of disrupt them a little, so maybe we can have some success against them.”