Batavia too much for St Charles North

Updated: October 5, 2011 9:59PM

Batavia remained firmly atop the Upstate Eight Conference’s River Division by keeping St. Charles North in the cellar with Wednesday’s 2-1 victory.

In the make-up for the original contest postponed due to the discovery of a bullet at St. Charles North, the contest had to be wedged in a busy week for both teams. The triumph boosted the host No. 9 Bulldogs to 12-2-2 on the year and 3-0-2 in conference play while the No. 8-ranked North Stars, who had gone 2-0-2 in their last four matches, slipped to 8-4-2 and 0-2-2 in the River.

“This was a huge win toward helping us win conference and because of the rivalry, it’s also a real confidence booster,” said Cody Balogh, who put Batavia on top 1-0 at halftime thanks to a 36-yard free kick that sailed over goalie Garrett Creasor and under the crossbar.

Ten minutes into the second half, the North Stars had a potential goal nullified when they were whistled for being offside. The Bulldogs made it a 2-0 lead with 16:04 remaining in the contest when Cody Witkowski cut back toward the middle with a fake and then ripped a 14-yarder inside the right post. While Batavia had managed to hit the crossbar and a post or two, St. Charles North did the same.

With 14:06 still to be played, Tyler Davis’ had the right kind of spin on a 12-yard chip from off the end line to sneak inside the far left post. Batavia’s Ben Steskal completed a stellar night in goal with five of his eight saves coming in the second half.

“He was certainly in the right place at the right time for much of the match,” Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco noted.

“I thought this was high school soccer to a tee,” North Stars boss Eric Willson said. “On a small field you had two teams in a hard-fought battle. Batavia clearly wanted to get to the ball more in the first half and we had better chances in the second half. Both teams hit the posts a few times; it would have been more fun if we’d have won.”

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