St Charles East, Geneva play to draw

Updated: September 29, 2011 9:42PM

Just about every aspect of the 2011 Tri-Cities Challenge was unusual with the exception of how hard St. Charles East and Geneva battled to a 1-1 deadlock.

The idea behind the event is to bring the two St. Charles soccer squads together with those of Geneva and Batavia to enable Tri-Cities fans to seem them all in one location, with that setting rotating annually among the four schools. Circumstances and weather turned the 2011 edition into a neutral-site Upstate Eight Conference River Division showdown for the Saints and Vikings.

Due to the early school closing at St. Charles North when a bullet was found by a staff member, that forced the postponement of the 7 pm contest between the North Stars and host Batavia. Mother Nature helped create an unusual atmosphere for the 5 pm opener. At one point, the eastern skies were a mix of gray and dark gray illuminated from the west by the setting sun while a brief rain fell. For a period there was a small rainbow at Geneva’s end of the field during the first half, but there was neither a pot of gold nor even a single goal for the opening 40 minutes.

The second half produced an ever-increasing wind the at one point brought in the kind of clouds and blowing debris the resembled the Wizard of Oz only there was no witch on a bicycle or even a bicycle kick. What did happen just 2:14 into the second half was a textbook display of passing by St. Charles East (4-6-2 overall and 1-2-1 in the UEC River).

The Saints’ James Myall drew the attention of the Geneva keeper and defenders his way and his crossing pass found Luke Cooper racing into position to boot a 15-yard strike inside the far right post.

“I saw all kinds of open space and left side and did my best to get in position and James gave me a great ball,” Cooper said. “The wind seemed to become a bigger factor as the match progressed. We prefer to play the ball on the ground and there were times when the wind just seemed to lift everything. Geneva’s a really good team, but I believe both teams didn’t have their best outings, so under the circumstances we’ll take the tie.”

The Saints, who clearly had the better opportunities in terms of number and quality, found themselves unable to turn their dominance into a victory for the second straight match. With a Tuesday visit to rival North being postponed by field conditions, St. Charles East was coming off a 1-0 loss to Plainfield Central in the fifth-place contest of its own tournament.

“We went one-nil up and I thought if we could get another goal, we’d be set, but when we didn’t, I also thought Geneva just might squeak one in and they did,” Saints coach Paul Jennison said. “They never let up. It just seems like this was another of those games where it wasn’t meant to be for us.

“In the second half, the more the wind picked up, the more I thought we did a good job of keeping it down and in control. I really thought our second half was better than the first,” Jennison added.

In most respects it was until the mid-point when Geneva started generating more offensive opportunities. In the 52nd minute Beck Nebergall’s through ball had Sean McGrath rushing forward on the right side for a shot past Mike Novotny only to have the play whistled offside. In the 68th minute, it was McGrath blasting one from the left side only to see the Vikings again flagged for being offside.

“One of those was legit, the other one, I’ll just say it was awfully close,” Geneva boss Ryan Estabrook said with diplomacy. “Unfortunately for us we looked stagnant for too much of the match. We moved (Kevin) Higgins up field for some more energy later in the second half and it paid off.”

Higgins found Davin Ayarzagoita in the clear for the kind of hard blast that Novotny was only able to prevent from scoring, but unable to completely capture. As a result Collin Carley followed-up from four yards for the equalizer with 5:51 left to be played. The draw left the Vikings’ ledgers level at 5-5-1 overall and 1-1-2 in the UEC River.

“Kevin played a diagonal ball to Davin whose shot was strong enough that their keeper could only punch it. Before he could get to it I just tried to place it right above his hands,” Carley said of his first goal. “Being on the opposite side, the wind felt like fire in my eyes. They’re still stinging, but I’m glad we got the goal. We kept coach’s record intact of never having lost to East and we’re still building momentum because we still believe we can have a great post-season.”

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