Geneva advances past Barrington

Updated: April 28, 2011 10:30PM

Geneva’s players told their coaches at practice this week they wanted to take on No. 1 Neuqua Valley to see what it’s like to play against the best team in the area.

They’ll get their chance.

Victoria Fortney made eight saves – including a stellar diving stop in the second half – and Catherine Allon scored with 8:20 remaining to lead the Vikings to a 1-0 victory over host Barrington in the quarterfinals of the Naperville Invitational.

Geneva (8-3-4) will play the top-ranked and Wildcats (16-0) in a semifinal Friday at 7 p.m. at Naperville Central.

“We know (Neuqua Valley) has a tremendous record and we just want to see how we can match up against them,” Allon said. “We’re a very young team. We’re building and we like to take on challenges. We’re a going to be a huge underdog. We like that we’ve got the chance to play them.”

Michaela Loebel set up Allon for the score with a pinpoint cross from the left flank after she had put in the extra effort to chase down a long ball into the corner.

“People didn’t know what to expect out of us this year,” Geneva coach Megan Owens said. “It took us a while at the beginning of the season to figure things out, but I think we’re starting to come on really strong and we’ve got our offense going now and all the girls are on the same page.”

Barrington (8-5-1) came close to scoring twice inside the opening three minutes of the second half. Emily Hyde broke down the right wing and teed up Molly Pfeiffer inside the six-yard box, but the sophomore strike fired just wide 1:30 into the second half.

Aimee Pierce then split two defenders 47 seconds later before she fired a shot off the post from 14 yards.

Fortney kept the game scoreless with 22:28 left when she made a diving stop on a blast from Emmelie Hirdes from 16 yards on a corner delivered into the box by Hyde.

“It was nerve racking, but my defense did a great job keep them from getting good looks most of the time,” Fortney said. “I made a snap dive on that one shot, stuck my arm and luckily found the ball.”

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