Girls soccer: St. Charles East blanks Geneva
The St. Charles East girls soccer team rendered the undercard of the Tri-Cities Night anticlimactic Tuesday afternoon in Geneva.
The Saints were dominant from the get-go in their 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over the host Vikings.
Kaitlyn Dziubinski and Julia Peterson had their collaboration stymied in the third minute with an excellent chance to draw first blood.
The 7-yarder caromed off the Vikings' crossbar, but St. Charles East had already left an early imprint.
Geneva was not so fortunate as the mid-mark of the first half approached.
Claire Rasmussen rifled a 35-yard through ball toward the Vikings' goal. A Geneva defender attempted to clear the ball, only to misplay it. Chantel Carranza, a sophomore forward, headed the miscue into the upper-right corner of the Geneva goal from inside of 10 feet.
"We work on it a lot, repetition," Carranza said. "Of course, it's a rivalry and we always want to do our best. It's Geneva, so it's always going to be good competition. We just played our game."
The Saints, who improved to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the division, had their icebreaker stand in taking a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Geneva (11-4-1, 3-1) could very well have been facing a deficit twice as bad had keeper Emma Harkleroad not stoned the Saints' Kyla Augustine with a brilliant save with under two minutes to play in the opening half.
The Vikings were the early aggressors in the second half, but St. Charles East always managed to eliminate any potential scoring chance.
The Saints' Hayley Popiel, Allison Strauss and Victoria Schumann were a formidable final line of defense.
On more than one occasion, St. Charles East keeper Alison Chesterfield snared Geneva crosses deep in her own territory.
St. Charles East, meanwhile, had ample opportunities to double its lead in the second half. None was more promising than when Carranza wheeled and let loose with a 14-yard missile. The ball bounced viciously off the Vikings' crossbar.
"I kicked it," Carranza said. "I thought it went in and was like, 'Oh shoot.' "
But St. Charles East junior midfielder Hannah Kolb did not miss her opportunity moments later. Kolb, with Geneva once again failing to clear a ball in its own end, drilled a low runner to the left side of the Vikings' net.
"When we connect it's great," Kolb said. "On that goal I was in the right spot at the right time."
Rasmussen cleaned up a Kolb shot attempt in the waning moments with an empty-net goal to account for the final score.
"I don't think we were fully focused or fully ready," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "Our leading scorer (Kyleigh Dominquez with 16 goals) has been out for the last 4 games. Not trying to take anything away from East, but I just think we made some mental mistakes."