Girls soccer: Patient Geneva denies St. Charles East

Good things come to those who wait and during a defensive, overtime grind of a Class 3A Hoffman Estates sectional against Tri-Cities rival St. Charles East, patience surely paid off for the Geneva girls soccer team - even if the Vikings' patience was almost taken to the limit.

It took until the first minute of the second half for the Vikings to even get a shot off on the Saints, but sophomore Jenna Dominguez's goal in the final minute of the first OT stood for a 1-0 win over East, the third time Geneva (21-1-1) defeated the Saints (10-5-6) this season.

"I didn't know if it was going to go in," Dominguez said of her shot in the pouring rain just before the overtime break. "It's always important to follow through on your shot because you new know what's going to happen with the ball."

But Geneva coach Megan Owens knew what was up once Dominguez got the ball off the rebound. "I knew the ball was going in," Owens interjected. "We just knew we had to be patient and it would come. We were creating the opportunities, we just needed to finish."

The Vikings, who were outshot by East 12-5, benefited on a dribble through of the Saints' back line by freshman forward Alicia White. White's shot toward the right post deflected off an East defender right to Dominguez to the left of the box, who fired it inside the 18 on Geneva's best opportunity to get the top-seeded Vikings to Friday's sectional final against No. 2 St. Charles North, which defeated Batavia 1-0 Tuesday.

"I was just there to finish," Dominguez said. "It feels really good to knock (East) out again (in sectionals for the second-straight year). It was a good game between two good teams."

Geneva will gun for its first sectional title since 2005, and it had major help from senior keeper Emma Harkleroad, who had 5 saves. Harkleroad was given a hard time throughout in the team's 17th shutout of the season, including one shot by the Saints in the box that was gobbled up with 7:50 to go in the first overtime and Hannah Kolb's shot from 30 yards out with 15 minutes left in the second half.

"She comes up big when we need her," Owens said. "She doesn't get the attention she deserves but she definitely deserves it. Our success has largely depended on her this season."

St. Charles East coach Paul Jennison concurred about Harkleroad.

"When you're asking their keeper to make some of the saves she did, it's not your day," Jennison said. "I think we gave everything we had to the maximum tonight and for that as a coach you can't ask for anything more as a group. I only wish coaches could be as full of pride as I am for a group that went down fighting like that."

Geneva, which did what the Saints couldn't do last year when it was in the same position, played a little more direct in the second half and stopped trying to string passes together which allowed better flexibility.

But it didn't stop the Saints, who held their own throughout with 6 shots on goal, including 4 in the second half and overtime but Harkleroad kept making big play after big play.

"We knew ever since we found out we'd be playing East that they were going to come out hard," Harkleroad said. "We knew they were going to come out with everything they had and we had to come out with everything we had."