High-fives for Geneva, SCN

Five goals, five players. St. Charles North boys soccer coach Eric Willson must be loving this.

The North Stars used a balanced attack and strong defense in the goal to beat Batavia 5-1 in the Tri-City Shootout at Batavia Wednesday.

"We'll take it from anybody, and we definitely love that we are getting (goals) from not just one person," Willson said. "It's showing that we are dangerous all over the field. As long as we can keep teams spread out and concerned about various guys on the field, I think that makes us a better team."

"They are fast, they played well…and we didn't play well," Batavia coach Mark Gianfrancesco said. "It's as simple as that."

The North Stars (6-0-1) wasted no time scoring, as Vladamir Schlageter scored less than two minutes into the game.

Jon Schroeder put the ball in the net for the North Stars (6-0-1) after that, and had the assist on Kyle Joss' goal at the 13:35 mark in the first half.

Christian Foote scored St. Charles North's fourth goal on a penalty kick with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

St. Charles North's scoring picked up right where it left off early in the second half on a goal from Bob Lundeen. That would be the final North Star goal, and they led 5-0.

Batavia (0-3-2) failed to capitalize on any opportunities, but finally got its goal at the end of the game. Alex Kinard scored with 2:05 remaining.

"I was impressed with the way our guys held together in the second half," Gianfrancesco said. "We made some changes. That's obvious what we have to look at. That's more the positive side of it."

Geneva 5, St. Charles East 2: A game like this was exactly what the Vikings needed.

Geneva scored 5 goals from 4 different players in its win against the Saints in the Tri-City Shootout at Batavia Wednesday.

"Our trouble has been putting the ball in the back of the net," Geneva assistant coach Joe Krachala said. "Right now, our record (3-2-2) does not show the talent we have on this team. We've been trying to figure things out…and tonight, we really capitalized on our opportunities (to score). It's good to see that."

The Vikings scored twice in the first half, thanks to Adam Cornwell and Max Cary. Cary scored again at the 30:41 mark in the second half, giving his team the 3-0 advantage.

"(Cary) is someone who takes advantage of his opportunities," Krachala said. "We have a lot of talent on this team. We can find goals from different players…there's a lot of players who can be our big-time players."

Shawn Sloan and Trevor Cunningham proved that, as each tallied Geneva's fourth and fifth goals.

"We have a lot of good players, and we pass the ball well," Cary said.

Cam Caruso scored St. Charles East's (1-2-1) first goal at the 26:59 mark in the second half.

"(Caruso) faked the goalkeeper out," St. Charles East coach George Ortiz said. "It was a good finish."

Caruso also had the assist on the Saints' final goal, which was provided by Jeff Jones with 6:32 remaining in the game.