Geneva escapes from Wheaton Academy bottle
Geneva grabbed opportunity by its lapels and shook it into submission Thursday.
The Vikings used a 3-goal avalanche in a seven-minute span of play to bury host Wheaton Academy 4-1 and win a Class AA sectional title in boys soccer in the process.
"We felt like we had them bottled up, defensively," said Warriors coach Dave Underwood, "for about 60 minutes."
With the score tied 1-1 in the 62nd minute, Shawn Sloan scored his second consecutive game-winning goal from the same spot he scored to beat Wheaton Warrenville South on Tuesday.
Sloan again beat a defender and a goalkeeper to a ball near the goalmouth and poked it home for the 2-1 Geneva lead. Adam Cornwell followed with goals in the 66th and 69th minutes, and it was lights out in West Chicago.
"We had some prime-time players make some great finishes," said Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook.
Geneva (19-5-2) improved its winning streak to 16 games with the win and will take on Neuqua Valley in a supersectional game at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Benedictine University in Lisle, with an Elite Eight berth on the line.
"Starting the season at 3-5-2, we never thought we'd be in this situation," Sloan said. "But we knew we had it in us."
Despite having the better of play through 40 minutes, Wheaton Academy (15-4-5) trailed 1-0 on an own-goal after Geneva's Brian Holbrook sent in a long free kick in the game's 30th minute. The Warriors possessed well and found dangerous space throughout the first half but couldn't find the net.
"We had three or four chances in the box and could have been up 2-1 or 3-1 at halftime," the Warriors' Lucas Young said. "That's just the way the ball rolls sometimes."
Young's head shot goal off a John Clancy restart tied the game in the 48th minute before Geneva's attack slowly built momentum to Sloan's goal.
Cornwell ripped a ball to the back netting from 18 yards out on a Mike McCabe feed and then beat a defender and a goalkeeper to a ball near the top of the penalty area, before swooping in on an empty net.
"When you've got your best two markers on their best scorer and he still scores two goals -- they deserve to win," Underwood said. "You tip your hat. No slight to anybody we've played this year, but I can't think of a kid that was better than (Cornwell) all season long."
Underwood applauded seniors like Young, Clancy, Corey Burke, Brooks VanderVeen, BB Taylor and Andrew Knighten, who took the Warriors to a Class AA sectional final for the program's first time.
"It's been intense. Our seniors just led the way," Young said. "To get to a sectional final in AA for a school of 600 is pretty amazing."
Andy Filipiak and Kendal Spurgin shined in back for Geneva, while McCabe looked strong in his return from injury.
"Kendal Spurgin kept us steady back there," Estabrook said. "It's not his normal position but he's done it well all season long for us."