Geneva 1, Benet 0

Remember a month ago when the Geneva girls soccer team was struggling with a very un-Geneva-like 3-5 record?

Chalk that up as growing pains. With those lessons learned, the Vikings are back in a familiar place -- raising a regional championship plaque.

Geneva is 9-2-1 since its slow start after its latest win 1-0 over Benet on Friday in the championship game of the Class AA Rosary regional.

Other than the first few minutes, the No. 5 seeded Vikings (12-7-1) controlled most of the game over the fourth-seeded Redwings (16-8-2). Senior Brianna Santacaterina scored the game's only goal with 20:14 remaining.

"It's nice to see where we were at and where we've come to," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "We played a very tough schedule early so it wasn't a matter of us playing poorly, it was a matter of us taking our lumps, losing a lot of 1-goal games and hopefully learning our lessons.

"Early in the season I could have seen this game getting tied or even losing 2-1. I was proud of the way the girls finished off the game with a 1-goal lead."

Geneva advances to play the defending state champions and fifth-ranked team in the country Waubonsie Valley at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Class AA Waubonsie Valley sectional semifinals.

Before the Vikings worry about that tough task, they'll take some time to enjoy Friday. The win gives Geneva its second straight regional title, fourth in the last five years and fifth in school history.

"It was definitely big for us," Santacaterina said. "We all worked as a team."

A very deep team. Both Geneva's goal-scorer and the player who assisted came off the bench as Estabrook shuttled players in and out to make sure he had the fresher, quicker team on the field.

"We like to sub a lot," Estabrook said. "We have a lot of girls who can play a lot of positions. Not everyone gets a lot of playing time but we get a lot of girls into the game. Depending on who is playing well in a certain game will determine the playing time in that game. It's nice to have different opportunities for different players."

Valerie Bender assisted on Santacaterina's goal from just a few feet in front of the net after Emily Fechner worked hard to bring the ball up the left sideline and cross into the middle.

It was still a 0-0 game at the time because of several highlight saves from Benet goalkeeper Rachel Resek, including a full-extension to rob Emily Hinchman of a goal midway through the first half.

"It's always nice when your keeper can pick up the ball instead of having to make great saves which their keeper did on a number of occasions," Estabrook said. "Our defense is pretty strong."

The Vikings had a couple first-half chances, including one sequence when Santacaterina and Krista Jezior both banged shots off the crossbar.

Benet had very few quality opportunities and almost none in the second half. Geneva consistently won free balls in the midfield to stop the Redwings attack before it started.

"We had some opportunities and didn't capitalize and that was the deal," Benet coach Henry Wind said. "In the second half they did what we did what we did in the first half and they got one in when they scrambled to the ball quicker."

After Santacaterina's goal, Benet still had 20 minutes to try to tie the game. The Redwings didn't force Geneva into any difficult saves as the Vikings kept control on Benet's side for nearly all of the second half.

"In the second half we didn't mount much of an attack," Wind said. "We played OK, we played hard, but they had a little bit more patience, a little more control, a little more flow to the ball than we did. We were struggling the second half."

Wind and the Redwings have a lot of highlights to look back on this year, his 18th as coach.

"I thought we had a real nice season," Wind said. "I think the kids played well, they played hard."

Sophomore forward Madeline Tennant and senior right back Alexandra Waldie played strong games for Geneva, who will need more efforts like that to upset Waubonsie Valley next week.

"I thought she (Tennant) played her best game as a varsity player for us," Estabrook said. "She did a nice job of running on the outside and keeping the ball active. Waldie is as tough as they come."