Geneva strikes early for 5th straight win

Geneva required a mere minute to create separation in its latest boys soccer conquest.

The Vikings' Ben Orr and Brady Wahl scored exactly 60 seconds apart early in the first half against Wheaton North, paving the way for a 6-2 nonconference victory Saturday afternoon in Geneva. It was the fifth consecutive victory for Geneva (13-2-1).

Sophomore Seamus Kaminski engineered the Vikings' offensive attack. The normal defender was playing in the attack zone, and Kaminski set up the initial goal by beating his man off the dribble down the right side and feeding Orr with a room-service assist.

"(Kaminski) is a young kid who is able to create," said Orr, who finished the Vikings' scoring outburst with three minutes, 50 seconds to play. "We just try to finish whatever he creates. We came out very focused."

Wahl extended the Vikings' lead to 2-nil when the Falcons (8-3-4) were unable to clear the box off a throw-in, and the sophomore midfielder beat the Falcons' keeper to the upper-right side.

Kaminski then made a brilliant tackle with 15 minutes to play in the first half. The ball was dislodged several yards toward the Falcons' goal, and Matthew Blade drilled a left-footed riser to the high-right corner.

"(Kaminski) is able to create havoc for the other teams," Geneva coach Ryan Estabrook said. "It was good to see him play up today."

Facing a 3-0 halftime deficit, Wheaton North finally responded in the opening minutes of the second half. The one bright spot for the Falcons was the play of midfielder Rob Wertke, who played a deft feed to Pat Langan early in the second. Langan headed the ball in to give Wheaton North life.

"The first 10 minutes of the second half, they were all over us," Estabrook said. "They definitely deserved that goal."

The Falcons' momentum was short-lived, however. Requiring less than four minutes midway through the second half, Shawn Sloan tallied twice to turn around the Vikings' early second-half sluggishness.

"We kind of came out there kind of lackadaisical (in the second half)," said Sloan, whose initial score was set up by a perfect chest pass from Orr. "Once they scored that goal, we started attacking again like we did in the first half."

After Orr duplicated the Vikings' first-half output with his second goal, Wertke concluded the high-scoring match with a penalty kick in the waning minutes.

"Every team goes through a funk (during the season)," Wheaton North coach Bryce Cann said. "I have said ever since I started coaching in the area that if you don't show up to play, you can give up 4, 5 even 6 goals very easily. Geneva is a very talented team."