Geneva wins, St. Charles East ties

In three matches, St. Charles East has tried three different formations, and the Saints are still trying to figure out things as their girls soccer season takes shape.

Naperville Central has got those initial bobbles worked out of its play, and is nearing midseason form.

Yet despite a nearly frantic pace at times, neither team was able to find the net on Wednesday night, and the resulting 0-0 match opened play for both teams in the St. Charles East Invitational.

St. Charles East's best chance of the match came after three minutes when Hannah Ketterling sent an angled shot toward the left post from inside the 6-yard box. Redhawks goalie Jill D'Amico got a hand to the ball and saved for a corner kick.

"We were better tonight than we were on Saturday," St. Charles East coach Pat Feulner said, referring to his team's recent loss to Batavia. "We've had some good opponents. Fremd, Batavia and now Naperville, those are three tough squads."

The Saints (0-1-2) played 4-3-3 through the match, and struggled at times to link play from a less crowded midfield to their forwards. But the linkages did occur at times, especially on quickly moving breaks from defense.

"We played 16 of our kids," Feulner said. "We had a little lull, but after that, we didn't drop off a whole lot, which is good to see with all the kids that we played."

Jamie Rust in midfield kept things under control for the Saints. Liz Drennan popped up in strong offensive and defensive roles - clearing one shot off the goal line and racing forward to facilitate a quickly-forming attack shortly after.

As well as St. Charles East linked through the match, Naperville Central (5-1-1) was more fluid. Taylor Heatherly ripped a shot off the crossbar after 19 minutes of play in the match. Six minutes later, Gina Maddi forced a save from point blank range by Saints goalkeeper Zoie Samaan.

"(Maddi) didn't know she had as much time as she did," Naperville Central coach Ed Watson said. "Who's to think that you have that much time? But I'll give her credit. She made a very good shot on it one-time. And if it wasn't for a very good goalkeeper, that ball probably goes in."

From the 20th minute of the match through halftime, the Redhawks pushed the Saints. Drennan's goal line clearance came 5 minutes into the second half. After that, the most dangerous from Alex Coon long throw-ins.

"We were really in a feeding frenzy mode and we kind of kept the ball coming back down their throat," Watson said. "We needed the one (goal). I thought if we got one, it would loosen us up."

Geneva 1, Schaumburg 0: At the particular moment when Demi Miller scored the only goal of Geneva's Wednesday game with Schaumburg in the opening round of the St. Charles East Invitational, the Norris Stadium scoreboard wasn't functioning properly.

But who needs lighted numbers when everyone knows that a goal has been scored? The scoreboard eventually returned to its normal state thought the 1-0 scoreline never changed and the Vikings had themselves a victory and earned the top spot after one night of play in the annual four-team round robin tournament.

"It was good that we had a lot of shots in the first half," Geneva coach Megan Owens said. "We had a lot of offense, which is good to see. But we didn't finish as many as I would have liked. But I was glad that the offense was there and the pressure was there."

Miller's goal came less than 5 minutes into the match and was scored following a Megan Spear throw-in into the penalty area.

"(Spear) has a really nice throw that we can use to our advantage,"Owens said. "It's an offensive weapon. We had a couple more shots or near shots off it as well."

Geneva (2-1-1) had a number of other solid chances, none better than the penalty kick called after Sarah Tennant was taken down in the penalty area with 18 minutes to play. Emily Hinchman sent that kick wide of the right post and the 1-0 scoreline persisted.

Two minutes after the penalty kick chance, Schaumburg (5-4) nearly scored when Ariel Larocco had a point-blank shot saved.

"We didn't play as well as we're capable of," Schaumburg coach Greg Charvat said. "The second half was much better than the first half. You can't give up a throw-in goal two minutes into the game. That was the momentum that Geneva needed."

- Darryl Mellema